PAUL McGrath is considered one of Ireland’s greatest football players, gaining multiple titles and achievements throughout his career while battling his own personal anguish.
McGrath was born on December 4 1959 to Betty McGrath and a Nigerian father.
His mother, a young Irish woman terrified at the idea of what would happen to her, a woman pregnant to a black man out of wedlock in 1950s Ireland, gave him up for adoption.
“I would be the only black child in my class and when it came to history and they started to talk about Africa I would just shrink. I’d pray it would go as quick as possible – and that seems such a shame because I’m so interested in history these days. I’m close to my mum now and she is a real witty old Dublin woman, but I guess when you look back there are reasons for my troubles.”
The stark contrast between his assurance and confidence on the pitch and his insecurity off it recurs throughout McGrath’s autobiography Back From The Brink.
“If you are told you are no good often enough as a kid, you start to believe it,” he writes. “And I was growing up in Dublin when there weren’t a lot of black kids around. It meant I had this awful shyness.”
As well as a glittering domestic career, McGrath enjoyed a hugely successful international career, picking up 83 caps for Ireland, scoring eight goals and helping his side qualify for the European Championships in 1988 and the FIFA World Cup in 1990 and 1994.
Paul McGrath retired from international football in 1998 but is still regarded today as one of the greatest ever players to pull on an Irish jersey.
As well as being a national footballing treasure, he is responsible for Ireland’s most famous sporting chant.
Sing it loud, sing it proud: Ooh aah Paul McGrath…”
(This article was sourced from various sites, most notably www.black and Irish.com)