Cúl Heroes, the official trading cards and magazine of the GAA/GPA, today launched their 2017 collection at Croke Park with brand ambassadors James McCarthy and Padraic Mannion.  

Other player ambassadors for Cúl Heroes Cards 2017 include Michael Murphy, Noel McGrath, TJ Reid, Colm Cooper and Diarmuid O’Connor.

Cúl Heroes is entering its third year on the market and aims to continue its promotion of Gaelic Games, the players and the unique skills of our national sport.

This year’s trading card collection includes 612 cards, including a mixture of players, as well as gold, silver and bronze cards.

Because of the influence the GAA and its players has among young people; each card portrays a positive message around diet and emotional wellbeing. Cúl Heroes aims to be a positive influence in the lives of young people through an increased amount of messages this year such as “Feed your body with healthy food” and “It’s good to talk to someone when you’re sad.”

Each pack has seven cards included with the standard packet of cards, this includes one special edition card. Additional products are: Starter Collection Folder and Collector Tin.

Speaking ahead of Friday’s launch, Cúl Heroes Managing Director, Matt McCormack said; “Every year we add to the collection in different ways, the 2017 collection has some very exciting and unique additions. We would like to welcome the ladies footballers and camogie players to the collection, also Meath and Galway hurlers join us for the first time.

“We can’t find any other trading card involving team sports that have male and female players in the same collection.

“Each county card has its own unique background texture that relates to historical or geographical facts of that county, a fun learning tool for our young collectors.

“We believe more than ever than these cards help promote our games in a very positive way with our youth and we hope they get as much enjoyment out of this year’s collection as they did in previous years. We feel it’s an opportunity for young fans to collect all these great players that play our national sports.”

Dermot Earley, CEO of the GPA, said of the collection, “Cúl Heroes cards are a fantastic opportunity for our players to engage with our youth at a national level. Our players are role models, both in society and also within their communities and it is great that children who aspire to be like our players, and to play the games themselves, have a collectable like Cúl Heroes cards. The GPA are delighted to be involved with this initiative.”

Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael, Aogán Ó Fearghail, commented: “The Cúl Heroes trading cards have been a fantastic initiative to date by the GAA/GPA.  The levels of interest that so many young children nationwide have in the Cúl Heroes cards is something that has been very much apparent on my visits to clubs and schools across the country since they were introduced in 2015.

“We say in Irish ‘Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí’, and the educational nature of information on the cards is also a fantastic example for young people to learn from and follow.”

A packet of Cúl Heroes trading cards (7 cards per pack) will be on sale for €1.50/£1.30 throughout the 32 counties.  The Starter Collection Folder with 14 cards is available for €6.50/£5.50, with a Deluxe Collection Folder containing 50 cards available for €10.00/£8.50.