Sponsorship of major sports teams and events allows brands to buy into the emotion that is so associated with them.

There has long been an occasional withering glance or shaking of the head from people who are involved in sport about the Faustian pact this relationship represents.

They believe, and it is a truly held belief, that in some way the soul of sport is on the line and for sale to the highest bidder.

There are many columnists across our weekend newspapers that return to this idea with regularity and in a world where freedom of speech and conflicting opinion is under constant threat, their voices are valid.

‘Chicken Little’

Sometimes there is a ‘chicken little’ quality to how we respond, failing to see the real difference, other than the order of words, when Joe Brolly or Colm O’Rourke in the Sunday Independent raise up ‘the little guy’ as the one most neglected in the rush to bank a new sponsorship deal.

They need to be listened to though, as a reflection, perhaps of wider society, or if not that as a reminder to behave in a way which does not damage the things we hold most dear.

As our name suggest Sport for Business is hardly likely to endorse a ban on sponsorship from any institution that has sinned in the eyes of a media columnist. But likewise, we do need to be mindful that reputation is an ephemeral thing that can be strengthened or weakened in a heartbeat.

On Saturday morning Keith Duggan used his column in the Irish Times to question whether Bank of Ireland, AIB and Ulster Bank shared the ‘ethos and values’ of sport.  This came five months after a front page cry from the heart from fellow Irish Times columnist Malachy Clerkin who wrote:

“Most of these banks use sport to sanitise their image. Whether it’s AIB sponsoring the club championships or Ulster Bank sponsoring club rugby or Bank of Ireland splaying their name across every Munster and Leinster rugby shirt in the country, they all do their bit for sport and somewhere along the way, less of a fuss is made over the whole causing-people-to-lose-their-homes carry-on.”

For the paper of record, should such a thing still exist in our fractured media, to go at this subject once can be seen as anger, to do so twice in the course of a summer might be just a little more.

On Saturday in Limerick Bank of Ireland gave over the Munster Rugby shirt sponsorship to the Irish Heart Foundation.  The organisation could save lives as a result of that exposure but could never have done so without the Bank’s involvement.

Today in Dublin, AIB will launch the 26th year of its sponsorship of the All Ireland Club Championships in Gaelic Football, Hurling and Camogie.

Richer

Throughout the winter it’s award-winning marketing team will bring us stories of local pride and sporting passion that make the GAA richer for those inside and outside the club environment.

That is richer in both senses of financially, for that is one purpose of sponsorship, but also in terms of understanding our own story and expressing it on a wider stage.

At a personal level, I have seen the highs and lows of being involved as part of my GAA club.  On Saturday morning I took a group of Cuala U10 hurlers through the ravages of Storm Brian to play games against St Vincents GAA.

The referee for our game in the wind and rain rushed home afterward to get himself ready to play in the Dublin Senior Hurling Final Semi Final just across the road in Parnell Park yesterday afternoon.

Most of the young lads from both teams were there.  On Saturday Vincent’s won, on Sunday the roles were reversed.

Glorious

Last winter Cuala enjoyed the experience of going all the way to win the AIB sponsored Club Championship.  They became the best team in the country for one brief glorious spell and it galvanised the club in ways that we will always remember.

Did we sell our soul by virtue of having AIB run snapchat stories on the Darts we hired to bring the faithful from Dalkey to Croke Park that St Patrick’s Day? It doesn’t feel like we did.

Was it a better experience because of the wider platform that AIB delivered beyond the TV coverage of TG4 and the visceral thrill of being there in Croke Park? I think it was.

Was it a winner for AIB to be involved up and down the country with clubs as they traveled their particular journey?  Yes, it was.

Malachy Clerkin’s word ‘sanitised’ is important.  Sponsorship does make a brand feel warmer.  If we have experienced hardship at the hands of banks that warmth will likely never change an overall perception of being on the wrong end of an institution but for most of us, banks are an enabling service.  They lend money to allow us to live in homes, drive cars, take breaks and create businesses that might otherwise be beyond us at that moment in our lives.

They are no different in that sense to electricity companies who also sponsor Irish sport and who enable us to live our ‘powered’ lives in ways that generations past could never imagine.

If they are found to charge too much for that service will they be next in the firing line?

Evidence

Tobacco sponsorship was once a major thing but evidence, public opinion and questioning from wider society put paid to that.

Alcohol sponsorship has survived similar questioning for now and sugary drinks and food that is considered to be unhealthy or gambling that causes pain as well as pleasure are also oft-questioned.

We should, as a society, be self-policing in what we deem to be acceptable in terms of an offering to engage through the things that matter most to us.

Media has a role to play in that by pointing out areas where brands need to be better.  The banks will answer questions today on tracker scandals that need to be answered.  But they will also continue to invest in creating and enabling the sporting events that give our soals flight and our minds a sometimes brief escape from the troubles that surround us.

But they will also continue to invest in creating and enabling the sporting events that give our souls flight and our minds a sometimes brief escape from the troubles that surround us.

Sport would, of course, carry on without the support of every brand that somebody has a moral problem with.  But it would be smaller, it would be different, and it would be less than it has become.

Sport for Business will host over 20 events with our members in 2018 providing exclusive insight on the relationships that work best for sport and business.

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Image Credits: Paddy Bolger Getty Images