THE CASE AGAINST:
by John Cunningham
Local rugby followers will welcome the announcement of Dexcom’s connection with their sport. The loss of the venerable name of the Sportsground will seem a small price to pay for the promise of improved facilities for spectators and players. Thus Dexcom, soon to be a significant local employer, evidently has a good reputation as an innovator, with products that have improved the quality of life of people affected by diabetes.
The Dexcom announcement comes at a moment when such tie-ups are being vigorously debated, due to the Supervalu rumpus in Cork. Indignation at the proposed change in the historic name of the stadium – and at the grammatical absurdity of the new name – obliged the sponsor there to yield ground, with the result that our GAA commentators will be left to enunciate a most unmelodious mouthful: ‘Supervalu Páirc Uí Chaoimh’. Last week An Taoiseach drew a distinction between the Galway and Cork cases: “Páirc Uí Chaoimh was named after a person, an individual who contributed to the GAA enormously for decades. The Sportsground is different, it’s not named after a person…”
But is it different? Should there be one rule for the GAA – which has named its pitches for notable individuals, and is still nominally amateur – and another for soccer, rugby and showjumping? Is it right that corporate entities should so blithely secure naming rights? In our universities there was controversy when donors had buildings named for them, despite their donations being a tiny fraction of total investment. A sincere philanthropic gesture might be to donate without conditions?
There is also a cultural argument about the commodification of public space. Corporations already name the places where many of us work, and where we buy our groceries. Should they also be invited to name our community and leisure spaces? Sports clubs and their stadia have histories and traditions. They have been built up by the efforts of volunteers – trainers of under-age teams; supporters who turn-up during a poor season; people who cough up for season tickets. These are the real philanthropists, and their efforts are devalued when a name is changed overnight for cash, even if the cash seems badly needed. Generations of living history may be obscured.
In recent decades, we see a growing alignment between marketing and philanthropy. For every Chuck Feeney donating millions without fanfare, there is a Sackler family, whitewashing its role in the opioid crisis with donations to art galleries. We now accept that tobacco has no place in sport, and thankfully the GAA has reclaimed the All-Ireland Hurling championship from Guinness. But gambling is as dire a social problem as alcohol or cigarettes, yet in 2022-23 eight English Premiership soccer clubs promoted gambling on their jerseys. Benign enterprises like Dexcom may provide cover for altogether less scrupulous outfits.
The commodification of sport has been relentless, as seen in the designations of tournaments and championships, in the colonisation of team strips, and in the naming of stadia. Would it be naïve to ask where will it all end? Will players acquire corporate names? Can we expect in a few years to see young Jimmy Jones listed as Wonka Industries’ Jimmy Jones in our match programmes?
Dr John Cunningham lecturers in History at the University of Galway
THE CASE FOR:
by Maxim Kelly
Around one-in-twenty people in the developed world suffer from diabetes. The Californian firm Dexcom makes small, digital gizmos that help diabetics monitor their blood sugar levels. These are manufactured in Arizona and in Malaysia. With a recently-confirmed €300m investment in Athenry creating up to 1,000 long-term jobs, and 500 temp roles in construction, Dexcom’s continuous glucose monitors (CGMs ) are soon to be assembled in Co Galway, Europe, too.
The word Dexcom doesn’t exactly trip from the tongue, but Connacht Rugby fans can rest a bit easier that our newly rebranded stadium now sports the name of a force for good, albeit a corporate force. If our hallowed ground had been sponsored by a fast food firm, arms manufacturer, or – God-forbid - a stitcher of Mescalian short shorts (I’m looking at you, O’Neills ), I’d be helping to hand out the pitchforks. I wasn’t privy to any fan consultation with Connacht Rugby’s blazers, or Bord Na gCon, but for future reference, it’s not a bad idea... Similarly, if corporate sponsorship is added to government investment in sport infrastructure, then maybe local representatives ought to be canvassed too?
Connacht fans have long experience forcing the powers-that-be to heed our call. As a hungover college student in 2003, I was (frog )marched by Field Marshall Danno Heaslip down Dublin’s Baggot Street alongside a thousand other Connacht fans to protest the IRFU’s plans to reduce Ireland to just three rugby provinces. We won. I don’t know whether the late Mr Heaslip would approve of the College Road ground’s new, two-syllable moniker, but I bet he’d approve of the cash injection.
Dexcom has been coy about exactly how much money it is fronting for a 12-year sponsorship. Although initially keen to participate in this debate, not one of its 9,000 employees was available to write 500 words supporting its Sportsground rebrand for the Advertiser. I don’t blame them. With the tánaiste and taoiseach being drawn into a spikey, simmering row about renaming Cork’s GAA headquarters last month, the suits in San Diego probably decided that discretion is the better part of valour.
Connacht Rugby announced last month that Phase Two of its €30m redevelopment of the Sportsground – whoops, I mean Dexcom Stadium – will begin in a few weeks. A new training gym is being built, and a new North Stand constructed after the Clan Terrace and Clubhouse are demolished. I’ll be sad to see these go, because the memories of sauntering in there with my late grandfather, Christy Dooley, are fond, although I never forgave him for giving Danno my phone number.
As a Belfast friend, journalist and fellow long-suffering provincial rugby fan said to me last week: “Dexcom won’t trouble the headline writers too much. Imagine if it was Pfizer. The Viagra puns would never stop.”
Well there’s that too. Thanks Dexcom. Now let’s raise the blood levels for Cardiff next week.
Maxim Kelly is a Galway Advertiser reporter and Connacht Rugby fan
