GAA under pressure to revisit Allianz sponsorship issue as Tyrone call for action

Allianz was among a number of companies named in a UN report as being involved in sustaining the war in Gaza due to its economic links to Israel. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

The GAA has come under pressure once again to revisit the Allianz sponsorship issue following calls from Tyrone 'to do what's right, proper, moral and decent'.

A letter sent to GAA President Jarlath Burns by a 'group of totally authentic Tyrone Gaels', who claim to have done so on the 'unanimous direction of Tyrone GAA county committee' has again highlighted the issue of Allianz and its links to the Gaza conflict.

Signed off by Tyrone secretary Micheál MacGiolla Cheara, the letter states that 'we have been clearly and unequivocally mandated by our county committee to keep pursuing this issue'.

It reads: "That's why I'm writing directly to you as our Uachtarán, to facilitate a proper GAA discussion of this fundamentally important issue."

Allianz was among a number of companies named in a UN report as being involved in sustaining the war in Gaza due to its economic links to Israel.

Back in February, the GAA's Annual Congress was disrupted by protesters calling for the association to sever its long-running sponsorship deals with Allianz.

"We don't need to rehearse the catastrophe that continues to be visited on the Middle East," read the Tyrone letter. "But part of that brutal reality is that, since honourable attempts to debate ending our links with Allianz were thwarted late last year, thousands more have been killed, maimed, orphaned, confined, abused, dispossessed, and/or evicted.

"And the UN's conclusions on Allianz's role there are well established. Similar hideous experiences are of course central to our Irish community memory. Offsetting those experiences was what first inspired the creation of the GAA. And what still energises it.

"So, for example, along with much else, to see Allianz recently flaunted in our national stadium as 'Helping over 60,000 children in Ireland to #KeepPlaying' was crass, offensive, and belittling to everyone."

Earlier this week, former Dublin star Jack McCaffrey called for an end to the attacks on Gaza.

"I would be unequivocally opposed to the violence in Gaza," said McCaffrey, who was speaking at the launch of PTSB's sponsorship of the Dublin club championships.

The full letter from Tyrone to GAA President Burns read:

Iarlaith, a chara, I am writing to you on the unanimous direction of Tyrone GAA County Committee, as clearly articulated at our County Committee meeting on 2nd June.

The critical issue, that’s wretchedly still with us, is the GAA’s ongoing relationship with Allianz. And the inescapable, growing need for us to do what’s right, proper, moral, and decent here. Despite the wrongful exclusion of this issue from its rightful and legitimate discussion at the 2026 Congress, it is not going away.

Over recent weeks a group of totally authentic Tyrone Gaels has, with our County Committee’s full support, directly engaged with all the GAA Clubs in Tyrone. That engagement identified a 100% support for the GAA to end its commercial relationship with Allianz. Similar initiatives across other Counties are producing similar results.

We don’t need to rehearse the catastrophe that continues to be visited on the Middle East. But part of that brutal reality is that, since honourable attempts to debate ending our links with Allianz were thwarted late last year, thousands more people have been killed, maimed, orphaned, confined, abused, dispossessed, and/or evicted.

And the UN’s conclusions on Allianz’s role there are well established.

Similar hideous experiences are of course central to our Irish community memory. Offsetting those experiences was what first inspired the creation of the GAA. And what still energises it. 

So, for example, along with much else, to see Allianz recently flaunted in our national stadium as ‘Helping over 60,000 children in Ireland to #KeepPlaying’ was crass, offensive, and belittling to everyone.

Some argue that Gaza/the Middle East isn’t our conflict.

But the GAA’s links with Allianz tie us into what’s going on there, snaring us, disastrously, into much more than a guilt by association. It is long past time that connection was ended. To take money from, or pay money to Allianz, is neither moral nor decent. ‘Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine | People live in one another's shelter.’ 

In Tyrone we like to think we’re not naïve people. We live in the real world. In a world that’s often difficult. This is a County of largely self-generated businesses, where we work hard, making difficult decisions, big and small, to get us-and-ours through life. That same culture permeates our GAA here.

So we fully know and appreciate that disengaging from Allianz is neither simple nor straightforward, nor something that can be done on a whim.

But, as we equally know too well in Tyrone, there are times in life when ‘enough is enough’. When real lines are crossed.

We have been clearly and unequivocally mandated by our County Committee to keep pursuing this issue. That’s why I’m writing directly to you as our Uachtarán, to facilitate a proper GAA discussion of this fundamentally important issue. 

As it is a seminal issue for this GAA generation, our County Committee also asked that I copy this email to other leading GAA national and County Officers.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Le gach dea-ghuí 

Micheál Mac Giolla Cheara 

Rúnaí, Coiste Chontae Thír Eoghain