GAA hedging bets over action on hurley branding

GAA president Sean Kelly has declined to speculate if suspensions be imposed on players who played with hurleys carrying the brand of Paddy Power.

They received €750 each for the privilege.

Describing it as "ambush marketing" and "piggy-backing" on the popularity of Gaelic games, he said that on both fronts the company and individual perspective it would not be ignored. In the meantime, he indicated that the counties involved in next weekend's games will be contacted about the developing controversy.

"We're going to have to look at it this week and maybe talk to the county boards," Mr Kelly said in Dublin yesterday. "It would be more advisable than waiting for it to happen again without saying anything about it."

At a general level, it was his view and he felt the Association shared the same concern that the company involved was "more culpable" than anyone else.

"We take a very dim view of any company ignoring totally our regulations and our procedures, showing scant regard for our sponsors, both national and county, and undertaking a cheap shot like that.

"That company has a corporate box in Croke Park and they may not be very welcome from now on. We'll have to look at the legal situation, but certainly it's something we are going to look at.

"If we do business with people, we do it up front and we respect their rules and regulations. We expect them to do the same with us."

For its part, Paddy Power said it was delighted with the publicity it had received for the stunt, but it did not want to see anyone disciplined.

However, when asked if the three players concerned Damien Fitzhenry, Paul Codd and Sean Og O hAilpin could be in trouble, the GAA president replied that 'trouble' was not a word he would use. It was a new situation and it would be a matter for the Games Administration Committee to examine.

Elaborating, he said that any question of discipline would be a matter for the committee, and not something that would be appropriate for him as president to speculate on.

"But," he added, "the GAC won't be ignoring it. They'll have to investigate it and see what's the appropriate thing to do."

He made it quite clear that the regulations did not permit such activity, saying: "The rule is straightforward in that, while endorsements are allowed, they are not allowed off the field. You can't have individual sponsorship on the field of play, on your playing gear. Hurleys come under that heading. You can't play hurling without a hurley so it has to be playing gear."

An expansion of this type of activity would not be welcome, he insisted, adding: "We take a very dim view of any company piggy-backing and engaging in ambush marketing for their own benefit. And we would hope that our players would not be used as pawns in that situation.

"The Association is being shabbily treated. It's totally unprofessional for any reputable company to behave like that towards another organisation, particularly a voluntary organisation like the GAA, and it's not acceptable."

In the meantime, Cork County Board chairman Jim Forbes has lashed out at the amount of free publicity Paddy Power has received at the expense of the GAA.

Mr Forbes described the bookmakers' ruse as a cheap publicity stunt which drew maximum media coverage at little cost.

"They already got maximum value out of it because of the publicity in the days leading up to the game," said Mr Forbes.

"I saw a situation myself on Sunday when the Cork team came out onto the pitch, where a photographer was only interested in taking a photograph of the Cork player with his hurley containing the bookie's name on it, and he did the same for the two Wexford players.

"Whatever about the rights and wrongs of branding the hurley, the one person who gains most out of all this is the bookmaker in question, and that annoys me intensely.

"If he was to pay for the publicity he got, he'd have had to pay an awful lot of money, far more than the figures we heard being mentioned.

"All this is taking the focus away from what we as an organisation are trying to do and the enjoyment the players are giving, Sunday after Sunday.

"I'm appalled at the amount of cheap publicity anyone can get at the expense of the association. If the figures we hear are correct, it's paltry for the amount of advertising this bookie has got."

Wexford County Board PRO Alan Aherne admitted that his board was informed by letter from Croke Park on Friday of the intentions of two players to use the branded hurleys.

"The two players concerned were informed by both the team manager and county board chairman of the consequences of their actions, and that's where the matter rested as far as we were concerned," he said.

Paddy Power, the corporate spokesman for the bookmaker, said all the furore that has erupted is nothing more than a storm in a teacup in his view.

"It goes without saying I'm delighted with the publicity it has created, but it was never our intention to cause problems for any player or county board by getting involved.

"The players and the company were happy with the deal that was brokered, which consisted of 750 a man per game. The idea for all this came from a deal that was done recently involving a number of footballers wearing Puma football boots.

"We were somewhat bemused by Mr Kelly's comments, and would disagree with his contention that Paddy Power is taking advantage of the players and seeking to benefit through a 'cheap shot'.

He continued: "Paddy Power's player sponsorship deal is an innovative marketing event and is a commercial sponsorship deal directly between Paddy Power and the eight players involved. We fully support player initiatives in all sports that will generate them sponsorship income, and we will continue to seek innovative player sponsorships going forward. Paddy Power's commercial arrangement with the GAA with regards to its corporate box in Croke Park is a completely separate relationship. We see absolutely no basis for Mr Kelly to seek our removal from our Croke Park box, for which we have a three-year lease.

"Paddy Power will continue to support the eight players involved in our sponsorship deal."