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County and club merchandising - who benefits?

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There seems to a huge increase in both county and club merchandising especially online, but who benefits from these sales?. In soccer and I'm sure most professional sports, legal agreements are drawn up and Nike/Adidas etc.. pay considerable sums to clubs to sell to consumers but in GAA, what happens? I assume O Neills have agreements with Co Boards to sell anything with the County crest/ logo on it and the counties get a return on this, but what is the situation with other suppliers and the clubs. I see so much county/club merchandising for sale and wonder do co boards and clubs get a return and indeed is what is going on actually legal if you haven't got a legally binding agreement in place with the club to see anything with their club crest/logo on it. This could/should be a valuable source of revenue and I am surprised someone hasn't taken these companies to task on this. Tim_Burr (Down) - Posts: 460 - 19/10/2016 11:44:07 1927512 Link
Replying To Tim_Burr: "There seems to a huge increase in both county and club merchandising especially online, but who benefits from these sales?. In soccer and I'm sure most professional sports, legal agreements are drawn up and Nike/Adidas etc.. pay considerable sums to clubs to sell to consumers but in GAA, what happens? I assume O Neills have agreements with Co Boards to sell anything with the County crest/ logo on it and the counties get a return on this, but what is the situation with other suppliers and the clubs. I see so much county/club merchandising for sale and wonder do co boards and clubs get a return and indeed is what is going on actually legal if you haven't got a legally binding agreement in place with the club to see anything with their club crest/logo on it. This could/should be a valuable source of revenue and I am surprised someone hasn't taken these companies to task on this." Not too sure about county but clubs don't get a penny cityman73 (Limerick) - Posts: 783 - 20/10/2016 10:53:38 1927801 Link
Replying To Tim_Burr: "There seems to a huge increase in both county and club merchandising especially online, but who benefits from these sales?. In soccer and I'm sure most professional sports, legal agreements are drawn up and Nike/Adidas etc.. pay considerable sums to clubs to sell to consumers but in GAA, what happens? I assume O Neills have agreements with Co Boards to sell anything with the County crest/ logo on it and the counties get a return on this, but what is the situation with other suppliers and the clubs. I see so much county/club merchandising for sale and wonder do co boards and clubs get a return and indeed is what is going on actually legal if you haven't got a legally binding agreement in place with the club to see anything with their club crest/logo on it. This could/should be a valuable source of revenue and I am surprised someone hasn't taken these companies to task on this." Tim, Speak to your club secretary as every year clubs in Down are "recommended" to use the counties official supplier as they also get a small percentage of club sales as well. going to other sources denies the CB that percentage for whatever its worth. bricktop (Down) - Posts: 2503 - 20/10/2016 13:47:21 1927880 Link
Replying To bricktop: "Tim, Speak to your club secretary as every year clubs in Down are "recommended" to use the counties official supplier as they also get a small percentage of club sales as well. going to other sources denies the CB that percentage for whatever its worth." *going to other sources denies the CB that percentage for whatever its worth.* Bricktop as you well know, or maybe you do, most gaels have no idea what the agreement is between O Neills and various CBs but I'm sure there is one. My point is that I suspect a lot of private companies are selling GAA merchandising without any agreements in place and more importantly, no finance being exchanged and that is objectionable. There is no issue if a company has an agreement with a county/club to contribute a percentage of turnover, but unless a county and more likely a club has their crest/logos registered then the area becomes very unclear. On the other hand there is an issue with Intellectual Property Rights which covers copyright, trademark, design and patent rights and I think its only a matter of time before the GAA/CB or a club takes this to law and they would be correct to do so. All our clubs were built by blood, sweat and tears by men and women who did so in an era where there was very little money available, why should people who give nothing and take plenty get financial gain from our founding and current members. Tim_Burr (Down) - Posts: 460 - 21/10/2016 08:56:52 1928059 Link
Good question Tim Burr I know that O'Neills make a fortune from compulsory school P.E. kits as well Suas Sios (None) - Posts: 1558 - 21/10/2016 09:24:38 1928068 Link
regarding club teams , you get a certain percentage back from online sales of club merchandise through the O'Neills website, but you have to spend that with O'Neills. There used be something in the association rules that playing kit had to be from Irish companies I believe. Obviously that would now contravene EU rules. Don't think there is anything against a club or county using Nike/Adidas, etc its only a matter of time before it happens. Believe there were rumours about Dublin and Adidas last year doing a deal for training gear or something Rosineri1 (UK) - Posts: 2099 - 21/10/2016 10:31:19 1928091 Link
Replying To Rosineri1: "regarding club teams , you get a certain percentage back from online sales of club merchandise through the O'Neills website, but you have to spend that with O'Neills. There used be something in the association rules that playing kit had to be from Irish companies I believe. Obviously that would now contravene EU rules. Don't think there is anything against a club or county using Nike/Adidas, etc its only a matter of time before it happens. Believe there were rumours about Dublin and Adidas last year doing a deal for training gear or something" Didn't Kerry use Adidas few years back for one year. As far as I know all merchandise has to be from irish suppliers presently. If this is not the case I would be very surprised as to why the likes of Adidas haven't been involved in with county teams. Royalace (Meath) - Posts: 121 - 21/10/2016 13:23:28 1928144 Link
I think the only one benefiting is O'neills When you look at the Premiership and see the deals that are being struck with companies to sell jerseys i thing GAA clubs are getting a raw deal I also think the current quality of jerseys is appalling but thats another post Its only through success, and by having a captive fan base that will spend the money, that a club or county can negotiate a better deal for club merchandise Kirkintilloch (Donegal) - Posts: 43 - 22/10/2016 09:28:17 1928285 Link
Replying To Royalace: "Didn't Kerry use Adidas few years back for one year. As far as I know all merchandise has to be from irish suppliers presently. If this is not the case I would be very surprised as to why the likes of Adidas haven't been involved in with county teams." As far as I know O'Neills is now either party or wholly owned by Adidas. Given that a lot of their newer gear has 3 stripes on them, If this wasn't the case i'd imagine there would be copyright problems for O'Neills. This would give Adidas access to the GAA market without breaching whatever supplier rules there are in relation to kit suppliers. AHP (Dublin) - Posts: 323 - 22/10/2016 10:49:23 1928293 Link
Replying To AHP: "As far as I know O'Neills is now either party or wholly owned by Adidas. Given that a lot of their newer gear has 3 stripes on them, If this wasn't the case i'd imagine there would be copyright problems for O'Neills. This would give Adidas access to the GAA market without breaching whatever supplier rules there are in relation to kit suppliers." I was told by a solicitor friend that O Neills had copy-righted the two stripes between the 3 Adidas stripes, this allowed them to use three stripes. If this is true then its very clever, if not its a good story none the less Tim_Burr (Down) - Posts: 460 - 24/10/2016 08:04:09 1928547 Link
Replying To Tim_Burr: "I was told by a solicitor friend that O Neills had copy-righted the two stripes between the 3 Adidas stripes, this allowed them to use three stripes. If this is true then its very clever, if not its a good story none the less" O'Neill's can use the 3 stripe design only within Ireland on gear with the GAA logo on it - hence why there is a different jersey with the two stripes on the O'Neill's website if you are buying from outside Ireland. Due to objections from Adidas as far as I am aware. OgraAnDun (Down) - Posts: 406 - 24/10/2016 09:55:29 1928558 Link
Replying To Tim_Burr: "I was told by a solicitor friend that O Neills had copy-righted the two stripes between the 3 Adidas stripes, this allowed them to use three stripes. If this is true then its very clever, if not its a good story none the less" http://www.punditarena.com/gaa/akirwan/david-vs-goliath-oneills-vs-adidas/ Explains the 3 stripe story. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4526 - 24/10/2016 09:58:58 1928562 Link
I was told by a solicitor friend that O Neills had copy-righted the two stripes between the 3 Adidas stripes, this allowed them to use three stripes. If this is true then its very clever, if not its a good story none the less Tim_Burr (Down) - Posts:455 - 24/10/2016 I thought it was a case of O'Neills 3 stripe copy-right only applying to Ireland (probably a bit of a grey area in the 6 counties?). Adidas took O'Neills to court as they believed the 3 stripes infringed their global copy-right, but as the case was held in the Ireland the court found in favour of little old O'Neills instead of the big multi-national brand and decided that they could continue to use the 3 stripes on all their gear in Ireland - maybe the 2 stripes in between is the technical way of getting around this up north? All their gear for North America, continental Europe and beyond just has the 2 stripes on it though. if_in_doubt (Kildare) - Posts: 3691 - 24/10/2016 10:08:50 1928566 Link
Damn you Whammo - link if_in_doubt (Kildare) - Posts: 3691 - 24/10/2016 10:26:28 1928571 Link
I'm always shocked at how people still fall for the urban legends about the special reasons O'Neills are allowed use 3 stripes such as "its actually 2 or 5 stripes" or "Adidas bought O'Neills so they're allowed use it". O'Neills are allowed use the 3 stripes as long as it's within Ireland, hence the 2-stripe variations you can buy in the international markets. CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1677 - 25/10/2016 16:28:59 1928917 Link