‘Stand up for what’s right and against the evil we can see’

​GAA clubs in Donegal are being asked to get behind a movement to remove Allianz as the sponsor of the National Leagues.

Former St Eunan’s and Donegal footballer and current media pundit Brendan Devenney hosted an information night in Letterkenny, with special guests and campaign advocates Dr David Hickey, John Donnellan, and Nodlaig Ní Bhrollaigh.

The insurance and financial services company's Irish operation, Allianz plc, has been the leading sponsor of the GAA's National Leagues since 1993, with the current deal due to run to 2030. Allianz is also the insurer of the GAA's stadiums and 2,200 clubs.

The information evening wants GAA members to canvas their clubs and, in turn, bring a motion to Donegal GAA’s Annual County Convention next month. Information about the motion will be sent to all of Donegal’s 41 clubs.

“Stand up for what’s right and against the evil we can see around the world,” Devenney said. “I appreciate the chances in life I have got and that my kids have got.

“But not everyone gets that chance. Allianz is not the sort of company we should be doing business with. They’ve entangled themselves in our games.

“Allianz are currently using the sponsorship deal to make it look like they are a normal company, when multiple international respected bodies have called them out for being a corporate funder of this horrific genocide, mass murder of children in Palestine, in Gaza and in the West Bank.

“What we have here is an organisation that must be held to account and the fact that they are one of the main sponsors of the GAA, a family-led organisation that was set up initially to protect our culture and protect our language and our games, is absolutely sickening. Allianz must go.”

A June 2025 report by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, titled From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide, named Allianz as investing in companies aiding the ongoing conflict, stating these entities may be "embedded in an economy of genocide" by Israel in Gaza.

It said that global insurance companies, including Allianz, "invest large sums in shares and bonds implicated in the occupation and genocide, partly as capital reserves for policyholder claims and regulatory requirements, but primarily to generate returns. Allianz holds at least $7.3 billion."

The GAA's An Coiste Bainistíochta heard a report from the Ethics and Integrity Commission (EIC) on the issue last December, and decided to accept the recommendation of the EIC to maintain the relationship despite a number of counties carrying motions calling for the GAA to cut ties.

"I think it's important to realise that Allianz Ireland is not involved in the war in Gaza and is fully compliant with the law and that came out very strongly in the report," GAA President Jarlath Burns said at the time.

“The company that we do our deals with, and Allianz call themselves whatever they want, is Allianz Ireland, Allianz plc.

"That company is not directly involved in any way in the war of Gaza. And it's important to realise this.”

Ms Ní Bhrollaigh, a barrister and former Derry footballer, said: “Allianz in Ireland is entirely owned by Allianz and is bound by its human rights governance.

“Allianz has adopted a ‘business as usual’ approach to Israel since October 2023.

“Israel is not a normal sovereign State due to the apartheid, illegal occupation, deliberate targeting of children and ongoing genocide.

“At a recent event to celebrate German Unity Day in Dublin, Allianz issued a statement highlighting how inextricably linked it is to Allianz SE.

“Allianz in Ireland is owned by Allianz SE and the parent company holds 100% of Allianz in Ireland. Human rights governance is centralised to ensure alignment across the group.

“In September, Allianz in Spain was forced to withdraw from its sponsorship of a major cultural festival due to a boycott campaign. Participants threatened not to attend the event due to Allianz ties with Israel.

“The signatories questioned the company’s economic relations with Israel, particularly its investment in Israeli government bonds. It should be noted that Allianz in Spain did not claim it was a separate entity and withdrew from the event.

“The GAA is an anti-racist Association. Genocide and apartheid are the most extreme forms of racism. To promote ‘genocide enabler', Allianz is in breach of the anti-racism rule and offends our ethos and values.

“The GAA is a grassroots, democratic organisation, and the views of clubs must be fairly represented by delegates.

“County delegates have voted on this issue without knowing the position of clubs. All club members must be canvassed on this important issue.”

Damian O’Hagan, former Tyrone footballer and a member of the Gaels Against Genocide campaign group, was one of those who had travelled to attend and he said the decision taken by the GAA top brass is “completely out of touch” with the sporting organisation’s grassroots members.

Mr O’Hagan also said that from the six counties in the North, there are 259 clubs - 48 in Antrim, 23 in Fermanagh, 40 in Derry, 46 in Down and 54 in Tyrone - and only two, both from Armagh’s 48, were not in favour of a motion to remove Allianz.

Dr Hickey is a former Gaelic footballer who won three All-Ireland SFC titles with Dublin, as well as being a semi-professional rugby union player, with French rugby union club Stade Rochelais.

He worked as a consultant urologist by profession and director of transplantation at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin.

“We’ve had the equivalent of 16 atomic bombs dropped on Gaza, an area the same size as county Louth,” he said.

“That’s 16 Hiroshimas, with the death toll officially 78,000. When an atomic bomb explodes, everyone is vaporised. The actual number is 700,000 and counting, 240,000 of them being children.

“We must make a decision. What’s happening is repulsive. They’ve spotted an opportunity. We in the GAA have immense power. We are the GAA. Not the people in Croke Park. Every Saturday and Sunday, you see swarms of children playing sport because of the volunteers, not because of Croke Park.

“I do believe that we have them on the run. We can start a domino effect.”

John Donnellan, a former footballer and retired primary school teacher from Bailieborough in Cavan, visited the occupied West Bank, where he coached local children hurling.

The former Bailieborough Shamrocks player and member of ‘Teachers for Palestine’ landed in Amman in Jordan before making the trip to Ramallah.

They met with the coach of the Moataz Sarsour Club in the Al-Amari refugee camp. Home to 6,000 people, a “really tight-knit community”, the camp has been there since the 1950s and has almost become a “small town within a city”.

“The Moataz Sarsour club was named after a young man who got killed there last year by the Israelis,” he said.

“We later heard that one of the young boys was shot four times, yet survived. Another young lad was thrown in an Israeli jeep and sent to prison, with a broken arm.

“Another young man, 22, who we knew, was also thrown in prison for a comment he made online, and is still in prison.

“When you drive through the West Bank, you realise the huge amount of Israeli illegal settlement that is happening there. They’re ultra-modern towns; they have all been built up on the top of hills overlooking Palestine, Palestinian villages and farmland.

“There are roads there, which are only for settlers, and they join the settlements back to Israel. If any Palestinian is found driving on that, they can be shot on sight, basically. We were warned to be careful. The warmth and the generosity of the Palestinian people was amazing.”

Motaz Sassour GAA club were due to travel to Ireland in an exchange backed by GAA members and players who have consistently helped support the club since 2023.

They were supposed to do a tour of the country, visiting Thurles, Páirc Uí Chaoimh as well as a guided tour of Croke Park by GAA President Jarlath Burns, but their temporary visas were refused by Jim O’Callaghan and the Immigration Department.

“Someone in the Department of Justice decided they were not going to offer the visas,” Mr Donnellan added. “The reason given was that they were afraid in case they overstayed, 10 adults and 30-odd children. They weren’t going to stay in Ireland.”

Mr Donnellan explained that for the GAA to sit up and take notice, a motion must be brought to the various County Boards.

“Slowly but surely, we’re making progress,” he added. “You have to deal with the GAA in a certain way. I was told by a former GAA President that Allianz in Ireland are ‘only a franchise’, to which a simple Google search will tell you otherwise.”

“We want to get all the clubs on board. We are very heartened by the stance in Ulster. There are rivalries on the field, but off of it we can work together. I wanted to do something to help, so I got involved in Cavan.

“We were advised to go through the clubs and we hope to have enough clubs on board to get the motion passed in December.”