Much has been written about Dublin GAA's affluence: of the €3.1 million distributed to counties by Croke Park almost half of it went to Dublin, who received €1.46 million.
This seems an inordinately high amount, given Dublin's considerable commercial clout. For example, the county's shirt sponsorship deal with AIG is estimated to be worth more than €4 million across five years.
It appears that Dublin's county board are now satisfied with their monstrous income as they have decided to retain O'Neill's as their kit manufacturer, despite the promise of better offers elsewhere.
It was reported last week that Dublin were on the verge of signing a six-figure deal with a "continental" kit manufacturer, believed to be either Adidas or Puma. It has emerged this morning that Dublin have decided against going against the grain and instead have agreed to stick with O'Neill's.
Dublin Chairman Sean Shanley told the Irish Independent that they have decided to remain with O'Neill's out of loyalty, rather than for commercial reasons:
If it was only about finance we would have changed.
There was a loyalty factor there too. O'Neill's are the only manufacturers with a base in Dublin and they were there for the county when things weren't going well.
We had delayed signing a new contract for long enough because of other possibilities so it was time to make a decision. We'd be conscious of giving business, where possible, to Irish manufacturers.
Interestingly, Dublin had considered a revolutionary move whereby the manufacturing of their gear would be split between two companies. The county considered having an Irish company manufacture their official gear and contracting a continental brand for the county's commercial gear.
As the Irish Independent point out this would have risked contravening Rule 1.17 of the official rules that states that all clothing gear worn around matches and in interviews must be of Irish manufacture, along with all gear being sold on the commercial market.
We can only imagine that there's a significant sigh of relief coming out of the offices of Croke Park this morning. Calls to even the financial playing field are strong enough as is and having a hefty bunch of adidas money in Dublin pockets would only have caused the GAA a lot of headaches. And that's not even considering the headaches that would have been caused had the GAA stood by Rule 1.17 and Dublin pushed for a move to adidas.
Nonetheless, Dublin are to be commended for the principles behind their remaining with O'Neills. The rich however, can afford to have principles.
