Oil-Ireland: GAA strikes €1m deal with UAE airline

THE GAA has landed new sponsors, including Etihad Airways, for the senior All-Ireland hurling and football championships.

The football championship will be sponsored by Toyota, Ulster Bank and Vodafone while the hurling championship will be sponsored by Etihad Airways, Guinness and RTÉ under the restructured sponsorship format, which takes effect from this season.

Under the multi-sponsor format the All-Ireland competitions will be known as the GAA Football All-Ireland Championship and the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Championship respectively.

Because title ownership of the All-Ireland Championships reverts to the GAA, the introduction of new signage, broadcast, advertising and promotional agreements around the championships is also being introduced.

Etihad Airways of the United Arab Emirates is understood to have paid more than €1 million in the deal. These corporate sponsors from the UAE are not only rich in oil, they are also quickly acquiring an impressive portfolio of sponsorship deals having already landed Ferrari F1 and, in Britain, Chelsea Football Club and Harlequins RFC.

Commenting on the deal, GAA president Nickey Brennan said: “While the All-Ireland intercounty hurling and football championships stand to benefit from the new partnerships, the true beneficiaries will be grassroots GAA.”