Fogarty Forum: Why image rights issue could raise its head again in GAA

A thorny topic may be back on the agenda in the Croke Park boardroom. 

A new protocol, which includes funding, is currently being negotiated and while it may be an opening gambit, it was not received favourably at HQ. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Twenty years ago, the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) planted a flag and declared inter-county players’ image rights were theirs.

Photographs of Cork hurler Jerry O’Connor had been used in an advertising campaign for the GAA’s partnership with Gaelic Telecom and the GPA, who were not officially recognised by the GAA at the time, demanded it be pulled as they had their own phone deal in the pipeline.