David Gillick on his passion for Gaelic football

Crack Irish sprinter David Gillick is the fastest 400m runner in Europe this season. He caught up with spikesmag.com to talk about his passion for Gaelic Football.

“I do like my Gaelic football. I played it up until 2003 – that’s when I packed it in to concentrate on my running. I was playing senior two (division) in Dublin, which is quite a high standard. I started out as a half forward and when I got older I was a midfielder, which is like the engine of the team.

When my running is over I hope to go back and play a bit – you can play on until your 40s. Every end-of-season break in September/October I consider playing a game, but never do. My brother still plays. He competes in the top league in Dublin.

I like the sport because there are no airs or graces. No one is above anyone and the game has a nice vibe to it. I used to play soccer when I was a kid but wasn’t quite as good at it. I think I did well at Gaelic because I was genuinely quite fit – and pretty fast, too.

Every parish in Ireland has a Gaelic team – the sport is indigenous to Ireland. It’s a great sport to watch live. My girlfriend is from Sunderland and she came over for a game and loved it.

I support The Dubs (Dublin GAA) and used to go to the games a fair bit when I was younger. During the summer it was great. I remember going to Croke Park most Sundays – it was always such a great day out. I live in England now, so rarely get to go, although I did watch the Dublin v Wexford game live in July.

A favourite player of mine was Charlie Redmond. He was probably the leading light – a fourth forward. He would kick the free kicks from 45m, which is a really hard thing to do.

It's hard to follow [Gaelic] when you’re on the [athletics] circuit but I try and catch the odd game online. When I race, I text my mum and dad the result and they will always reply with the latest Dubs news.”