Call for GAA to drop Allianz as sponsor after OPT report

A number of prominent GAA stars have handed in an open letter and petition to management at Croke Park, calling on the association to drop Allianz insurance as a sponsor for GAA games.

Close to 800 current and former players from Gaelic football, hurling, camogie and ladies' football signed the petition, which was handed over at GAA HQ in Dublin and received by an official there.

The open letter to Ard-Stiúrthóir of the GAA Tom Ryan calls on the organisation to demonstrate its commitment to its principles and to international humanitarian law.

The players are calling on the association to end its association with Allianz, after the insurance company was among a series of companies listed in a report by UN special rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese.

Allianz Insurance was listed in the report published in June this year on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the UN as being among companies and corporations Ms Albanese said were involved in sustaining and paying for Israel's actions in the Palestinian territories.

Among those signing the petition is former Meath footballer, manager and commentator Colm O'Rourke.

"Sometimes the right thing costs money but in this case it is the least of what we should do," he said.

"I think all club members should be made aware of what is happening in their name because of the sponsorship of the competition.

"GAA members probably aren't that aware of this. When they do become aware they will want the link with Allianz to be broken once and for all.

"If it means that we don't have a sponsor for the National League Competition, so be it," Mr O’Rourke added.

He said he hoped the GAA would review its position and do so quickly.

In a statement, Allianz said: "Our long-standing partnership with the GAA is about supporting Irish sport and communities.

"Allianz Ireland is part of a global group, and while the wider group operates internationally across insurance and investment, as a matter of principle, we do not comment on individual customers or business matters.

"What we can say is that all Allianz business decisions are guided by strict legal standards and world-leading ESG (environmental, social and governance) principles."

The GAA said it had no comment to make but would review the correspondence that was handed in today.

'Some action has to be taken'

Former Dublin GAA footballer Kieran Duff was also among those at the protest who had signed the petition.

A number of players travelled to Dublin for the protest and around 70 people took part in the protest.

"Some action has to be taken. We're a small little country. This is our national game and if the GAA can't stand up and call them out, what hope has anyone got? The emphasis has to be that people go back to their clubs and push it further," Mr Duff said.

A petition for all GAA members is being published on Change.org

A petition for all GAA members is being published on Change.org, calling on people to bring motions to their own clubs and seeking a new sponsorship provider.

Barrister and former Derry Ladies GAA player Nodlaig Ní Bhrollaigh helped co-ordinate the protest.

"The facts cannot be ignored and it really is up to the GAA now to do human rights due diligence and I don't think they'll come to any other conclusion other than they'll have to do what the report recommends and to end their relationship with Allianz," she said.

Other well-known signatories of the letter include former Dublin footballer and retired transplant surgeon Dr David Hickey, who spoke at the event, saying that the GAA and Croke Park was place that epitomises the soul, culture and historical experience of the Irish people.

Neil McManus, Peter Canavan, Tomás Ó Sé, Joe Brolly, Shane McGuigan, Niall Cahalane, Terence 'Sambo’ McNaughton, Michael Darragh McAuley, Aoife Ní Chasáide, Jane Adams, Brendan Devenney, Greg McCartan, Sorcha Gormley and Danny Sutcliffe have also signed the petition.

The UN report found that as a global insurance company, Allianz invested large sums in shares and bonds implicated in the occupation of Palestinian territories.

The Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to follow and report on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

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