Irish Examiner view: An unwise partnership for the GAA

The partnership between Cork GAA and Sports Direct will trouble many GAA members.

It is no longer necessary to qualify the statement that the GAA is the most deeply-embedded organisation in this country. Since the retreat of formal Catholicism accelerated the GAA has stood alone on a pedestal, its influence unquestioned. Its robust heartbeat evident in every community, its volunteerism a shining example of what can be achieved when a community works as one. 

The organisation is such a force that many of today’s emigrants come together under its umbrella in faraway places, places that never heard of Shefflin or Sheehy much less Rackard or Ring. In those circumstances, it can be the umbilical cord that helps exiles build a new life. Not only do we export our children, but we export support networks in various county colours. That process is, in what can be the coldest circumstances, a reassuring conduit to possibility. Yet, this is just one of the countless positive contributions the organisation makes to Irish life.

In the not so long very ago GAA leaders fretted it was becoming “a mere sporting organisation”. They wanted it to be much more, to play a dynamic role in shaping society by raising standards, through active idealism, and a commitment to national sovereignty. Those high ideals are celebrated in the names of GAA grounds: Croke Park, Pearse Stadium, Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada, MacHale Park, Dr Hyde Park, Markievicz Park, Páirc Uí Chaoimh too.

These names are more than memorials, they are challenges to today’s GAA to match the idealism, courage, and clarity of those so honoured. To do that it is necessary to do more than parade the Artane Boys’ Band or mark one centenary or another. It is necessary to live those values. That challenge is increasingly difficult for an amateur organisation expected to deliver professional performance. Pragmatism limits options as the debate about television rights shows

If those circumstances are exacerbated by debt then choices narrow further. For Cork GAA that debt came with the redevelopment of the over-budget €96m Páirc Uí Chaoimh. This debt, which stands at €33m, will not be fully repaid for years, despite taxpayer support of €30m. The organisation has now identified more than 50 revenue streams to tackle the debt, but Covid-19 continues to challenge revenue-generating opportunities.

Sports Direct deal

That vulnerability may be behind the Cork GAA decision to sign a four-year deal with Sports Direct worth €400,000 a year. In an irony that might have tickled some old-school Gaels that sponsorship comes as the FAI repays €100,000 a month to Sports Direct until autumn 2025 as the company invoked a call-back clause in a €6.5m deal.

Owned by billionaire Mike Ashley, Sports Direct has become symbolic of how the changing world of work has made so many people vulnerable.

The more important question is, however, very different. Should a community organisation like the GAA, one built on our better instincts and hopes, one sustained by selflessness, have a partnership with a firm routinely criticised for mistreating its 30,000 staff? Can all of the accusations ranging from sweatshop abuse to below minimum wage pay be discounted? Owned by billionaire Mike Ashley, who also owns Carlton, Dunlop, Donnay, Lillywhites, Slazenger, Karrimor, Campri, No Fear, Kangol, Firetrap, House of Fraser and Newcastle United, Sports Direct has become symbolic of how the changing world of work has made so many people vulnerable. Sports Direct, from whom this newspaper has accepted advertising, is not by any means the only employer so charged.

This partnership will trouble many GAA members who cherish the principles and solidarity of those remembered in stadium names. After all, Sports Direct stands accused of the very misuse of power those men and women gave the lives, sometimes literally, to fight. This modest deal has the potential to squander social capital built up over generations especially as the GAA’s mission statement includes the lines “Give Respect, Get Respect”. This invocation is hollowed out by this act of desperation. It demonstrates a flexibility of principle that tarnishes an organisation that, because of it origins and our common history, should know better.