Dublin’s Kilmacud Crokes have tabled a motion for Wednesday evening’s AGM calling on the Dublin County Board to in turn call on the GAA to drop Allianz Insurance as sponsor of the National Leagues.
It follows a series of similar motions already passed at club and county conventions in recent months, after a United Nations report on the conflict in Gaza, published last June, listed Allianz’s German parent company, through its subsidiary Pimco, as among those holding Israeli government bonds.
It is also reported the Dublin footballers and hurlers are considering a decision not to appear in front of Allianz signage when conducting interviews, according to RTÉ Sport.
Both the football and hurling leagues start this weekend, with a competition launch led by Allianz, not the GAA, set to take place on Thursday, although exact details have yet to be confirmed. No present intercounty players are expected to participate, with Allianz focusing instead on a theme of “GAA legends” to promote the new campaign.
Croke Park made no comment when asked if they anticipated any level of protest around the Allianz sponsorship at the start of the National Leagues.
The motion from Kilmacud Crokes comes a month after the GAA’s Management Committee accepted the recommendation of the Ethics and Integrity Commission (EIC) to retain its relations with Allianz. The insurance company has sponsored the GAA’s National Leagues since 1993, with the current deal in place until 2030.
Allianz is also sponsor of the All-Ireland football championship, the Camogie Association and Cumann na mBunscol.
Unlike previous motions calling for the GAA to cut all ties with Allianz, the Kilmacud Crokes motion, if successful, is directed only at the sponsorship of the National Leagues.
The club AGM takes place on Wednesday evening, after its original November date was postponed, and the exact wording of the motion is: “In light of the findings of the recent UN report that Allianz Insurance (through its subsidiary Pimco) is profiting from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, Kilmacud Crokes calls on the Dublin County Board to call on the GAA to drop Allianz as sponsor of the National Leagues.”
It is considered rare for a controversial motion such as this to be tabled at the club AGM and will only require a simple majority to be approved, not a 60 per cent majority, as it doesn’t involve any change in the club constitution.
Based in Stillorgan, the southside Dublin club is widely considered to be the largest in Ireland, with about 5,000 members, fielding about 130 teams in football, hurling, women’s football and camogie. If passed, it would send out another strong statement to the Dublin County Board and the GAA.
At this stage it is unclear if any motion addressing the Allianz sponsorship will be debated at GAA Congress, which is set for Croke Park on the weekend of February 27th-28th. According to the Management Committee, any such motion would be “inappropriate” for referencing external body decisions such as the EIC report. The GAA’s Rules Advisory Committee has yet to release the motions approved for Congress.
Back in August, almost 800 football, hurling and camogie players, past and present, signed and submitted an open letter to Croke Park asking the GAA to end its relationship with Allianz, claiming its financial ties are “enabling the genocide of the Palestinian people”.
Offaly first passed a motion back in October, proposed by Ferbane GAA club, calling on the GAA to begin the process of ending its commercial relationship with Allianz, with similar motions passed by Tyrone, Fermanagh, Armagh, Antrim, Derry, Down, Leitrim, Roscommon and Westmeath.
Last week, Down club Saval withdrew a motion calling on the Down county board to pull all intercounty teams from competitions sponsored by Allianz. In acknowledging the withdrawal of that motion, the Down county board said “a number of positive and practical initiatives may be pursued to progress the matter and to demonstrate meaningful support for the people of Gaza”.
The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) has also indicated that should any motion on the matter make it to GAA Congress, it would put it to a vote among its membership to decide whether it should be supported.
Following that EIC report, accepted by Management Committee on December 19th, the GAA said: “Allianz plc has no involvement with the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] or corporate entities involved in the war in Gaza. Any such relationship is with a ‘sibling or cousin company.’”
The report stated a number of factors behind the decision: “If the GAA was to terminate its contracts with Allianz it would be impossible to secure an alternative insurer that would not have similar links”; “the unilateral termination of the contract with Allianz plc by the GAA could also expose the Association to legal consequences apart from loss of sponsorship”; and “the GAA is ethically and legally bound to honour its contracts and a failure to do so has the potential to damage its reputation and undermine its ability to do business with commercial entities”.
After the EIC report was accepted by Management Committee, Allianz said they had “no holdings in the government bonds referenced in a report by the current UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has no relationship with Elbit Systems and does not engage in any investment or underwriting activity connected to the Middle East.
“We have been transparent about this factual position throughout,” adding that Allianz “is proud to support Gaelic games, volunteers, schools and local clubs across Ireland. We look forward to continuing that work in the seasons ahead.”