SPORTING PASSION GEORGDAN MURPHY:Mark Rodden on how concentrating on rugby didn't allow the Ireland and Leicester player to take his Gaelic football career as far as he might

THE FIRST sport I played was Gaelic football and I played golf as well – they would have been the two main ones, along with a little bit of soccer. But I suppose Gaelic football would have been my first love.

Like a lot of youngsters I started in a Christian Brothers school when I was five or six years old. I would have always watched rugby, but I didn’t actually play with a team until I went to school in Newbridge when I was 13. Before then I’d always played touch rugby – I was used to kicking a rugby ball and passing a rugby ball, but I’d never played a game until then.

Before that it was always Gaelic football and I really enjoyed playing it. I suppose one of the drawbacks of having to go to England so young is you don’t see as much Gaelic football and you certainly don’t get to play it.

I played in Naas and at underage level I remember playing at midfield, full back and centre half forward. When I got a little bit older I played a few games for the senior team at left half back or in the half forward line – I played across the board, really.

It wasn’t until I was playing senior rugby for Newbridge that some of the Kildare guys saw me goal-kicking and thought it might be an opportunity to get me to train with the minors to have a look at me before the championship started, as I might have been an asset as a free-taker from the ground. I think that’s why I got an invitation, because I wasn’t playing a whole lot of Gaelic football during the rugby season – from the age of 16 or 17 I was only playing it in the summer.

I went down and played a couple of friendly matches with them, but I never actually played championship with Kildare minors. I’m not saying I would have been selected because I don’t know if I was good enough, but there were time constraints and some very competitive senior cup rugby didn’t allow me the time to continue with it.

Dermot Early and Pádraig Brennan were playing at the time and Tadhg Fennin as well. I’ve seen Early a few times and have spoken to him on occasions since then. He’s obviously gone from strength to strength in his football career – he’s a fantastic player and a hell of a nice guy too.

Around the time I went to England, Kildare were doing very well. They won some big games against the likes of Meath and Dublin and played in some real humdingers of matches. I was able to fly back to watch the games and it was fantastic to experience the excitement in the county.

I watched the 1998 All-Ireland final loss to Galway in a pub in Leicester because I couldn’t get over for it. It’s been a little bit quieter in the last few years but I think we’ll be back before too long.

The community vibe you get in Gaelic games is very different to anything you’ll get anywhere else. It’s very difficult for me to explain to English guys how it works and how parishes will take things like the championship so seriously

That people from little villages and little towns will be training two or three nights a week, they’ll give up drink and do whatever they have to do before a match against a rival parish or rival town that might only be five or 10 miles down the road, without getting a penny or without expecting anything for it.

Croke Park is a fantastic stadium and I’m very lucky to have played there. I remember as a young boy being asked what I wanted to do and I always said to play rugby for Ireland in Lansdowne and Gaelic for Kildare in Croke Park. I never managed to play Gaelic for Kildare in Croke Park, but I have managed to play rugby in both venues.

I really enjoy golf too and I started playing it at quite a young age. We were members of Naas Golf Club and played a lot there as youngsters. We’re all proud of Paul McGinley, whose parents were members there. He actually came and coached the juveniles when I was a youngster, but he didn’t get to coach me because for whatever reason I was away. I was gutted about missing it at the time.

Obviously he’s gone on to bigger and better things since then and I think people down there are very proud of him.