GAA retain headline sponsors

THE GAA will retain their full multi-sponsorship portfolio for both the All-Ireland football and hurling championships into 2012, despite the continuingly difficult economic environment.

All three headline sponsors of the All-Ireland hurling championship have now recommitted for 2012 in what the GAA describe as “another strong endorsement for our games”.

There was some concern the association might be forced to re-examine their multi-sponsorship model to secure the future sponsorship of the hurling championship, as contracts with two of the three multi-sponsors, Guinness and Etihad Airways, expired at the end of the 2011 championship.

However both sponsors have now renewed their deals for 2012, alongside Centra, who already had an agreement in place that would see them through the current year.

The three headline sponsors for the football championship – Ulster Bank, Super Valu and Eircom – were also already committed for 2012, with Eircom being the most recent of the new sponsorships, taking over last year as one of the football sponsors in deals worth around €1.3 million per annum to the GAA.

“Obviously this model means we have different contracts with different sponsors, but we’re delighted to be able to confirm they’ve all come back, and that we’ll have the same sponsors in place for 2012,” explained Alan Milton, the GAA’s communications manager. “It’s not that there was any doubt, but of course the sponsors would have to carry out their own review and arrangements for any given year.

“So it’s another strong endorsement for our games and we’re delighted to be able to continue our association with these sponsors. You have to have good relationships with these sponsors given the model that we have, but they’ve all renewed at this stage, which means everything is in place for 2012.”

It is also now expected all of the GAA’s associate sponsors for other secondary and underage competitions will continue for 2012: “It effectively means that nothing is going out for tender,” added Milton. “Every portfolio is full for this year.”

The multi-sponsorship model for the championship was first introduced in 2008, and both Ethihad and Guinness have been on board for the last four years: Guinness in fact have an association with the hurling championship going back 18 years, having taken on the title sponsorship of the hurling championship in 1995, the year such sponsorship was first inaugurated.

The GAA’s main sponsorship responsibilities have recently been taken over by Peter McKenna, who continues to act as Croke Park stadium director, following the retirement last year of Dermot Power, the commercial and marketing director.

Over the four years to date of the multi-sponsorship model, three of the original six have now renewed – Etihad, Guinness and Ulster Bank – while the original three to drop out were national broadcaster RTÉ, Toyota and Vodafone.

However there has been some debate and unease in the past about the future of alcohol sponsorships in sport, particularly in the GAA, although associations with other sports, such as the Heineken Cup, don’t appear to attract the same level of unease – although legislative moves to restrict or even abolish the role of alcohol sponsorship in sport still seem unlikely.

The multi-sponsorship model has clearly served the GAA well, although busy turnover of sponsors isn’t helping the clarity of public perception with a survey last year showing 22 per cent of respondents believed Bank of Ireland was still a GAA sponsor, despite having relinquished its role as title sponsor of the football championship in 2007.

Meanwhile, the GAA have confirmed Saturday’s ninth annual National Games Development Conference is a sell-out, with some 650 delegates set to attend. The theme is “Coaching Children: Building a Platform for Lifelong Involvement in Gaelic Games”, which GAA president Christy Cooney describes as one “of most concern and interest to members of the GAA community”.

Among the list of speakers will be Cian O’Neill, now trainer of Mayo senior footballers and previously of Tipperary senior hurlers, plus former Cork minor football manager Brian Cuthbert. Gerry Hussey, sports psychologist to the Irish Olympic boxers, will provide an angle on coaching issues affecting Gaelic Games, and performance coach to the Dublin senior football team Caroline Currid, and former Leitrim footballer, Colin Regan, will discuss how coaches can encourage positive lifestyle choices for teenagers.