Discrimination against the GAA in the north - action request

[Donagh]

At the weekend a number of children from St Comgalls on a fund raising 'bag pack' at the Tesco supermarket in Antrim town where told to remove their club jerseys by the manager after a complaint by a local unionist Councillor. St Comgalls have done phenomenally well over the past few years. Coming from a situation in 2004 when the club was almost wound-up after the local council did not come through with a promise to find them a permanent home, they now have football teams competing at all underage levels, are well on their way to re-establishing their hurling and camogie teams and have convinced the County Board to bring the new Centre of Excellence to their Dunsilly site.

The Ulster Council has been extremely proactive in recent years at demonstrating it's willingness to help improve community relations in the north but if real progress is ever to be made, the bigotry displayed by this Councillor need to be challenged at every turn. It is also a particularly galling that it is the largest food retailer in Ireland that is the one to banish the GAA from their Antrim store, considering that Tescos are more than happy to continually overcharge their customers in the south to the extent that their profits margins there are currently the company's highest in the world. It's about time these multinationals started supporting the communities from which they make their profits instead of bowing down to the local bigots trying to keep us wedded to the past.

I for one would like to know what the GAA and our new President Christy Cooney will be doing to ensure that the children of St Comgalls get the apology they deserve and what Tescos will be doing to ensure their local managers don't give in to the loyalist backwoods men in future. I'd encourage everyone here to contact the Ulster Council and the GAA to ensure this matter is pursued with Tescos in both jurisdictions.

If anyone has contact details for the GAA Ard Chomhairle please post them here but meanwhile the GAA.ie website lists the following email addresses:

queries@gaa.ie
marketing@gaa.ie

The Ulster Council can be contacted here:
8-10 Market Street
Armagh
Co Armagh
BT61 7BX
T: 028 (048) 3752 1900
F: 028 (048) 3752 8092
E: info@ulster.gaa.ie


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8024732.stm

[cadhlancian]

totally agree! The unionist in the north need to move on, just like everyone else. I would imagine that , in that particular area anti GAA sentiments would run at a high level, probably more so that any other part of the north. They have been getting their way for too long now......it needs to end

[bennydorano]

Not suprised, in areas where Unionism still holds the whip hand they still dont give a shite what anyone thinks. 

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Tesco's should be contacted as well.

[armaghniac]

The GAA has a lot of members, a clear message should be sent to Tesco that these will not be shopping in their shops unless and apology is provided and the kids are given a further opportunity to bag pack in the Antrim shop.

[ziggysego]

The UUP Office should be contacted to. Not in a confrontational matter, but to highly them to this clown in Antrim.

[KCGaelicFootball]

It's just some old fashioned tactics of bullying come on Mr. Unionist grow some f**king balls and leave the kids a lone for fucks sake. They are kids and you are a adult so get the f**k over it !!

[tyronefan]

a few emails to Tesco  customer services stating how good a customer you are and are very unhappy with the way they are doing business and how you will have to take your custom elsewhere if they continue with this discrimination


customer.services@tesco.ie.

[cavan4ever]

a few emails to Tesco  customer services stating how good a customer you are and are very unhappy with the way they are doing business and how you will have to take your custom elsewhere if they continue with this discrimination


customer.services@tesco.ie.

Good idea but is that correct addressl, should it not be .co.uk ?

[fred the red]

Who is the head of tesco's operations in ireland?

[Bud Wiser]

My brothers lad plays for the club senior or intermediate or whatever and I only gave him a nice little bit of sponsorship last night.  A Laois man playing for an Antrim club. !! The Sports section of Sunday Business Post is the one to highlight this so what we should do is draw up a good letter. Post it on here. Then we will get all the mail addresses from The Phoenix Magazine to the Oirish Times and fire them all off a copy with a heading COMPLAINT.

[fitzroyalty]

Fair play Donagh. Tesco definitely need challenged over the matter, as for the people who complained I don't think anything can be done what with their pre-historic mindsets; other than highlight them publically as the childish tw*ts that they are

[tyronefan]

a few emails to Tesco  customer services stating how good a customer you are and are very unhappy with the way they are doing business and how you will have to take your custom elsewhere if they continue with this discrimination


customer.services@tesco.ie.

Good idea but is that correct addressl, should it not be .co.uk ?

I would say complaints to the Irish office would be taken more seriously as Donagh posted it is where they make large profits and they would also understand how much the gaa is the community.

[Bud Wiser]

TESCO's Mission statement from their Head Ofice at Marine Road, Dunlaoire:

Our Core Purpose and Values define the way we do business, how we treat our customers, our people, each other and our suppliers. They help to define our responsibilities to the communities where our business operates and create the culture and environment in which our business strategy continues to deliver strong results. Our philosophy of "Every Little Helps" underpins these wide-ranging responsibilities.

Our Corporate Social Responsibility policy objective is to earn the trust of our customers by acting responsibly in the communities we serve. We recognise our impact on society at all levels and work to maximise the benefits we bring.

Customers are at the heart of everything we do. CSR is good for our business and good for the communities where we operate. By building goodwill and trust with our customers, we can earn their lifetime loyalty, which is our core purpose.

Corporate Social Responsibility reflects our Values:

No one tries harder for customers


Understand customers better than anyone
Be energetic, be innovative and be first for customers
Use our strengths to deliver unbeatable value to our customers
Look after our people so they can look after our customers

Treat people how we like to be treated

All retailers, there's one team ... The Tesco Team
Trust and respect eachother
Strive to do our very best
Give support to eachother and praise more than criticise
Ask more than tell, and share knowledge so that it can be used
Enjoy work, celebrate success and learn from experience

Our CSR Strategy is supported by an established cross-functional CSR Group based in Tesco Ireland's head office in Dun Laoghaire. It meets a minimum of four times a year and is chaired by a Board Director. Its membership is made up of senior managers from all parts of the business.

One thing I would say, in any correspondence it should be stated that Bag Packing has been a regular fundraiser for many clubs and other community groups for years and while we would take a serious view of the actions of this particular manager we would take an even more serious one if this means of fundraising were to be no longer available to GAA clubs as a quick remedy to what their company perceive (wrongly) to being a problem.  This needs to be done before they send circulars around to the effect that managers are to avoid GAA clubs because of........   

[rashCharacter]

This is a disgrace.
The tesco for schools link on their .ie website homepage acually has a picture of a kid with a hurling stick.  http://www.tesco.ie/schoolsandclubs/
If they can ask kids with gaa t-shirts to leave a store then do they also find this offensive?
The GAA need to bring this up.