Was the biggest sports story in Ireland this week fake? Or just early?
The National League hurling and football seasons kick off this weekend, ending several months of Gaelic sports famine. On Monday, the government-owned broadcast network and news service RTE ran a blockbuster piece about a pro-Palestinian protest by players on Dublin’s squads. According to the article, written by RTE’s Niall McCoy and labeled as “Exclusive,” members of the Dublin sides decided “to refuse to appear in front of Allianz-branded signage” this season because of the insurer’s business dealings in Israel since the Gaza invasion. The RTE story inspired other Irish athletes to chime in with support, generated related protests, and overwhelmed all other opening weekend news. Then, the story got refuted.
Allianz, a German-based insurance giant, has been the leagues’ title sponsor since 1993. So avoiding the company’s logos on game broadcasts is no simple chore, and would at the very least mean the protesting players would be declining man-of-the-match interviews and award ceremonies. That would complicate matters for RTE, which has domestic broadcast rights for the All-Ireland and National League football and hurling competitions, which are not only the biggest annual athletic events but are part of the island nation’s identity and history in ways that few sports are tied to any other country.
There’s been pressure on the Gaelic Athletic Association, which oversees hurling and football, to cut ties with Allianz. The RTE story cited a report from the United Nations Human Rights Council that was made public in July, which held that the Germany-based Allianz and AXA, another multi-national insurer founded in France, “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, the report said, “holds at least $7.3 billion” in investments in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory, “thus enabling the commission of human rights abuses.”
The company has a history of making bank on oppression. Allianz insured facilities at Auschwitz during the Holocaust, for which it finally did a walk of shame in 1997; then in 2019, Allianz canceled a former high-ranking official's posthumous honor for his role in the Nazi profiteering.
Ireland, meanwhile, has been on the business end of imperialist colonization and knows plenty about genocidal occupiers. Not coincidentally, the Irish have been vocal on the Gaza slaughter. In March 2024 Ireland announced it would join South Africa, another former British colony, in making a case before The Hague that Israel was committing genocide. Simon Harris, the Irish Taoiseach, or prime minister, said Ireland would arrest Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu should he enter the country. Israel closed its embassy in Dublin in December 2024, accusing Ireland of “demonization” of the country. That embassy remains closed.
Gaelic games have long served as political forums. The GAA itself was formed to foment Irish nationalism in the face of British subjugation. A few examples: Kerry players refused to participate in the 1923 All-Ireland football final, the Irish Super Bowl, until IRA members jailed during the civil war were released, so the game wasn’t played until 1924. The jailed hunger strikers of 1980 and 1981 sought and received the support of GAA; the Antrim squad refused to play after the death of Bobby Sands. And at the 1999 All-Ireland final, Dublin footballer and medical doctor David Hickey interrupted a medal ceremony for his former team by taking off his jacket to show an “End Cuban Blockade” message written on his shirt to remind people the U.S. was still keeping medicine and medical equipment from reaching Cuba.
The organization has historically been tolerant of civil disobedience in its ranks. Palestinian flags are flown by fans at every large GAA event these days. That flag even became part of the story at the 2025 All-Ireland football final; a guy in the grandstands positioned himself directly behind the winner’s podium and held up a Palestinian flag with “Let the Aid In” written on it throughout the presentation of the coveted Sam Maguire Cup and victory speech of the Kerry captain. Nobody blocked the display or moved the flag-bearer to a less conspicuous spot.
Following the UN report, many county GAA boards called for a divorce from Allianz. About 800 former GAA athletes signed a petition in August supporting dropping the sponsor. But last week, GAA administrators said they studied the issue and decided to stand by the deep-pocketed underwriter.
So the news that Dublin players would use their platform to take a stand against a tragedy-exploiting capitalist firm seemed extremely plausible. The alleged Allianz antagonism became the primary story line leading up to opening weekend for the National Leagues. The feature football match at Croke Park, Dublin vs. Donegal, has extreme cracker potential. The formerly dynastic Dubs will debut a new manager, Ger Brennan, who played centre back on two All-Ireland winning squads, while fans look to see how Donegal, the feel-good story of the 2025 county season, come back from the brutal beating they took from Kerry in the final.
But all the talk since the RTE report was about a protest. Until yesterday, that is. Multiple organizations ran interviews with Dublin player Greg McEneany, who said that no such rebellion was in the works from him or his teammates. McEneany, who spoke to reporters during a preseason media day put on by a hotel chain that also serves as a GAA sponsor, said that no protest ever came up in team meetings. The Dubs defenseman said he hadn’t heard anything about his squad having such a plan until he saw a post on Instagram. "We never spoke about it,” McEneany told the Irish Examiner. "We actually aren't sure at all where the source is from. It hasn't been discussed once."
And suddenly the non-protest became the tale. “Dublin star reveals that Allianz protest news was false,” headlined a piece on SportsJoe, a popular Irish sports site. “No Dubs Allianz boycott,” read the headline of the Irish Star’s rebuttal. McEneany was the primary source of these and other tales contradicting the RTE report.
So, for the protests, what the hell? Is it game on or not?
McCoy, via email, politely declined to comment on the controversy. RTE did not respond to Defector’s query on whether the network stands by the exclusive protest story. An RTE source who requested anonymity did point out that nobody on the Dublin county GAA board has denied that they were informed an Allianz protest was forthcoming. And a subsequent Irish Times piece supported the notion that anti-Allianz agitation was indeed in the cards for the Dublin side this season. From the Times: “It is understood new Dublin football manager Ger Brennan has already made his decision not to engage with any Allianz promotion around the National Leagues, including any pre- or post-match interviews in front of Allianz signage.”
There has been no retraction of the original RTE story. But that disputed story might someday be looked upon, at worst, as a self-fulfilling prophecy. RTE ran another article on the Allianz brouhaha today, reporting that an increasing number of GAA players and supporters are now calling for the organization to give Allianz the boot. Among those who’ve joined the fight: David Hickey, the former Dublin player who took a stand against the Cuban blockade all those years ago.
"The history and the morality of the GAA is directly opposed to having Allianz and its genocide-enabling fraternity involved in anything to do with our national games,” Hickey said.
In any case, let the games begin. I’ve missed the crap outta this stuff. And, oh, one more thing: Mayo for Sam!
