AIB has touted 15,000 of its own clients from cheaper tracker mortgages, evicted 13 families from their homes and avoided 18 years of referee punishment. No better sponsor for the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
IB chief executive Colin Hunt even compared the bank to the GAA last week – the day before he was hit with a record €96.7 million fine for the tracker affair.
“Like the GAA, AIB is deeply embedded in communities across the country. We have always been extremely proud of our partnership with the GAA.”
Sometimes it’s called sports washing – using sports to buy respect. Hunt added that players, supporters and “we at AIB are all looking forward to another exciting couple of weeks of championship action.”
The three sponsors of the football championship – AIB, Eir and SuperValu – hardly expected the “exciting action” last weekend.
In modern sports, sponsors are often asked about controversies about teams and events in which they invest. None of the three commented on the fight at the end of the Armagh/Galway quarter-final on Sunday.
Reflecting the GAA’s position in popular culture, the gouging incident has transcended the sport and sparked significant public interest. The consequences of the failures have caused the old and new GAA worlds to collide.
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Larry McCarty. Photo: Eoin Noonan / SPORTS FILE
GAA President Larry McCarthy has also gone to ground, refusing to be interviewed until disciplinary proceedings are completed. The GAA’s 1,047 million followers on social media will not see any reference to the incident. The players involved were trending on Twitter. The old school GAA has argued that this is just another case to be dealt with.
Omerta steps in.
However, the standard procedure for returning to internal procedures is not to wash on this occasion. Taoiseach Micheál Martin led the sentencing of the incident.
The Taoiseach’s son, Micheál Aodh, played for Cork in their loss to Dublin on Saturday, although he was particularly effective on his kick-outs.
Of greater importance, however, was the opinion of Sports Minister Catherine Martin, who would not be what would be described as “GAA people”.
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Minister of Sports Catherine Martin. Photo: PA
“The dazzling incident is appalling. Families go to these games. I know a five year old who was there yesterday, their first competitive experience. They should have come home to talk about what an amazing experience it was,” she said.
Aside from maintaining the public purse for sports, the Green Party minister’s views were insightful as she is representative of that wider audience drawn to the GAA’s broad appeal for community, diversity and inclusion.
The GAA is awakened – in the literal sense of the dictionary – because it is alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice in society.
Also on Saturday, ahead of the quarter-finals, the GAA marched in the Dublin Pride Parade as “the Gaelic Games family” encouraged members to “show solidarity with those who are LGBTQ+”.
Centra, a sponsor of the hurling championship, has a TV ad with the tagline, “Community Matters, We Choose Community.”
Centra’s sister store, SuperValu, which sponsors the football, says it “has always used its influence in Gaelic games for good”.
“The benefits of diverse and inclusive communities can be seen every day in our stores across Ireland.”
Corporate brands want a touch of green from the GAA.
But there are potential financial costs to the GAA as a result of an incident so high-profile, watched live on television, resulting in a massive public response. Michael Cullen, editor of marketing.ie magazine, and a Dublin hurling fan, says reputational damage could have commercial implications.
“The sponsors would be concerned, especially at this time, about so much discussion about violence in society. The GAA has a special cachet and has been an example for representing the community. It wouldn’t be nice to see that eroded in any way,” he said.
In addition, the GAA’s place in society puts it under more scrutiny. Theologian, author and historian Dr. John Scally is writing a book on past GAA controversies. His earlier works include: The GAA: An Oral Historybased on the statement that “the GAA has been a fixture in a rapidly changing time”.
“The GAA is a constant. Other institutions have failed over time. Still, the GAA is now stronger than ever because of the place women occupy in Gaelic games.
“You have the popularity of women’s football and camogie – more girls playing and women attending matches. It’s like the growth in Dublin. The GAA has become fashionable, popular, cool,” says Scally.
However, he adds that the Croke Park brawl can hurt hard-earned status.
“The GAA cannot continue as normal and should be seen as a reflection of the concerns people have about player safety. If you are a parent and your child is interested in playing, this will not be a positive image.
“This was something we saw before our very eyes. That was different and it evoked a deep-seated reaction: people felt outraged because they had a sense of fair play. People who are not GAA people have an opinion about it. It’s one of those popular culture moments,” he says.
While the GAA is not compared to any religion, Scally says the only comparison to the Catholic Church is a sensitivity to criticism.
“Part of the culture shift we need is for institutions to see criticism not as an attack, but as an act of love, because people want the best for the organization.
“The GAA has taken on a leadership role in areas like alcohol sponsorship, for example, or social, such as volunteering during Covid-19. But their disciplinary processes are not in line with the progress they have made in other areas,” he says.
“Perception is important. The GAA needs to be aware of what it is doing and being seen.”
The general public will soon be getting a crash course in archaic GAA disciplinary proceedings.
The Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC), which is investigating the melee, will meet again today, while the Central Hearings Committee (CHC) will hear appeals against automatic suspensions ahead of the Galway semi-finals.
The disciplinary process has gone badly this season, with suspensions being overturned due to technicalities.
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Pat Spillane. Photo: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
Croke Park’s melee drew comparisons to a famous brawl between Mayo and Meath in the 1996 All-Ireland football final. The Sunday gamePat Spillane memorably parses that scrap with phrases like “jump in to rearrange his head” and “the poor man got a terrible kill”.
Twenty-six years later, Spillane, to his credit, called Sunday’s battle “disgraceful, outrageous and disgraceful to all involved.” The fervent denunciation on TV set the tone and led to suggestions that the GAA really should draw a line under the pitch battles this time around.
Breaking down from Sunday’s action, a la Spillane all those years ago, there were four separate ‘scrums’: the first group of 10 players and officials, split into two groups; one with 13 involved, with two on the ground; and another involving 19 involved, where the eye hollowing took place; resulting in another breakout with 17 involved, including three on the ground.
In 1996, Spillane’s fellow expert Tony Davis put it succinctly, “It really has no place in our game.”
The same phrase was used this week. Times have not changed.