A gentleman
There was great excitement over the holidays, when local legend David Forde announced that he was going to visit Salthill Devon and give a talk to the kids.
This is the team my sons play for and the team that I coach.
For those who are maybe unfamiliar with David Forde, here are a few nuggets courstesy of Wikipedia.
David Forde or Fordey as he's known here in Galway was an Irish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Internationally, Forde played for the Republic of Ireland between 2011 and 2016 and was part of the team's 23-man squad for the 2012 European Championships. In 2013, he became the oldest player to make their competitive debut for the Republic of Ireland, when he played against Sweden at the age of 33.
Pretty impressive resilience and he took his chance with both hands and ended up making 24 appearances for the boys in green. He remembers each game fondly and these are his dearest moments as a footballer, his proudest moments.
Fordey went to the same school as me, but was 3 or 4 years ahead of me. Like Fordey, I actually started out playing football with Newcastle United as well, not the Premier League side though, rather a local Galway team that dominated youth football in Galway at that time.
Funnily enough I'm married to a Geordie and people are always initially impressed when I tell them I played underage with Newcastle United, until herself bursts my bubble and mentions that it was a local Galway team and not the Premier League Magpies, the black and white army!
Role Model
David was absolutely brilliant with the underage players, making time for them, answering questions and posing for photos. Here he is with my eldest son.
He signed jerseys and although we forgot to bring an Ireland jersey, Fordey signed this bit of paper for my son
The talk that he gave to the kids was excellent. It was all about resilience, the power of the mind, self confidence and not being hard on oneself. He came across really well and reminded the younsters that he never made a Galway town panel as a youngster, yet he won 24 Irish caps. There's not too many other Galwaymen who can match that.
He's all about mindfulness and meditation these days and actually got into it fifteen years ago before it was popular and people thought he was a nutjob! Interesting how times move on and certain people are like visionaries when they try things out before the masses.
Well there you have it, those are my reflections on ex Ireland Footballer David Forde.
Oh yes I remember him playing for Millwall!
Great that he did a talk. I love when local footballers give back to their communities.
Ya he was with Millwall for 6 or 7 seasons. That's when he got called into the Irish team by Martin O'Neill and Keano.
I always feel chuffed for players you get an international callup late in their careers.
Definitely and Fordey would be very patriotic, so really meant an awful lot to him.
Was he excited to meet him?
Ya they all queued up after to meet him, get a photo, signature etc. The kids loved it and I think David enjoyed it too.
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