Football and hurling fans may not be able to attend matches at the moment, but they do have a new way to show just how much they love their county.
The GAA has signed a licensing deal with ganzee.ie, a new brand that will specialise in casual, county-themed clothing.
The company's launch range includes t-shirts, hoodies and sweatshirts for children and adults.
"What we’re offering is a casual range of clothing, which allows you express your county fandom in a more comfortable way," said Timmy McGann, who runs Ganzee with his cousin Art.
Ganzee is a spin-off of The Marketing Hub, which Timmy and Art have been running for 25 years. It specialises in design and marketing for big brands, which is where the idea for casual GAA wear originated.
The products aren’t cheap - a men’s t-shirt costs €28, with hoodies costing €55-60 - however Mr McGann said a portion of the sale goes back to the GAA, and in turn the counties and clubs involved in the organisation.
He also says all of the products are Irish-made.
"We hope going forward that the brand will be able to expand into clubs and other areas," he said. "We want to give people a new way to show their fandom and their heritage.
"We see this very much sitting alongside the replica jerseys and county training wear, and as a complimentary range to what’s already there."
Given the inability of fans to attend games, now may not be an ideal time to launch a new range of clothing intended to show county pride.
However Mr McGann said the idea is to make county colours more a part of people’s every-day attire, so he hopes it does not need to wait for the return of normal attendances in order to find an audience of its own.
"We see it as every day wear that you can wear to the pub - though you can’t wear it to the pub at the moment, unfortunately!" he said. "We’re targeting a slightly different market across a wide demographic... we do believe there is a market there, and international markets have shown that."
