The GAA is well used to welcoming major international sponsors into the sport with Liberty Insurance and Etihad Airways a prime example as sponsors of the All Ireland Hurling Championships.
It is not only at the top table though that our domestic sports are turning heads in international boardrooms.
Two deals at county and club level over recent weeks have highlighted the appeal of the GAA’s community base to international operators for different reasons. Nitro with Cuala GAA club in South Dublin and Herbalife with Kildare are massive companies looking local to spread their word.
Nitro is an Australian founded, San Francisco based technology company that is making significant global strides in electronic documentation. Earlier this year young Irish couple Sarah O’Shaughnessy and David Sheerin were asked to set up the company’s EMEA headquarters in Dublin.
Founders
“We had spent a year with the founders in San Francisco and the culture of the company is one that anybody would buy into,” O’Shaughnessy told Sport for Business this week.
“When we were coming back to Dublin it was going to be a real wrench but then they asked if we would be part of the Dublin set up and it was an offer we could not turn down.”
One third of the 450,000 companies around the world using Nitro’s services are based in Europe and major players like Microsoft have a strong Irish presence so it makes perfect sense to establish here as a centre for the region and beyond.
“We have grown to 20 staff already and that will be 50 or more within the next 12 months,” added O’Shaughnessy.
Revolution
“We are on the edge of a revolution in digital documents, using pdf as the open standard and part of what we need to do here is explain how bright the future is to potential staff and customers.”
“Nitro is committed to health and wellbeing so sport has always been part of the culture. When we looked around for an initial sporting partnership, the GAA was an obvious step and Cuala GAA in Dalkey presented us with an opportunity to get involved in a big and fast growing club.”
“We sponsor the adult football teams, with Senior and Under Age All Ireland winners in the ranks and the way it has gone down in Australia and the US has been great.”
“There was a staff and family barbecue after a League match last week and we had staff over from San Francisco who were blown away by what they saw.”
Herbalife is a nutrition business, again based in the USA, which has focused primarily on soccer as it’s sporting calling card. It was prominent as the main sponsor of LA Galaxy where David Beckham and Robbie Keane wore the brand and was very focused on the World Cup where it numbered Belgium and Costa Rica among it’s team endorsements.
While both of those progressed to the Quarter Finals, they were also busy signing up as the official nutrition partner of Kildare GAA.
“We work with many prestigious sports teams throughout the world and will bring our expert nutrition knowledge and Herbalife products to help the Kildare team stay fuelled all season long,” said Gavin Aley, Senior director of Herbalife.
“The management structure and team values strongly match those of Herbalife and this was a natural fit between us. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership.”
