The constant truth of the game is the one all footballers want to avoid
David Sneyd
IN A GAME where nothing makes sense and uncertainty is so often a footballer’s only companion, the constant truth is the one they all want to avoid: it will all come to an end.
When you are through in football you are through, and it’s not just a case of needing to be prepared for what comes next. You must me willing to accept that fate so you can be capable of conquering the challenges that follow.
A catch up with Andy Boyle last week proved this. It was arranged at the IFSC, where he now works for Finance Solutions, and his story appeared here. He’s 35 now and began preparing for a complete break from the game when he was 28 by enrolling in a four-year blended learning degree in finance and accounting from Griffith College.
He played in the Europa League group stages with Dundalk, won four Premier Division titles, earned one senior Ireland cap, and had a few years in Britain with Preston as well as loans in Scotland.
He made a few quid but nowhere near the level that wouldn’t require him to return to work pretty quickly.
Boyle was proactive in planning for the next stage of his life, a decision to retire that was hastened by tendonitis in his knee and the weekly injections to ease the pain that were no longer fulfilling their duty.
He was ready to go and didn’t have the end sneak up on him.
In the days that followed another more high-profile example of how that might not always be the case was brought to our attention by James McClean.
He pulled the curtain back on his own body’s struggles, detailing his appointment with a surgeon to discuss a hip injury that threatened to force him into retirement less than halfway through his return to Derry City.
McClean used Instagram for that announcement and then took to his TikTok channel to explain that the consultation provided the sliver of hope he was understandably desperate for.
“I was expecting surgery or that he couldn’t do surgery then retirement but that wasn’t the case. He gave me a bit of hope,” the Republic of Ireland centurion saud.
“He gave me an injection and that should hopefully give me a wee bit of relief in about a month to six weeks’ time, to make me feel a wee bit like a footballer again. So it went a lot better than I thought.”
McClean controlled how the message came out on his social media platforms and that level of control over every facet of his professional life is what has allowed him strain every sinew to have the kind of career most could only dream about.
Still, even with being able to control the message himself it’s a grim realisation of the painful, desperate situation he finds himself in.
The clock is ticking and no matter how relentless he is it’s not a battle he can win.
McClean may have earned the kind of money that will at least provide a substantial cushion with no income, but no one can be protected from the sense of fear and emptiness that can be so overwhelming when the day comes to call it quits.
There is never a perfect ending unless you have come to terms with it stopping. Shane Flynn’s experiences at Leicester City left him demoralised, describing a sense of complete helplessness and heartache from no longer being wanted while doing all he could to stay afloat.
He spoke to the Football Family podcast about the internal pressure he felt to become a footballer bubble inside from the age of 13 and yet, 11 years on and now without a club, he has not given up that ambition.
Flynn recalls feeling like “a guinea pig” as he recovered from an Achilles injury and took high-dosage steroids to get through recovery. He was on a cocktail of methotrexate and prednisolone, and despite the warnings from doctors that they could “fuck with your head”, he felt he needed something to get through.
Flynn broke down in tears as his career unravelled, he became violently ill as a result of the medication and tried to simply hide the extent of his pain from as many people as possible at the club.
His love for the game has not diminished simply because his experiences have drained so much from him.
That love sustains hope but should not blind you to the opportunities that can await provided you are willing to embrace them.
Fixtures (all kick-offs 7.45pm unless stated)
Premier Division – Tonight: Drogheda United v Sligo Rovers; Dundalk v Shelbourne; Galway United v St Patrick’s Athletic; Shamrock Rovers v Waterford (8pm); Bohemians v Derry City (Virgin Media, 8pm).
First Division – Tonight: UCD v Longford Town; Bray Wanderers v Treaty United; Athlone Town v Kerry; Wexford v Finn Harps; Cork City v Cobh Ramblers.
