So the hurling championship has an official airline - to fly who?

Surely the GAA could have found a more suitable sponsor than the state carrier of the United Arab Emirates

IMAGINE THE puzzlement in Tokyo if Waterford-based porridge maker Flahavan's was unveiled as the new sponsor of the Grand Sumo wrestling championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan stadium? Or the consternation in Sloane Square (not to mention Eyre Square) if Supermac's provided branded jerseys for the Guards Polo Club at Windsor Great Park?

So what on earth is the motivation behind the decision of Etihad, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to sponsor this year's All-Ireland Hurling Championship? If you were at Croke Park yesterday, or watched the game on television, you will have seen evidence of the deal, which involves the display of extensive Etihad branding.

The sponsorship agreement stipulates: "Etihad will also feature . . . in match-day programmes and other GAA publications as well as in some consumer and corporate promotions amongst the local community in Ireland." Most extraordinarily, Etihad boasts that it is "the official airline of the famous All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championships".

Proof, as if it were needed, that we have entirely lost the run of ourselves. An official airline? To fly who, when and where, precisely? Transport a maor foirne or a bainisteoir from Kilmaley to Thurles? Supporters from Lismore to Limerick? To whisk the Kilkenny team from the Lowry Meagher International Airport in Tullaroan to Dublin Airport? And why didn't they ask Ryanair's "Mick" O'Leary if they were stuck?

The reality is that Etihad flies "from Abu Dhabi to the world", not from Grangemockler or Cappoquin. It doesn't even fly from Dublin to the Canaries which is where hurlers have traditionally gone for a bit of R&R in mid-winter. Or used to. Now hurlers have become world-weary types toting suitcases and Wags from Auckland to Acapulco, San Francisco to Sydney. If we're not careful, they'll be talking about pay-for-play next.

But isn't it odd that we need the UAE to support our most important cultural activity? Was there no Irish company that could have spared the financial resources to provide this sponsorship? And it's not just the hurling championship which has been snapped up by UAE interests. The Dubai Duty-Free company sponsored June's Irish Derby at the Curragh.

The UAE is hardly one of the world's great sporting nations. Popular outdoor pursuits include falconry; aggressively driving 4x4 vehicles into the desert for a spot of preposterous "dune-buggying"; and camel racing. Over the years, thousands of boys were bought or kidnapped from families in countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan and trafficked to the UAE to be used as jockeys.

In a 2005 report, the US state department claimed: "Child camel jockeys are often sexually and physically abused; most are physically and mentally stunted, as they are deliberately starved to prevent weight gain . . . each year many are seriously injured and several are stampeded to death by camels. Almost all child jockeys live in camps encircled with barbed wire near the racetracks."

Pressure from the US and intense lobbying by humanitarian groups has shamed the UAE into outlawing the use of children in this "sport". And the little jockeys have now, apparently, been replaced by robots.

The UAE's major cities - Abu Dhabi and Dubai - have recently become fashionable destinations for Irish tourists and property investors. But the gleaming hotel towers and luxury waterfront condominiums are home to one of the most unequal and self-indulgent societies in the world. An estimated 80 per cent of the population consists of "non-nationals" - including many Irish - who work in white-collar or medical jobs, enjoy a grand old tax-free lifestyle and are accorded a social status not unlike that of colonial officials during the British Raj in India. But the vast majority are workers from the Philippines, eastern Europe and, overwhelmingly, the Indian sub-continent. These unfortunates lead a precarious existence, have few rights and are frequently maltreated as they pander to every whim of the pampered expats and a relatively small indigenous population of wealthy Arabs.

Our Republic of Bling is mixing in some very dubious international company. Surely the GAA and the Curragh racecourse could have found more appropriate sponsors?