WHATS THE BEST GAER FOR TEAMS ,GAELIC GEAR OR O'NEILLS ?

[under the bar]

I know the girl who both designs and makes up the first samples of the Gaelic Gear stuff.  They are a very small operation and havea long way to go to get to O'Neills standards.  Their designs are wick tho!

[Leo]

Gaelic Gear footballs are the worst ever made, surley they can come with something better than that. (F**k me just buy an O'Neills ball and copy the b**tard)...

Liston Leisure came out with a football last year made in the same overseas factory as O'Neills - and people kept complaining that it wasnt any good!

[Leo]

My point is O'Neills bring out 2 or 3 designs a year and thats it. Counties are expected just to pick the design in their colours and be happy with it. Only Dublin seem to have any effort made over them and they tend to get designs a year or two before most other counties have the option (The faded jersey a few years ago & the new one with 3 stripes down sleeve)

Also how can O'Neills use the 3 stripes like adidas is this not a trademark?
With regard to the county crests all the counties basically redesigned their crests as most of the ones being used were in fact owned by the county councils. By redesigning their own crests county boards were entitled to the rights of it.

I'm not calling for O'Neills to be removed I'm just looking for the market to be opened up to other leading brands which no doubt would give O'Neills the good boot up the arse it needs and force them to work for their custom through better designs & better offers to clubs and parents alike.

Agree 100% with these points.

[mournerambler]

To be honest I think that O'Neills are taking a hand out of the GAA due to the fact that as far as I know they don't have a 'corporate box' in Croke Park & I'm pretty sure their competitors from Gaelic Gear do have, it's nice to see O'Neills repaying (not) the GAA for the monoply & I presume large profits they had for so long as a result of supplying GAA merchandise.

[Gold]

what about Jako--are they still making GAA kits?

[rosnarun]

well they did, and still own the club crests, if your currently with them

now thats just wrong,
the Problem with the old county crests was that nobody owned them and any kn**ker selling baseball hats outside a ground could use the county crest as would many other organizations such as the couty council ect.
one way to tell if they do much work in Strbane is the number of people employeed there un less of course thats just a front too.

[Uladh]

My point is O'Neills bring out 2 or 3 designs a year and thats it. Counties are expected just to pick the design in their colours and be happy with it. Only Dublin seem to have any effort made over them and they tend to get designs a year or two before most other counties have the option (The faded jersey a few years ago & the new one with 3 stripes down sleeve)

Also how can O'Neills use the 3 stripes like adidas is this not a trademark?
With regard to the county crests all the counties basically redesigned their crests as most of the ones being used were in fact owned by the county councils. By redesigning their own crests county boards were entitled to the rights of it.

I'm not calling for O'Neills to be removed I'm just looking for the market to be opened up to other leading brands which no doubt would give O'Neills the good boot up the arse it needs and force them to work for their custom through better designs & better offers to clubs and parents alike.

Some counties certainly go for a template design alright as do most clubs, though its not just Dublin who seem to get individual designs made for them - the last two Tyrone home jerseys appear to my eye at least to be a stand-alone design. Not the current "Red" Tyrone jersey but the one before it with white squares down the shoulder and sleeve was definitely an individual design, it was done by a student in the Loreto Convent in Omagh.

I've heard in the past that clubs and counties can ask for individual designs from O'Neill's if they want but you have to specify a minimum number of jerseys to order, it amounts to several hundred at least.

The "3 Stripes" I believe appeared on O'Neill's sports gear before Addidas introduced the design into Ireland, the Republic to be specific. A deal was made between O'Neill's and Addidas whereby Addidas could use the three stripes trademark in the Republic for non-GAA gear while in the North and elsewhere outside the Republic, O'Neill's could use the three stripes for GAA gear only.

The case of county crests is a mixture of gaining a separate one from county, district or urban councils, as was the case in the likes of Monaghan and Laois, or to develop one that could be copyrighted to forbid third-parties from profiting e.g. Tyrone and Cavan. With club crests, if they (O'Neill's) design the crest from scratch they will own copyright to it, but if they are given an image to use, even just a sketch or draft for them to "polish", they are in murky waters preventing its use on other merchandise.

The introduction of Azzurri and Gaelic Gear at the start of the century into being licensed by the GAA to design county kits did for a time force O'Neill's to be more competitive - I believe that the Derry County Board a few years ago managed to play O'Neill's off with Gaelic Gear to gain a contract with O'Neill's for a six-figure sum. However the general standard of playing gear is without much doubt keeping O'Neill's, at least in Ulster, in a near monopoly position supplying seven of the nine counties. It's up to others to make the effort.

All that said, I wonder if the GAA rules on Irish products being used in the Association (right down to paper) would stand under EU law? Maybe someone here would know better...

I've frequently wondered how comfortably the policy of promoting Lucozade while actively attacking the promotion of irish made club energise sits given that supposed ethos.

[TyronePhilly]

In our own personal dealings, our club and O'Neills designed a custom kit but they did request a minimum order which was no problem.

Kieran Kennedy from Strabane was easy to work with and professional at all times. They employ a large number of people at their shop and factory.

As a side note, Gaelic Gear contacted us about a new strip. I told them we were basically committed to O'Neills. They asked for an opportunity to
come up with some concepts. while their concepts were not bad, O'Neill's were nicer. Also, O'Neills employ locally in County Tyrone.

Here are the shirts that we designed in conjunction with Oneills staff......









Tir Eoghain Philadelphia
http://tyronephiladelphia.bebo.com

[The GAA]

Tell me that's not rocky balboa on the jersey?

[TyronePhilly]

It's the Rocky statue, in front of the Art Museum, along the Ben Franklin Parkway.

[aontroim]

O'Neills will produce customised designs for a club as long as you place a minimum order of 100 shirts with them - not normally a problem if the club has several teams.  Saw one of those Tyrone Philly shirts in Croke before the final this year.

[Rasmatazz:)]

Surley now is the time for clubs to take a stance with oneills and start to reneigotiate their contracts with them  & start playing hardball & put them on the backfoot for a change 

It would be very interesting to see thier reaction. I would panic stations

[Rasmatazz:)]

Just another point on this. O'neills, Gaelic Gear ,Jakko,Puma & the other compines need us players, clubs more than we need them . Credit Crunch  plenty off big fish out there who are willing to listen to clubs aswell as some big sport shops who could with no problems sell them on . Profit for club . I wonder how much the countys and the gaa get of lifestyle sports for selling the gear.

[lob her in lad]

have to say it'd def o'neills for me, this is despite their lack of interest in us consumers

[fitzroyalty]

O'Neills is best hands down.. What's peoples opinions on the McKeever's balls?