B of I to continue to provide the bucks

CHRISTMAS Day may be a full week away but the GAA is unlikely to receive a more welcome boost over the festive season than yesterday’s news that Bank of Ireland would be continuing it’s SFC sponsorship for a further four years until 2007.

The bank’s relationship with the Association began in 1979 with sponsorship of the All Stars and in 1994 the relationship between the two reached new heights with the company’s decision to become the inaugural sponsors of the football Championship. The current sponsorship deal was due to end in 2003 but the partnership will now last for at least 13 years following yesterday’ announcement.

No-one is now in any doubt that the GAA is big business and the re-opening of the jaw-dropping stadium at Croke Park has only served to emphasise the Association’s status as a business of serious might - a fact Bank of Ireland are only too well aware of.