GPA’s E500 TV nixer

Tony Leen and Brendan O’Brien

Inter-county stars have been told they can pocket E500 if they are seen drinking from a bottle of the ‘Club Energise’ drink during TV appearances.

Players from a number of counties were texted ahead of the weekend’s Championship games and advised: “If RTÉ try to stop you drinking, we advise you should refuse to do the interview.”

Armagh attacker Ronan Clarke was seen drinking twice from a Club Energise bottle in an RTÉ interview after Sunday’s Ulster SFC victory over Fermanagh. However GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell insisted yesterday this wasn’t a new scheme devised to increase player income.

He said the arrangement with Cantrell & Cochrane, the makers of Club Energise, is in place since last year’s Championship, when C&C paid almost E10,000 to around 20 players during the Championship.

However, discussions are ongoing between the GPA and RTÉ, who see the practice as virtual product placement. GAA chiefs are also keeping a watching brief.

“We are currently in negotiations with RTÉ and they are to come back to us on it,” said Farrell. “Their reasoning is that having bottles of Club Energise amounts to product placement, but our argument would be that it is no different to sponsorship on a player’s jersey or a player drinking from a particular brand of bottled of water during a game.

“Interviews after a game are one of the few areas where players can legitimately endorse a product and get some financial reward for doing it.”

The advertising of Club Energise has been banned in all GAA stadia since last year, with the GPA seeking a meeting with Croke’s Park’s Marketing Department to clarify why.

“The ban would have been brought in initially to try and cut off the players’ organisation’s source of revenue but it hasn’t worked as the GPA has been very successful in generating revenue for itself in the last number of years,” said Farrell.

“We would also point out that Club Energise is produced by a 100% Irish company which is necessary under the rules and regulations of the GAA.”

As well as the ban on advertising, the GPA claim that on occasions players have been told they cannot carry the drink through the gates of GAA grounds.

“We have heard of individual instances where players have been asked to hand over bottles of Club Energise but it doesn’t seem to be a policy like the ban on advertising the product.”

Officially RTÉ are refusing to comment, but privately, they are angered by the implicit threat of a withdrawal of co-operation if players are not permitted to advertise the drink during an interview.

The deal involving the GPA and C&C was described by Farrell last April as “one of the association’s most significant steps yet” and would be of “benefit to all inter-county players.”

Money from every bottle of Club Energise sold goes to supporting the GPA, with two players nominated to administer the deal in each county.

It is believed that the players group have benefited to the tune of some E450,000 since the partnership between the GPA and C&C began two years ago. Then ten GAA players fronted a marketing campaign for the drinks’ giant with each player receiving 2,250 for the use of their image rights.

Depending on the sales of the new products, it is estimated that a sum of 750,000 could be raised by the GPA as its members help promote the product during 2005.

Earlier this month the players’ group were engaged in a war of words with the Limerick County Board over their treatment of the county’s footballers prior to their training trip to La Manga in Spain. One of the complaints was a lack of training gear for the travelling players. The GPA issued a statement on the eve of the trip revealing: “On learning of the squad’s predicament, Club Energise subsequently provided a full range of training kit for the players and management team.”

But such product placement is not new in Irish sport. Lions skipper Brian O’Driscoll appeared on RTÉ television last season drinking Powerade during the post match interviews in the wake of Ireland’s Triple Crown success.

Powerade is the official sports drink of the IRFU and O’Driscoll has an exclusive personal sponsorship deal with the Coca Cola-made isotonic sports drink. Analyst George Hook was quick to cop the ultimate professionals’ ploy, flaunting his speedily-concocted “Hook’s Hooch” back in the studio.

Additional reporting by Colm O’Connor