Close to 800 current and former GAA inter-county players called for an end to the sponsorship arrangement between the GAA and Allianz
Jarlath Burns has called for “time and space” as the GAA considers its sponsorship with Allianz, following the company’s alleged links to the conflict in Palestine, as reported by the UN.
Nearly 800 current and former inter-county players have recently signed a petition urging the Association to sever ties with Allianz after a UN report implicated it among companies contributing to Israel’s actions in Palestine.
Allianz has maintained a long-standing sponsorship agreement with the GAA for the National Leagues, and Burns explained how the issue is currently under review.
He stated: “We have referred it to our ethics and integrity commission, they’re looking at it. They are doing quite a lot of research into it, they’re not just going to, you know, we have to understand the concept of critical theory, that we don’t just take everything at face value.
“At that meeting where we decided to refer it to the ethics and integrity commission, we also made our second sizeable financial donation to Gaza and to the stricken people there.
“We’ve also, for the first time ever, the GAA has never before in our history issued a statement on a geopolitical issue outside of Ireland. We broke that when we made the statement in Gaza last year.
“And we have met Gaels for Gaza, and we are quite happy to be associated with them, but I can’t really comment on that until the ethics and integrity commission does its work, and we’re going to give them time and space to do that.”
However, GAA director general Tom Ryan emphasised that the final decision on how to proceed with this matter will rest with Croke Park, once feedback from the commission has been received, reports the Irish Mirror.
He clarified: “That body is not the group that will make the decision, it will still come back to U.S., but what we will have is we will have perhaps a slightly detached perspective, an independent perspective, and one that I think we will give due consideration to and respect for, but they need a little bit of time and a little bit of space to do that work for us.”
Burns also defended the GAA’s decision to host an NFL game at Croke Park last Sunday, despite the US funding Israel’s war effort.
He stated: “I do know that there was somebody who came over and he had disparaging marks to make about the NFL, the same way as that if we go up north there are people who make very disparaging marks about the GAA if you choose to look at the GAA through a particular lens.
“We chose to look at it through a different lens. We went over to Pittsburgh last year, spent a week with the Rooney family, and they are rooted in their Irish roots, very, very proud to be Irish, in fact one of the events we were at was an Ireland Funds dinner that they hosted and paid for in their stadium.
“And they come back to Ireland, one of the things that they did, they went back to Newry, they gave 10,000 to two schools, secondary schools in Newry, to children who would experience different barriers to education, to help them, no mind left behind was what it was called.
“So the Rooney family in particular, a family that came from Ireland, that has made it really big in Pittsburgh but are still very proud of their Irish roots.
“I saw more people of colour in this stadium than I’ve ever seen it, on the field and off the field at that match, in fact I had the words ‘end racism’ written on the pitch for the first time ever.
“So we have a really good relationship, they were proud to be in Croke Park, they know that when they play in Croke Park it’s not like playing in any other stadium in the world, and they accepted that and they understood that, that’s why they were so honoured to play here.
“And they are very keen to come back, and for us being a responsible party in Irish society, we also have our part to play in trying to improve society in Ireland, and one of the things that we have noticed is there has been a 12% uplift in takings in Dublin over that weekend.
“There was a fantastic atmosphere with all of the USA people over. The government worked with us, the government worked with the NFL, and it is the responsibility of the GAA to be part of that, to try and do our best to improve people’s lives, and we feel that we did that really well through having the NFL here.”
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