The rights and wrongs of image rights Image rights: fact or fiction? That was the question asked by the Gaelic Players Association at their seminar on Friday and it is a multi-million Euro question to which Irish sportsmen and women want to know the answer.

Image rights has become something of a buzz phrase in recent times thanks in no small part to high-profile contracts such as the one David Beckham last signed with Manchester United, which earned him millions more from the club's use of his image.

But making use of one's own image rights is nothing new to self-employed golfers and savvy rugby union players from the southern hemisphere. These professional athletes have been maximising their earnings through their contracts, making explicit stipulations for earnings from use of their image.

Niall Woods, chief executive of the Irish Rugby Union Players' Association (IRUPA), says since the arrival of southern hemisphere players to the UK, the issue of player image rights in contracts has been growing.

"Since 1998, the majority of image rights deals that have been done in rugby in the UK have come from the southern hemisphere guys," says Woods. "These players are setting up image rights companies where a percentage of their and the club's earnings from their image use is paid into a separate company. As a result, the revenue estimates that up to 25 per cent savings on tax are being made. In Ireland if something similar were to happen, you'd be paying 12.5 per cent tax on the specific image rights earnings versus the 42 per cent income rate."

But professional team sport in Ireland is restricted largely to the rugby team and when it comes to the GAA there is a grey area. It's a complicated issue with very little case history to offer guidance and according to Eoin MacNeill, partner and head of the Sports Law Unit at AL Goodbody Solicitors, who have been very involved in this issue, there is no such specific thing as an "image right" under Irish law.

"An image right is about being able to prevent people from associating your picture with a product and within Ireland it is a relatively new thing to deal with."

In Ireland, Keith Wood's contract dispute with the IRFU in 1998 was over use of his image rights and in 2001, Mary Peters took a case against Ark Life for the use of her image in their "Do you remember when?" campaign.

But with the GPA looking to increase the use of their members' images for commercial gain, the battleground looks set to be drawn over use of county jerseys in any such deals. MacNeill says it is a situation similar to that of the Irish soccer players in 1990 when they went their own way and signed sponsorship deals separate from the FAI.

"Full value is when the sum of the parts comes together," says O'Neill. "A good product has the face and the jersey with it and the sponsors most of the time will look for both."

But whether the GPA can use county jerseys is another matter. The recent campaign for Club Energise featuring the likes of Jason Sherlock in Dublin's jersey raised the ire of the county board.

Anyway, unless you're a Brian O'Driscoll or a Damien Duff and can become a global name, Irish sports stars will remain in the ha'penny place when it comes to earnings from image rights.

Any suggestions of cricket-style match fixing taking place in tennis have been strongly rejected by the ATP Tour. It emerged last week that £80,000 had been placed on world number 67 Fernando Vicente to beat Yevgeny Kafelnikov when the former led 5-1 at the Masters Series in Madrid. When Vicente, who had not won a match since June, duly triumphed in straight sets, 6-2 6-3, doubt filled the air.

But sources in the betting industry reject the notion of match fixing. They say this is just another example of the canny way punters are now operating by using Internet betting exchanges to lay and back odds. Now that bets can be laid in just a matter of seconds over the Internet, any inside information (such as the injury that was affecting Kafelnikov) can be turned into an almost immediate profit.

First to fall prey to the benchmarking payments could be sports facilities in Ireland and already this week athletics has been cut. The four Dublin local authorities stated during the week that they "intend to make no provision for the operation of the Morton Stadium in the draft budget for 2004" thus making a saving of €130,000 for the coming year.

Morton Stadium has been home to Irish track and field championships from juvenile to senior level as well as hosting international events throughout the year and according to Athletics Ireland international secretary Liam Hennessy any shortfall in funding would "have a massive impact on the sport".

"The facility is used more than any other in the country by Athletics Ireland," said Hennessy. "And any decision by the authorities to pull out of funding for Santry would have huge implications for athletics in this country."

With budgets already constrained in the new economic climate and costings of up to €2 million to run athletics at national level, any additional money for the running of Santry will, it seems, have to come out of the Government coffers.

But the ultimate fate of the stadium and plans for a future €12 million indoor arena at the venue could depend on what happens just down the road at Croke Park.

Cllr Maurice Ahern, president of Clonliffe Harriers, who have made Morton Stadium their home since 1954, believes that if the Government commits to building the national stadium then there won't be additional funding for a planned indoor arena. The long-term future of athletics in Ireland may rest on the next cabinet meeting and any decision taken to continue with the national stadium or not.

14 - The price of shares in pence sterling in Millwall FC.

10 - The number of millions of pounds Anna Kournikova earns in endorsements each year

2 - The number of millions of pounds Kournikova has earned on court over her entire career