A new documentary about Ballymun Kickhams will air on eir Sport on Monday night.
'Passing It On: Ballymun Kickhams' features stars of the club past and present such as Philly McMahon, Davy Byrne, Paddy Christie, Barney Rock and Dermot Deasy.
The show highlights the highs and lows the club and the community in which it is based has experienced. It also looks at what it means to be part of a club and how a spirit of volunteerism can change the trajectory of lives.
In the mid-1990s, the feeling in Ballymun Kickhams and the community in general was despondent. The towers, once a long distant symbol of hope were now symbols of oppressive disadvantage and social problems. The club’s facilities at the time were non-existent with the team renting their pitches from DCU.
Kickhams, a club that was once home to such heroes as All-Ireland winners Barney Rock and Tommy Carr, was fighting relegation. The underage structure was non-existent, and its future was in real jeopardy.
In 1996, when Paddy Christie saw how dire the situation was at Ballymun Kickhams at under-age level, he decided to take over the under-10’s team and channel the energy of the local children into football.
As six-time All-Ireland winner Philly McMahon says, Christie may never have won any All-Ireland medals himself but he played a major role in the winning of the 20-odd medals won by players helped through the ranks at Ballymun Kickhams
The bi-lingual documentary premieres on eir Sport 1 at 8pm on Monday, March 25th.
