THE GAA’s Management Committee is split over the Association’s ongoing relationship with sponsors Allianz PLC (Ireland), The Irish News understands.
A letter from Tyrone County Board calling on the GAA to end its links with the European insurance giant was discussed at the Friday night meeting of the Association’s most influential decision-making body.
Some of the committee members voiced the need for serious discussion to be re-opened on the matter after the GAA chose to continue its ties following a report from its Ethics and Integrity Committee late last year.
Certain people on the Management Committee are said to be “deeply uncomfortable” that the GAA’s name and reputation is still attached to the Allianz brand.
GAA President Jarlath Burns looks on as Director General Tom Ryan speaks to the media at Croke Park. Picture: Sportsfile (Seb Daly / SPORTSFILE)
The Management Committee comprises Burns, GAA Director-General Tom Ryan, representatives from each of the four Irish provinces plus Britain, figures from Camogie and Ladies Football, as well as other GAA figures and some presidential nominees.
In response to The Irish News, a GAA spokesperson said that “we will continue to engage on this issue” but, as is normal, declined to comment further on the discussions which took place at the Management Committee meeting.
The recent declaration by a United Nations Commission of Inquiry that Israel IS committing genocide by deliberately targeting and killing Palestinian children has further shifted the weight of opinion for some.
All Ireland winners and former footballers Colm O’Rourke, Meath. and Peter Canavan, Tyrone, attend a protest march outside Croke Park in Dublin as the 2026 GAA Annual Congress was in progress. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile (Ray McManus / SPORTSFILE/SPORTSFILE)
The Red Hand County wrote to GAA President Jarlath Burns and many other leading officials within the Association just over three weeks ago after its clubs unanimously backed the ‘Drop Allianz’ campaign following a survey.
The Tyrone missive asked former Armagh captain Burns “as our Uachtarán, to facilitate a proper GAA discussion of this fundamentally important issue” and to seek other main sponsors and insurers.
Allianz PLC (Ireland), which is wholly owned by Allianz SE, is the title sponsor of the National Football and Hurling Leagues, and one of three main sponsors of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
It is also the insurer for many GAA properties.
Allianz SE is a significant investor in Israeli war bonds and indeed has massively increased their financial commitment in that area over the past year or so.
Tyrone’s statement declared: “Some argue that Gaza/the Middle East isn’t our conflict. But the GAA’s links with Allianz tie us into what’s going on there, snaring us, disastrously, into much more than a guilt by association.
“It is long past time that connection was ended. To take money from, or pay money to, Allianz is neither moral nor decent.”