Cormac Farrell, Business Marketing Manager of O'Neills and David Britton of GAA Handball, centre, with, from left, Kyle Jordan, Cormac Finn, Conor McElduff and Mikey Kelly at the oneills.com World Handball Championships 2024 official launch at the National Handball Centre in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.
In a further boost for the sport of GAA Handball, oneills.com, Ireland’s largest sportswear manufacturer, have come on board as title sponsors of the upcoming World Handball Championships, it was announced today.
This year, for the first time, the World Championships have been split into two separate events; the World Wallball Championships will take place at the University of Limerick from August 18-23 and the World 4-Wall Championships will take place from October 26-November 3 at Dublin, Kilkenny, Laois and Carlow venues.
Excitement is growing in international handball circles about these two major events, following on the back of an excellent year of progress which saw handball return to national television and attract sell-out crowds for its finals among other positive developments.
As part of the arrangement, oneills.com have also committed to sponsoring the All-Ireland Wallball and 4-Wall Championships for three years.
David Britton, Head of GAA Handball, said: “GAA Handball are delighted to announce O’Neills’ return as a very welcome sponsor and partner to the sport of handball, for the first time since 2019.
“The sponsorship package will see oneills.com become the title sponsor for our All-Ireland 4-Wall and Wallball championships for the next three years. Further, oneills.com will be the title sponsors for both the Wallball World Championship taking place in the University of Limerick in August, and the 4-Wall World Championships taking place in the National Handball Centre in Croke Park and various other Leinster venues, this November.
“To have such a historically relevant and iconic sporting brand show this level of commitment to our sport is a very positive development and only further solidifies the impact of the great work being conducted in GAA Handball. GAA Handball would like to acknowledge and thank Cormac Farrell, James Towell and the team in O’Neills along with Donal Marah, GAA, for all their hard work throughout the process.”
Handball player Cormac Finn at the oneills.com World Handball Championships 2024 official launch at the National Handball Centre in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.
Cormac Farrell, Business Marketing Manager with O’Neills, said: “We are delighted to be sponsoring the oneills.com World Handball Championships this year. We are excited to support an event that not only showcases the remarkable skill and athleticism of competitors but also fosters a sense of community and camaraderie among players and fans alike.
“We are delighted to be partnering with GAA Handball and providing a comprehensive range of merchandise for the championships, for both players and fans. We are looking forward to both the August and October tournaments, where we will see the top players from the global handball community come together.”
Conor McDonnell, GAA Handball President, hailed the news as “fantastic for the sport”.
He said: “As President of GAA Handball I want to welcome the partnership with O'Neills and want to thank Cormac Farrell and the team at O'Neills for their continued belief in our sport,” he said.
GAA Handball is one of the four core GAA sports and is based out of the new National Handball Centre at Croke Park.
O’Neills was founded in 1918 as a manufacturer of Gaelic footballs and it is now the largest sportswear manufacturing company in Ireland. They are proud suppliers to county teams and clubs throughout Ireland, the UK and across the globe.
The World Handball Championships are a triennial event which attracts players from all over the world and were first staged in New York in 1964. This year’s events will be the first full World Championships on the rotation since the 2018 renewal in America due to pandemic-related restrictions forcing the cancellation of the planned 2021 championships.