Tyrone send open letter to GAA over Allianz sponsorship

The letter sent, again highlighted the issue of Allianz's relations to Israel.

The German insurance company has been Gaelic football and hurling's league sponsor since 1993 and have a deal in place until 2030.

This isn't the first time the association has come under pressure to review the partnership.

Last June, a United Nations report by special rapporteur, Francesco Albanese, opened the dialogue over the sponsorship deal.

The report found that Allianz was among the list of companies involved in sustaining the war in Gaza.

PIMCO, a subsidiary of Allianz was identified to be holding Israeli government bonds.

Following the report the GAA's three-person committee reviewed the partnership.

However, after reviewing the link between Israel and Allianz the committee outlined that Allianz Ireland plc are a distinct operation from the German parent company Allianz SE.

In a statement from the GAA in December last year, the association listed factors prevalent to 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 expose the Association to legal consequences apart from loss of sponsorship.

"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.

"Allianz plc has no involvement with the IDF or corporate entities involved in the war in Gaza. Any such relationship is with a ‘sibling or cousin company'."

Tyrone open-letter

The open letter, signed off by, Micheál MacGiolla Cheara, reads: “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."

Fermanagh GAA have also reported a 100% opposition.

This follows poll results from last August where close to 800 current and former GAA players signed a petition calling on the association to drop Allianz as a partner.

Tyrone's letter continued: "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.

It concluded: "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.”

Full open-letter

"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".