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THE Tyrone County Board elected to omit all mention of Allianz in its match day programme for Saturday evening’s Division Two opener against Kildare at O’Neill’s Healy Park.
In previous years, the National League’s flagship sponsors received a strong billing in Tyrone’s match day programme at home league matches, but in Saturday’s 24-page edition there wasn’t a single reference to Allianz, or use of its logo.
The GAA has come under fire for its relationship with the global insurer in recent months after a United Nations (UN) report alleged the company has profited from the Israeli forces’ occupation of Gaza.
It emerged that the insurance giant will stay on board as sponsors of the National Leagues and All-Ireland Senior Championship following a meeting of senior GAA officials before Christmas, but protests have intensified and no current players appeared publicly at last week’s launch of the National Leagues.
At half-time of Tyrone’s Division Two meeting with Kildare, the International Quilt of Resistance – a massive patchwork quilt commemorating thousands of children who have been killed in Gaza – was unfurled and held aloft by protesters on the Healy Park pitch. Two Allianz pitchside signs which were behind the goals during the first half were also quietly removed.
Elsewhere, RTÉ has said it is ‘contractually obliged’ to keep the name of the insurance company in the title of its National League highlights programme, while the GAA has ‘agreed to consider motions relating to sponsorship within the Association’ at the next meeting of its management committee at Croke Park.
