Sinn Fein sponsor AUL side

[gspain]

Sinn Fein are sponsoring Donaghamede Celtic - see report below from Sunday Times.

Frankly I think it is disgraceful to allow any political involvement in sport but particularly given SF/IRA's record on terrorism (aslbeit drastically reduced at the moment).

I'vwe written to the AUL to complain.

aul@clubi.ie

Hopefully it will be stopped like the attempt by the BNP in England to sponsor a club there. Imagine the outcry if some Loyalist terrorist group sponsored Linfield.




Sinn Fein plays political football
Scott Millar



SINN FEIN is getting shirty. Gerry Adams’s party is set to join Vodafone, O2 and Nike as football sponsors, putting its logo on the jerseys of a Dublin team.
Donaghmede Celtic will line out next season with the party logo and the name of a Sinn Fein local election candidate embossed across their traditional green and white hoops. Sinn Fein is paying the club more than €1,000 for the privilege.

Killian Forde, the Sinn Fein representative whose name will appear, said: “All political parties spend a large amount of money on leaflets and posters which end up as waste. This form of advertising not only gets the party name out there, but also helps fund an activity which is good for the well-being of the local community.”

Officially supporting a British game is a huge departure for the IRA’s political wing, but Forde says this was not an issue. “If these guys were playing tiddlywinks and it was good for the community and raised the party’s profile, we’d sponsor it,” he said.

The deal came about after the football club, which plays in Dublin’s premier amateur division, asked the party for financial support. John Joe Tealing, Donaghmede Celtic’s treasurer, said: “We really appreciate this move by Sinn Fein. There are not many grants out there for soccer clubs and we rely on sponsorship for jerseys, tracksuits and travel expenses. We see no problem with the fact that this deal is with a political party.

“The current sponsorship agreement is for one year but we hope that the relationship can develop. It’s good for the club and the 100 people directly associated with it.”

League officials do not share the club’s enthusiasm for this new form of political advertising, however. Michael Shakespeare, president of the Athletic Union League, said: “To the best of my knowledge there has never be a situation where a political party has had its name on a football team’s jersey either here, in Britain or anywhere else. The league is a non-political organisation. We are purely concerned with sport and anything like this that might confuse is, in my opinion, not welcome.”

Local politicians believe the sponsorship is divisive. Richard Bruton, a Fine Gael TD, said: “Politicians have helped teams in the past but none have had the neck to put their names on the jersey. This is bad for football. Sport is meant to bring people together.

“There are enough rows on the football field without adding a political dimension to it.”

Brian Hanley, a historian who has written about the republican movement, said Sinn Fein’s relationship with soccer has changed over the decades, along with its support.

“In the 1920s it was not uncommon for members of the IRA to be players in soccer teams,” Hanley said. “By the 1950s, Sinn Fein felt that the ban on playing so-called ‘foreign games’ of soccer and rugby did not go far enough and a member would have been expelled for taking part in them.

“A number of GAA teams have been involved with republican politics but Sinn Fein members are as likely as anyone else to be avid followers of British teams, such as Manchester United, Liverpool and, of course, Glasgow Celtic.”

Sinn Fein’s name has previously appeared on replica Glasgow Celtic jerseys, put there unofficially by supporters of the Scottish club who were eager to show their approval for the IRA’s political wing.

The Donaghmede jersey will be unveiled in time for the new season, which starts in July. Sinn Fein is in the process of redesigning its logo.

[patsh]

Well thats what happens when you embrace Capitalism....

[tiktok]

wouldn't like to have sinn fein written across a city shirt

[techs]

if there payin sponsorship who can blame donaghmede for acceptin, they have to get money from some where. you wear the jersey for the crest not the logo. who care what the sponsor is?

[tiktok]

while i'm sure there are people who feel that guinness has no place on replice shirts that kids wear i don't agree that it's the same when you take sponsorship from a political party. i think it goes a little further than just bieng glad to have funds, it's more like aligning the club with an ideal rather than a product.

[A face]

I have to agree .... i dont like it at all. Politics should be kept seperate from sport.

[thecorner]

i wonder would ye be causing such a fuss if it was fianna fail or fianna geal
is it the fact that its sinn fein??????

[tiktok]

no doubt the fact that it's sinn fein involved will cause people to be more vociferous (on both sides of the argument) than had it been another party, having said that i would be against any party sponsoring a LOI team.

the LOI is about sport and the little community around the team you support, the banter with fans, home and away, screaming blue murder and feeling great when a last minute winner flies in and feeling terrible after a loss. it's about emotion and feeling that for a few minutes you're a part of something greater.

politics, regardless of where you travel is less about community then lining your pocket, it's about sucking the emotion out of movements and turning them into a two foot high stack of paperwork tied with a nice red bow. politics and sport do not mix.

anyway, if fine fail was on the shirt can you imagine the stupid debates about whether the club should wear blue?

[A face]

If it were Fianna Fail, i think it would be worse.

We want things to improve in the league. Imagine the spin they'd put on things.

[SÓC]

Originally posted by thecorner
i wonder would ye be causing such a fuss if it was fianna fail or fianna geal
is it the fact that its sinn fein??????

No not to the same extent, whatever you think about Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael they do not have links to an illegal private army.

[J.O.F.A.S]

lads lads, does it really bloody matter to us?????

think deep down

[gspain]

Personally I would have a problem with FF or FG or a shirt or any political party. However this is much worse. One part of SF/IRA is still involved in terrorist activities (albeit greatly reduced).

By sponsoring an Irish football club they will drag the name of Irish football into the mud. Okay maybe not the LoI but few people outsid ethis country will make that distinction.

Is it acceptable if a club allows other racist/sectarian organisations to put slogans on shirts?

The sponsorship involved was approx €1,000. I'm sure somebody in Donaghmede will come forward with that amount if required to protect the good name of the community

Imagine the outcry here if a team in Belfast had "UVF" on their shirts.

[fonzi]

i think ethics must play a part in this and i think it's wrong ethicaly to have such drivel on a football shirt.

[pete]

I thouhgt there was a law against political advertising on sports jerseys or sports grounds?

[parnell ranger]

As one who is involved with a schoolboy soccerclub i am totally against a political party sponsoring a football club.
Your club colours and crest say"this is us" our identity, our history,our community.
Aligning yourself to a political party and putting their logo on ure shirt is inflammatory,intimidating,and goes against every sporting ideal.
I hope the Donaghmede club see sense and send the cheque back.