Clare footballer Ikem Ugwueru has spoken about the profound impact made on him by a former primary school teacher who convinced him to give Gaelic football a try.
Ugwueru was born in Dublin to Nigerian parents before moving as a youngster to Clare, where he excelled at multiple sports while growing up.
The 23-year-old showed a particular talent for rugby, and has since gone on to represent Shannon RFC as hooker, but speaking at SuperValu's launch of its #CommunityIncludesEveryone campaign, Ugwueru gave an insight into the man who helped him get a start in the GAA.
"He stayed out with me for 2 hours after school, and he done that regularly for a few weeks" @GAAClare's Ikem Ugwueru shares how his primary school teacher put parish rivalries aside to help him get started out with the GAA.
| @SuperValuIRL #CommunityIncludesEveryone pic.twitter.com/5p97LOdrzq— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) April 26, 2024
Ikem Ugwueru speaks about his start in the GAA
"I started playing when I was in primary school," Ugwueru told a group of fellow inter-county stars, including Mayo's Pádraig O'Hora and Kerry's David Clifford, in a segment on cultural diversity in the GAA.
"One of the teachers in the school brought me into Gaelic football. He just saw me playing rugby and he goes 'have you ever tried Gaelic football?' and I said 'no, I've never tried it.
"He stayed out with me two hours after school and he did that regularly for a few weeks until I was able to get a hang of what was going on.
"I'm obviously now playing county senior and if he didn't show me how to play I probably wouldn't be playing it right now. I probably would have stuck to rugby or soccer or something like that, so all praise to him.
"His name is David McMahon from Scoil Chríost Rí in Ennis. He's actually sadly passed away now but I'll never forget him. His parish was a rival of mine so he kind of saw past that and said 'even though you're a townie I'll help you out.'"
The full video was shot by acclaimed documentary maker Ross Whittaker and can be viewed below.
SuperValu launches #CommunityIncludesEveryone campaign
Ugwueru was speaking as part SuperValu's #CommunityIncludesEveryone campaign, alongside David Clifford, Padraig O'Hora, Danny Ehichoya and Michael Gleeson, sat down to talk about cultural diversity in the GAA, discussing the impact it has in helping to integrate people from all ethnicities and backgrounds into Irish society. Here at Balls.ie we'll be sharing a lot of those very conversations in the upcoming weeks.
Interestingly, Ikem's sister Chisom did choose rugby and she excelled at the weekend, scoring three tries and in a Player of the Match for UL Bohs in the AIL Women's Division 1 final.
28 April 2024; Eabha Nic Dhonncha of UL Bohemian, left, is congratulated by teammate Chisom Ugwueru after scoring their side's third try during the Energia All-Ireland League Women's Division 1 final match between UL Bohemian and Railway Union at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
