Members of the public are being warned of counterfeit Donegal Azzurri gear being sold.
BY CHRIS MCNULTY
AS A 30,000 strong army of Donegal supporters prepares for Croke Park this Sunday, the Donegal County Board has warned that legal action will be taking against persons or companies who are producing Donegal merchandise using the official Donegal GAA logo.
It emerged yesterday that there are counterfit Donegal polo shirts, jersies, tackets and t-shirts on sale in the Letterkenny and Glenties areas.
Donegal take on Cork in Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final and, as an exodus gets set to leave all corners of the county, those found to be illegally ‘cashing in’ on the success of the county team will be taken to task.
“There are a lot of cowboys out there at the moment,” said Donegal GAA Secretary Aodh Mairtín Ó Fearraigh.
“It has been brought to our attention that some clothing companies are producing replica Donegal GAA jerseys, t-shirts, polo shirts, flags, etc, using the Donegal GAA crest.
“The Donegal GAA crest is patented and Donegal GAA has not granted permission to any parties to use our crest without permission.
“People are cashing in left, right and centre. There is a company that is even producing the pink jersey on the black market. It has mushroomed out of control following the success of the team.
“All of our jerseys, t-shirts, etc, are manufactured and produced by Azzurri, and only Azzurri have permission to produce any Donegal GAA items of clothing.
“Legal action may be taken against such un-authorised sale of Donegal GAA gear, and the use of the patented Donegal GAA Crest.”
It has also come to light that some businesses have been contacted by unofficial sources claiming to be producing Donegal wallcharts and calendars.
“We will be producing our own 2013 calendar, which will go on sale in October – this is the only official such publication of a calendar in the county,” Mr Ó Fearraigh said.
Croke Park is set to be awash with green and gold on Sunday with 30,000 Donegal fans set to roar on Jim McGuinness’s team as they go in search of only the county’s second-ever appearance in an All-Ireland final, and a first since the year of years, 1992.
The Donegal county board sold 12,000 tickets. Sales from other outlets will see the Donegal attendance rise to two and a half times that figure.
“It is on a par with last year’s semi-final against Dublin,” the secretary noted. “The GAA have confirmed now that the Upper Tier of the Hogan Stand has been opened, which suggests that the Upper Cusack is almost full. Croke Park have said that Donegal will seriously outnumber Cork on Sunday.”