Gaelic Games Hurling sponsorshipThe GAA received the endorsement of a dedicated task force before proceeding with the two-year extension to Guinness's sponsorship of the senior intercounty hurling championship. This emerged during yesterday's launch of this year's championship Croke Park at which the new deal was formally announced.

Association president Seán Kelly paid tribute to the company's contribution to hurling and announced there would be a celebration to mark 10 years of the sponsorship this autumn when this year's All-Ireland has been won. He also mentioned the role of the Alcohol and Substance Abuse Task Force, which he established at the start of his presidency 12 months ago.

"I set up a task force last year under the chairmanship of former All-Ireland hurler Joe Connolly to look at the whole area of abuse of alcohol in society. They are reporting very shortly but we didn't move ahead with the two-year extension until we had got the go-ahead from them.

"We didn't do anything until we had the interim report. I had hoped to have the full report but I didn't have that and told them that I wouldn't move on the Guinness sponsorship until we had an indication from them on how they were thinking. They told us that they would be quite happy to see it continue.

"We can use the money to implement the recommendations of the task force in due course to try and alleviate the scourge of excessive drinking in this country."

Having stated, "80 to 90 per cent (of GAA members) see the value of it and support it," Kelly also took issue with what he sees as selective criticism of the GAA's main alcohol-related sporting sponsorship, which has been the focus of attention from the Minister for Health, Micheál Martin, who said two years ago he would like to see the end of drink-sponsorship for sporting events within five years (a deadline still valid under the two-year renewal).

"He said he wasn't happy with our sponsorship," said Kelly, "but I reckon there are up to 500 different sponsorships in the country between festivals and sporting events and he's just picking on one. For us to really be wimps and say 'okay, we won't have this sponsorship any more' would be very disloyal.

"No one from Government ever got on to us officially and you don't do business through third parties. If there was a real concern I'm sure they would have approached us formally.

"The only one that seems to get any criticism in the public eye is the Guinness sponsorship and that is totally unfair and illogical. Sometimes I think people want the GAA to be so far up the moral high ground we could levitate."

Nonetheless, there has been concern expressed within the association about the appropriateness of the sponsorship against the backdrop of alcohol abuse, particularly by young people. This has led to an awkward situation for Guinness, as acknowledged by the managing director of Diageo Ireland Brian Duffy when he addressed yesterday's gathering.

"We recognise, too, that this debate has been fuelled by the concerns which have been expressed in relation to a drinks company being involved in sports sponsorship. Unfortunately much of what is said and written tries to oversimplify what is a complex and serious societal issue.

"For our part we fully recognise the responsibility we carry in relation to the manner in which we market our products. We intend to discharge this responsibility to the fullest extent. We operate under a stringent self-regulatory code, which applies to all our sponsorships and marketing activities."

The two-year extension does have the air of an interim arrangement, something Guinness's major sponsorships manager Michael Whelan didn't dispute when asked about the renewed deal.

"Normally we do three years with two years and when you get to 10 years in any type of sponsorship it seems sensible to go with two years, particularly when there's a lot of talk going on. Those two years will allow everybody to have a good conversation about all the issues and let's make the right decisions at the end of it."

He diplomatically parried any suggestion that he or Guinness might have been annoyed by the public reservations expressed about the sponsorship by GAA officials.

"Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. We look at our consumers, most of whom are supporters of hurling as well, and we know the vast majority of them are very happy with what we're doing. There will be people who will have different opinions and that's life."