Of the things former All Blacks captain Kieran Read never imagined himself doing, sitting in a pub in rural Galway celebrating a county title with the Kilkerrin-Clonberne ladies Gaelic football team has to be right up there.
One of the most capped players in his own country’s proud rugby history was taking in an amateur sport half a world away from home, watching the bonfires blazing and enjoying the early part of the Sunday night celebrations before making a quick exit.
‘They were having a good time down at the pub and then they were getting up the next morning and going to work. So, yeah, slightly different to when I was celebrating my championships,’ he says with that trademark smile from someone who always comes across as chipper and optimistic about what the day will bring.
The reason he was mixing with the locals?
All part of a new series, The Toughest Traits, a twist on The Toughest Trade series that saw various players from Gaelic games swap places with other sportsmen, like Donegal’s Michael Murphy getting a taste of French rugby or Kilkenny hurler Jackie Tyrrell enjoying a brief introduction to Major League Baseball in Miami.
This time, it’s about the qualities that underpin elite players across the codes in Gaelic games – Louise Ward of Kilkerrin-Clonberne takes Read through the demands of elite sport with the pressures of launching her business ‘Gowa’, a school and sportswear company.
Kerry footballer Jason Foley, Antrim camogie star Róisín McCormick and Dublin hurler Seán Brennan also feature.
‘I was at the final that they won, which was the county,’ he explains of joining Ward on her journey. ‘And it’s a club ground, it’s brilliant. People turn up and they come along, it’s families, it’s from the granddad to the grandchild, and I think that resonated with me in terms of the rugby clubs here in New Zealand.’
EAD was there for the celebrations back in the local pub, too. ‘They had a dinner brought in, put on a little bit of spread, a few beers and drinks that they were enjoying. So they were down one end, and the rest of the pub was full of family and stuff, or the public.’
He laughs as he explains how he didn’t overstay his welcome. ‘I got out of there, mate. Thirty ladies, man. I was out of my depth!’
The series follows the double World Cup winner as he tours Ireland, learning the true meaning of what it takes to be an elite Gaelic games player and how they balance work, college, and family life with the full-time commitment of representing their clubs.
Having seen professionalism from the other side, Read is well placed to weigh up what changes when you move away from that amateur arena.
‘In New Zealand and rugby, professionalism has changed the game in terms of what you can now give back to the grassroots. It has changed the game in some ways, negative though, too, because it does take it away from that grassroots game.
‘No All Blacks or Crusaders [players] go back and play for their club anymore because you don’t have the time and it doesn’t work. So, the young kids who are there in those clubs don’t get to see the heroes every day like potentially it used to be. So, there’s pros and cons.’
While he played on All Blacks teams that inflicted plenty of pain on Ireland down the years, he was also the captain in 2016 when Ireland produced that historic first win at Soldier Field in Chicago.
And there’s a GAA connection there as well to Croke Park in terms of his own playing career. ‘Yeah, I love playing Ireland. I was very lucky to be one of the All Blacks team, I think the only All Blacks team, to play at Croke Park in 2008.
‘We as All Blacks, we definitely do a bit of research around where we’re playing and what it means. So we were given a bit of a history lesson that week around the significance of us playing on that field as professional athletes, which only happened in those two years where the Aviva was getting rebuilt.
‘I sat on the bench. It was my second test. So, pretty remarkable place to witness the atmosphere of a test match at my second test. Understanding exactly what it was and looking at the terrace and the history -so, yeah, it certainly hit home. Pretty cool, I guess, to say that you were one of those, or the only All Black team to play there.’
