Jack Grealish's dad explains how GAA helped the Aston Villa captain make it as a footballer
The former Republic of Ireland youth international, who switched to England in 2015, represented John Mitchels in Dorridge, Solihull in the West Midlands of England.Kevin told Birmingham Live: "He'd run the show playing Gaelic. It really helped him because he was knocked from pillar to post. It's brutal compared to soccer.
"I told Gordan Cowans the once. He asked why Jack was so good at expecting tackles and stuff and it was the GAA. It really built up his upper body, players would bounce off him. It's probably why he's so strong today. "He had to stop playing at 16, though, they'd just be stamping on his fingers and it became all too much. We had Nike knocking at the door at this point as well who wanted to sponsor him."
Grealish's love of GAA stemmed from his school days at St Peter's, a Catholic school which really pushed Ireland's national game. "It was a summer sport, Gaelic, and he'd play that non-stop, he didn't care about your crickets or rugbys," dad Kevin added. If you haven't already, be sure to like our Irish Mirror Sport and Irish Mirror GAA pages on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Our Irish Mirror Sports page - which brings you all your Irish and UK sports news - can be found here.The Irish Mirror Twitter account is @IrishMirror while our sports account is @MirrorSportIE.
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