GAA players protest over organisation’s sponsorship deal with Allianz

(From left) Protesters Paschal Canavan, Shane McGuigan, Colm O'Rourke, Aoife NÍ Chasáide, Dr David Hickey and Nodlaig Ní Bhrollaigh hand Alan Milton (in suit), director of communications at the GAA, the open letter. Photograph: Bryan Meade/The Irish Times

Almost 800 football, hurling and camogie players have signed an open letter asking the GAA to end its relationship with Allianz, an insurance company, claiming its financial ties are “enabling the genocide of the Palestinian people”.

The letter was delivered to Tom Ryan, the director general of the GAA, at a protest outside Croke Park on Wednesday.

Allianz is a sponsor of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship, the Allianz Leagues, the Camogie Association and Cumann na mBunscol.

A United Nations report published in June this year, led by special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese, found that asset management firms including Pimco, which is owned by German-based financial services company Allianz, was a significant buyer of Israeli treasury bonds. These bonds, the report argues, play a “critical role in funding the ongoing assault on Gaza”.

Signatory Nodlaig Ní Bhrollaigh, a barrister and former Derry footballer, said: “We are putting it up to the GAA, if you are committed to international humanitarian law and human rights then you cannot ignore this. They must cease their relationship with Allianz.”

Ms Ní Bhrollaigh sees the hundreds of signatures as a sense of “how deeply people feel about” the issue. “This is something we can actually do; we are not powerless. We can hold them to account now. What use is that information if we don’t do something about it?

“We’re not saying anything that isn’t in the public domain; we’re saying we must act on it ... We cannot adopt a business as usual approach,” said Ms Ní Bhrollaigh.

She believes Allianz should not be allowed to “socially-wash” its brand in Ireland through the GAA. “We as a GAA community, and certainly corporate GAA, should be doing heightened human rights due diligence,” she said.

The signatories of the letter include GAA stars Dr David Hickey, Neil McManus, Peter Canavan, Tomás Ó Sé, Joe Brolly, Shane McGuigan, Niall Cahalane, Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton, Michael Darragh McAuley, Aoife Ní Chasáide, Jane Adams, Brendan Devenney, Greg McCartan, Sorcha Gormley and Danny Sutcliffe.

In a statement, Allianz said: “Our long-standing partnership with the GAA is about supporting Irish sport and communities.

“Allianz Ireland is part of a global group and, while the wider group operates internationally across insurance and investment, as a matter of principle we do not comment on individual customers or business matters. What we can say is that all Allianz business decisions are guided by strict legal standards and world-leading ESG principles.”

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