The Boden Beat Episode 10- Aisling 'Boo' Farrelly

(upbeat music) - Hello, welcome to The Bold and Meet the podcast and all things Buddy Bold and St. Denders. My name is Derek Ryan. And this is episode 10 of The Bold and Meet. You can not go on to Buddy Bold and Dada E to hear our previous episodes, where you've chatted to the likes of Rob McDate, Paul Ryan, Dada Emocahi, Sarah Nagel, and a GPO as well show no voice amongst many more as well. So log on to Buddy Bold and Dada E for all the previous episodes of The Bold and Meet. Like I say, this is episode 10 today. We're excited to be joined on this episode by Ashling Boo, Farley, Ashling. How are you? - Hi, how are you? Thanks very much for inviting me. - Yeah, and thanks for coming on today to chat about your life and times. This is your life, Boo. So we're gonna bring you to this. We need to, this is your life and music to it. (laughing) We're gonna embarrass you first of all. I think I said this before in the podcast, but running through your honors, just to mortify you at the very start of the podcast. Yeah, get that out of the way so you can relax for the rest. But you know it's coming, two club all Ireland's 2004, 2005. One came to y'all Ireland with Dublin in 2010. Of course, the first one with Dublin, the Dublin ever won back in 2010. Sixth Lens to club championships, nine Dublin championships, one O'Connor Cup championship with UCD as well, and plenty more, I'm sure besides, that they're the highlights, Boo. We will go and chat about that across the next one or so, but the first question I've been told to ask you is where Boo comes from. So you're a friend of my sisters, and I hear about Boo all the time. Where does Boo come from? It's kind of ridiculous, actually, that it comes from Yogi Bear and Boo Boo, the cartoon that was on years ago. And my sister was Yogi Bear, and I used to follow her everywhere. So I was Boo Boo Bear and it just stuck and it fell asleep all the way through childhood, through school. She called me Boo and then it just stayed. And I even had one of my friends joined the football team and the academy Root for about six months because she thought people were shouting Root on the pitch. So I mentioned she realized my name was Boo. But it's just stayed for life. Since you were two or three? Yeah, and everyone calls it except for my mom. Yes, I didn't know your first name until I was two weeks. A lot of people don't know my name. But yeah, my mother has said that she did not curse at me, Boo. But she calls you in. Does she own your mom's the only one who does it? No, she did not call me Boo. Absolutely not, no. Good to know. But better keep Mrs. Farley on the side. So yeah, I mean, we went through your round of honor there. It's pretty incredible. A brilliant career with both Bali Brothers and Enders and Dublin with Twitch on Dublin in a bit as well. Obviously winning that first all-around and for Dublin back in 2010 has been such a successful period of the last two years as well with Dublin. But let's start from the very beginning. Boo, where did you start with Bully Bowden? Why did you start with Bully Bowden? When did you start with Bully Bowden? How did all come back? Well, I suppose I was probably quite late to the game starting at 10 and Bill Dayney came into our school, came into Lerato and introduced ladies football to us. And you know, no one was playing it at the time. It was brand new. And we all went to St. Dennis Park and practiced. And he encouraged everyone to go to Bully Bowden and join the club, which is what we did. So it was, it was all very new. And what I absolutely know, just from the start. And I played with Lerato and I played Camovi. And I continued all the way up through my teenage years. And soccer was predominantly the main sport in my household. And once history played Camovi, but mostly soccer. So it was kind of against the grain in my house and it all. Bush, I really enjoyed it. And I got great support from my family. They drove me to every single training session going, probably every night of the week for four years. But I was Bill Dayney, when he was, he was, we drove it. You know, we got it all started for all of us in Bully Bowden. It's amazing. Did you play soccer as well at that age or what else? I played a bit of everything. I suppose I was just one of those kind of kids. 40 kids who wanted to play everything, you know. So I played a bit of soccer and did a basketball. And a bit of everything in particular in San Camovi. And but Gaelic was definitely my Gaelic and Camovi. It's one of my favorites, you know. And I stuck with them. Thresh. Good stuff. Husband here. We ring you as well to jump in and ask us. This is really not very as well, giant Jonas. Did I ring? Go ahead. Yeah, I was saying you were just saying, like, it seemed like a far-fetched thing when you started playing Gaelic. And you see now with all the kids playing in a crow park and the school finds a crow park. When you were introduced to that, that seemed like for women, especially that seemed like a far-fetched thing when you started playing. Was it? Yeah, it did. It was just, you know. I don't think any of us really knew anything about it. I didn't really know much about this sport. I was just really enjoying it. And I was enjoying being encouraged to do it. I think it was the best part. Like, Bill and Nula were just fantastic in terms of, and which they encouraged, and these two, you know, pickle people. And, you know, just helping everyone to get involved and continue with it. And despite, you know, this huge fallout of teenage girls and still to this day was to keep encouraging people to play throughout your teenagers. And, like, we read the rewards of it now, you know, when we're older and we still have all our friends that we had when we were 15. You know, not probably the most important part of it is that we, the friendships that had lasted about 30 years but it's incredible, like, so it was the encouragement of those people really, you know. Yeah, but they, I mean, back in Valley Boulder that stage, again, was it something that was almost, you know, pretty new from the point of view of even setting up the team. And obviously, you went on to have so much success, but like, when you started off with something that was-- Yeah, I think we were, we were in one of the first, you know, I think it was probably a year or two before me and was certainly a few older than me that had started, but not by many years, probably many a couple years. And Kamogi was certainly more embedded in the club and they were starting to see the successes of the Kamogi team and the ladies footballers were right behind them. So it really was just at the start of that kind of the way, you know, of things. And so we didn't really know what success looked like. You know, it took a few years to build up to that point, but then when we got there, we were able to hold that kind of momentum for nine, ten years, you know. And that was just purely, as I look at it, it's like the perfect storm, you know. When you get this group of girls who have the youth coming in and then you have the experience, so it's-- we had that for a good ten years there. We were so lucky. Yeah. Well, you mentioned Bill, I guess, who else was there to get driving that on in that period that I guess-- Oh, it's such wonderful support. Like, it's a 10-year period. It's so difficult to get to get to start things going, but there must be so many people there over that 10-year period who are driving it on every-- every second there's new people coming in and board all the time. All the time, we had such brilliant support. And from a lot of, like, parents as well, would come in and help Ace when their daughters were involved. So like Joe and Nadal McCollough would come in and Marie in Condenver and then bail a new lab to see where they're there for most of that time. And my own parents were brilliant. And Joe, I'm sorry, at New London, a Sullivan came in. And then we'd Mark McAheren. We'd Pat Nash. Bobby of Sullivan. Aggy. Marty Masterson. John Deneen. We had huge amounts of management through eight years. And we was just brilliant. Like, we always had amazing support. We were never stuck. Ever stuck for support from the team. That one. Yeah, brilliant. The success came pretty quickly. When would you have started with Buddy Bowden? When did you kind of start preling it with the senior team? Well, I kind of had to go back to the book for this one, to really say. It was actually, I think, was 1999. When we were, you know, our division two, division three sides, and we lost our first Dublin point against Portobello and back then, Portobello were winning everything. But we were getting closer. We were climbing. And so I was back in 1998, 1999. I was probably on the senior team. And then from the 2000 on is where we really started, you know. 2001 saw our first all Ireland, which we lost, push. And it wasn't until '04 then, and '05 that we won the all Ireland. So it was started to '98, '99 and built from there. And so obviously our biggest success was 2004. Which is 20 year anniversary, which is famous. Which is terrifying. It is terrifying. Yeah. It's only a baby. Yes. One of my other sisters was on that team. Yeah. Carol was on that team. The '04 team, I think it was. She was, yeah. Yeah. And yeah, I think it's the only all Ireland we have in the house. So she's the one of the, the one of the house who has one. Yeah, and we had a great panel. We really did. We were born in players, you know, we'd probably a power of 30 people. And it was so important, you know. Yeah. But you lost the final. You know, one was that. Yeah. So all four was your next all Ireland final. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And we won us by one kick at the ball. And Fiona Gorken put the ball over the bar in the last minute of the game. So we narrowly won that one, put it at, yeah, I'm going to forget it's like, you know, we probably had over 10,000 people in the club, 10s, and people, you know, ground man dressed up with face paints on and it was just brilliant. that we had a great time celebrating that one and that was in Burr and then back in 2005 again, we won again in Drada. So it was just such an epic time. You don't know how you don't appreciate it, how brilliant it is at the time, you know. Yeah. Yeah, obviously you're actually like losing isn't something that people want, but when you reflect on us after winning in 2004, how much did 2000 and won, like, help you some, how much did, how much did, how much did you see here in any sport, people like losses, you learn more from your mistakes and your wins, how much did that lose and how much did the panel stayed on in 2004 and how much did that kind of help you in 2004. I think it's so important. I think those losses are so important because that creates really brilliant leaders on the team, you know, that drive people on and I think that's what we had in Book of Loads for those 10 years as we had leaders all the way up through the team, young and old and that we're able to drive people on and pull you out of the depths of us when you when you lose again and and there was that team morale that that kept us going. I got the training sessions. I never forget some of the training sessions and dragging yourself through the mud in a Halloween night open old court when it was pitches and you know all your friends are aches on Halloween night and you're there crawling along the mud because of this you know because everyone's dragging you along and you're doing it for the team. So those win those those losses were as important you know and but again it was just it was a collection of people that all worked really well together and it was it was it was really lucky. It was kind of a lucky time. And you were joint captain for the for both all our wins that Royce? Yeah yeah so I think that remember the first year was I was wise captain but Karen unfortunately got injured so we both kind of and took on the role and and we lifted the coop together you know for and then O5s again so yeah I was very very proud to be given a job like that you know what I what I think right now I was only 20 or 21 and you know such an honor to be given a job like that. I really enjoyed it. Yeah you would have been obviously pretty young when you started off with the seat with the senior team in 1999 as you said. Yeah yeah. Being captain that early on was to be incredible to be given that opportunity. Yeah because you know there was there was really strong characters on that team you know they were older than me and they were really like super powerful ballers you know I was a corner always a corner back and probably you know my best games are when you didn't see me or you didn't see the person that I was marking and they were the greatest games you know but you know I think you know the were the leaders on that team and I you know I didn't see myself sometimes as one of the one of them but it was a real honor then to be asked to lead the team. So after winning those two back to back did you did you feel like every you see all the time the winners always people are gone and for them did you feel like every time someone bled you that they were like I were playing the winners did you feel like the games were going to offer us the years went on as a win. Absolutely. Yeah they hasten we were anxious. I think we started to get this kind of isn't it boring that you keep winning and I was like no it's not boring at all because this is not forever and you know you know yourself that thing's only last so long so we knew that that this was not going to last forever yeah we had a good rule in for 10 years but we enjoyed every single year and anybody would say that to us we'd like yeah I should have seen in a few years when we're all sitting on the couch again you know and it's all over so now we we always had that every year we had that that would be like funny building bush we didn't write down you that son. You mentioned when you know for the first for the first old Arden winner think what you said the everyone there's 1000 people there and you know the lads and the face paint back then and red and I'm talking maybe more about 99 in the 2001 final that you lost but even up to obviously 2004 and five it was kind of new success is kind of new for Valley Bowden around that time obviously since then things have kicked on the club but I think we'd won the the senior football championship double senior football championship in 1995 outside of that row and obviously the community the ladies football really kicked on around the turn of the century the 99 2000 there's one kind of mark but yeah but previous of that success from a senior point of view of Valley Bowden wouldn't have been something that was very common so there must have been huge excitement in the club to to be a part of that random time they're going to like a thousand days and it won't kind of mark where it was an adjustment I think it was an adjustment for a lot of people as well to get used to seeing you know for you know women footballers women you know and being successful I'm like even I have one close of mine you know who would be like I'm going to play football too you know and you'd be telling that you're in all and final I'm gonna be kind of great for you you know but it just it wasn't adjustments and for a lot of people I'm like you know you kind of took a bit of it and yet we accepted that there were some older people who might have got it but saying that some of the older people were our best supporters you know they really were they were just so good they were at every single time and you know it's it's great to see now that it's it's definitely it's more everyone's in together and the women will support the men as much as the diagonal sport women and it's definitely more equal now and I think maybe it started the 2000s we were just getting going on not you and you did have some comments here or there but to be honest it wasn't it wasn't the minority people it was not I'm sure she so we had huge supports both men and other women you know and we see that now obviously the warm club model is so it's so prevalent in in body building and you can probably you can probably see I just said yourself the difference from back then to to now and and how again equal everything is is the you know the the ladies community section and the and the men's hurting football sections are are all all all all equal obviously it would be maybe slightly different maybe back in the day and as you mentioned maybe grew as as your success grew and I think and it played but you probably see a massive difference now today in the one club model compared to either the one definitely I do I think that we probably have to be a few trailblazers at the start and people probably have to maybe shout a little louder for for making making sure things were equal you know and and I think it it is better now you know it's more equal now I see the senior a footballers train now and it's very impressive to be the bear you know the treatment they're getting you know even down to the wind and the trainer early on a Saturday morning and they're in have no breakfast and then they have the GPS trackers on the back and it's really great to see all that kind of stuff because then you know that at least it's on par and it's it's equal and and it probably did take a while and probably a few meetings here and there in the club where we probably had to shout a little bit louder but saying that we were always listening to it you know we really were and we weren't ignored ever and we were supported so I think we probably did have to get the ball roll on something and and say me to come over you they did as well and Bush yeah I'm happy to see that it's definitely more equal now so it's great you can't ignore success can you? No no I don't think so and it's and it's a bit recognizing everybody's success you know like when when the men won't yell out in a couple of years about we were just absolutely equally as delicious and fully sported and and encouraging and out of other games supporting them as they would us you know so I think that's it it's just we're all the same we're all in clubs so that's most important it um we mentioned obviously it success wasn't maybe uh something that was um common for Bali Bowden back then uh and certainly from a Dublin point of view an intercongi point of view probably wasn't uh overly common either compared to the way it is now obviously Dublin are competing for all islands on a very regular base dollar and champions uh should obviously this year I got knocked out of the quarter final stage but I haven't sold much since 2017 in particular um I think 2003 they were in the all-round and final date up and date and a lot and uh 2010 you were involved where did you get involved with um I was very very very very lucky in that um I came back from Australia in 2009 and I really just I really wanted to give it a go for a year um and uh I approached the manager and I and I was a let go and give it a go so I was very lucky in that that I the year I did go first um they wouldn't all learn and and I really enjoyed the year um you know I was I wasn't starting to play or anything like that I was on the panel but I got so much ahead of that year training um particularly every every Sunday at the training sessions they do a challenge game almost ourselves and I'd say I came on more from doing those games having to mark you know Lindsey Peach and people like this every Sunday I learned so much and I really enjoyed that and so I read a startup and she so I was very lucky and I feel sometimes I feel you know I've such good friends Louise Kelly Circa Farley, Joanna Sullivan who who played for years at Dublin and who were amazing to her and didn't weren't as lucky to get the success that I got in that one here so they probably called me a bit jammy in that one Sullivan but you know those those girls played for years and we're myself muscle players for Dublin you know it's kind of crazy that the likes of Schneider her and for example they're still involved and I can't believe I saw she came off the bench there for their last game like that girl's incredible she's like so incredible I know she really Who was managing at the double ladies back then? Was Mick involved? Mick Boeing. No, no Mick wasn't there then he had been there previously and then back after 2010 and Jerry McGill. Jerry McGill was the manager and he was actually a manager of mine when we were the old car open new city so I know. And so he was looking after the team then so. Brilliant but to be to be involved and at that from an intercage point of view to win an old Ireland, obviously the break through all Ireland for Dublin and. 2010 took the fears to win it again but that that really was the the breakthrough moment where they were the started to compete obviously they lost a few old Ireland finals pre 2017 as well so getting to the final something that the 2010. Success probably helped massively in that regard. And you were really starting to see the emergence of the other clubs at Dublin and the chemical crowds and fox cab on those players would be highly like highly influential in the tilting team going forth and and we're talking about really successful strong players. And they were the backbone then of the team going forward so you know it was the emergence of those clubs that were really important. And even against being so early involved with the merge with the with the I guess growth of ladies football in volleyball and then playing. A role in such a major turning point in Dublin. From Dublin point of view as well to be involved in that break through all Ireland. It most I don't know if you probably realize maybe you have important was at the time what was there a feeling that this could be a big moment in terms of it. And it's growing in terms of it breaking through into being something that could be fairly regular. Probably not so much from me personally but for a Dublin as a Dublin perspective yes definitely because I suppose for me I was more I knew I was offing it after that and I wasn't going to be carrying on. But but in terms of the whole Dublin team. Yeah you could see it was just there was a real buzz and there was there was such talent there coming in younger. Obviously a lot younger than me and you could see it yet there was a real buzz with it and I think you know I was just so lucky to be just there at the start of that again. I think I've been very lucky and for churches and some of the timings of my other things that I've done. So I don't take it around. I don't know if it don't take. Not only the women's success but that that women's success in 2010 did the man ever give you success for kickstart and that glory period and there and there and they were lost your history. That was a year later as I started there. I was it so it was actually dead lost really wasn't it? Yeah because. That's not really wasn't any of it. A year later they are all of a sudden the dominant started so I hope. Yeah I know and I was I was on the hill for a couple of those matches shouting and being carried around the place. So yeah I enjoyed I enjoyed those games in the in the 2010s as well watching Michael there and all left and I didn't miss any of them. I don't know did it yeah I suppose it was just like a purple patch I always I said that before it's like the perfect store of getting when you get the right team on all the right elements at the right time. You just go with that for as long as it lasts because it doesn't last forever forever. How did the intercante set up differ to the club obviously you would have known the club girls and awful up better than maybe the intercante you know the intercante set up outside of that maybe how did this differ playing for Dublin compared to playing for volleyball. I think like you know it's very friendly everything's very friendly when you're in their club team and I think the first time I went out with double ladies I went out with them you know good for years before that when I was about 17 or 18 and I was quite intimidated by it. Because it was an intimidating place to be and I know I don't even went training for a few months. But when I was older back in 2010 you know I was more able for the characters and to get stuck in so I think that was a part of it that I really always watch. Now particularly with younger players is to make sure that they're that they're brought in from the start. And because there is you know there it is intimidating place to be certainly when it's a 17 or 18 year girl playing up against these really powerful women you know. So I think you know there is a certain element of that bush. Yeah but obviously and gone into from the club to like intercounty you've got like you've got people from different clubs was it ever was a kind of like people like the balibald and girls would say together and they killed the chords and said no not actually no no I really know I had equally as much crack with all of them. And actually I think I had the most crack with the girls in Port Marick I definitely had more high parties with them than I did with any of the club. So we had a great time like we mixed really well and I know I think it was four was maybe from Bowden on at the time. So no we had a great time mixture but I think I was older at the time you know I was older and I was more able for that kind of banter. So I think that that definitely makes a difference you know. Well your club allegiance is a side. When you're socializing doesn't matter where you're from. It gets you bringing all over the game did you do different to different pubes so it's all good. Exactly yeah yeah. Obviously the senior final the LGFA final this year double and obviously got knocked out by a goal the old iron quarter final this year I'm sure you're watching on it's a go if you carry the old iron final this weekend. Have you been keeping an iron on things are we obviously over the year. But like I think it's a funny one in that like you probably wouldn't call this one like because you know years ago used to be very clear sometimes it was very clear that was one really strong down the team. But I don't think it's like that man. I think that everybody's in with a chance which is great you know it's really great to see. So you know I think if we go either right now with these ones but I'll be definitely be shooting into watch and you know I usually go to it every year. I'm away this this year for but you know I would go in and support and it's always a good day out actually a lot of you know ex players would meet up in juries across the road and it's always a really good day. So I'm sorry to be a miss. It's strange not double not being involved obviously with you and even from the man's point of view as well it's kind of a different vibe around all the time this year. It really is because I have my friends have always been involved in in the management of it for the last few years as well so we've been there supporting them. But yeah it is a stranger to learn to enter the theater you know. Go back to volleyball and you went back playing in the club after a short break. Obviously you know by what brought you back to the club after you took after you took the short break you know it's kind of community it's kind of difficult to maybe stay away from it sometimes. Yeah I would like you know the club is just part of me yeah it's part of my life I suppose I met Mark my husband he played in my building as well and the kids all play and you know the club has been a massive support to me. I know my son wasn't well there the year before it asked and we got absolutely amazing support from the club so I had to step away for a year and luckily he's fine he's back in his well but like you know I got such help from from the club. I remember one morning I was grabbing a coffee in the club and I was on my way back in to see Dan. He was in Guamman at Jonas Hospital for about six months and Ned Slattery shouted across the car park to say that his singers were burned to a crisp from all the candles that he's lighting in the churches. And I just thought that was so lovely you know to say something like that. So when Dan covered and he got well again that was the first thing I got back into was coaching again with the girls because it was just something I really enjoy. So I'm with the C team the C ladies footballers not and play the odd little bit when they're stuck but that's the only one that really stuck because they don't want me on pitch. You know I really enjoy that I really enjoy working with that team and it's great like I'm helping out a little bit with Dan's team when I can and hopefully know with the boat know the spree hoping to get involved in that later this year as well so it's something I really enjoy you know. Like when you're on the sideline for matches whereas in like when you when you're in a match and yet you had control that I see a lot of people who go from being players to managers and then they coach and they have some sort of control but when it comes to matches they're absolutely no control. What's it like when things are going wrong like I wish it was going to go and kick a point over the bar and get this back on. It's funny because I've always been a back I miss most of the play that goes on because I'm only looking at the backs. So if there's scores going over the bar I never actually see them because I'm usually looking to see where the full back is and how she and I on everybody and so whenever I'm you know whenever the girls are playing I'm usually Dan's down inside the full back. We're behind the gody and I'm instructing from there so you know that's just I can't get that into my head that kind of mentality of defense of you know so whatever the words want to deal with the pitch best of luck but I'm always I'm always at the other end of the pitch you know. I'm trying to dictating it doesn't work to go well. Do you enjoy you know it's obviously very different obviously from from playing to have you fans. The group do you miss the playing side of it or are you quite a quite intense on the sideline now and kind of well I played a hassle game last Wednesday because our full back was late from work. So that was interesting and yeah it was funny to just on the pitch but no I don't I'm think I'm happy enough to. to step away and to to be on the sideline and job. This is with the coaching at this stage. I kind of feel like I've done my best and and you know move sides and let these girls do it. But you know I love to see a particularly full back line. I love to see them working on certain skills and you know protecting the D as we call us and you know stopping any goals and I love I love working on that with them so no I don't miss I'm not I'm not missing it too much. You mentioned obviously your your son Dan was sick and I guess just around that in terms of yeah come back and involved with them and I guess that's really what every G.A. club in Valley Belgium is not different to any G.A. club around the country. I guess sometimes it's something that's can be missing maybe in Dublin sometimes but it's something that that can kind of community feel and you mentioned there you know when Dan was sick and the support you got is that kind of something that really draws you towards the club that idea of it being a small community even quite in what is quite obviously a big area for us not going to an area. I think it is. Dublin can be different from around the rest of the country where there's obviously small parishes and clubs around different parishes but maybe Dublin can lose that a small bit but in Valley Belgium it just seemed to be something that's and obviously you'd be so well known in the club but being a part of a big community like that can really I guess bring you all together in difficult times. Yeah big time like you know it's the support you get from friends and from even random people that you might know that well and you know I like I suppose I've been so involved in the club for years and I worked there by working behind the bar and you'd be getting off shifts early behind the bars you could go play a match and you know you're from them from day one you were getting support from the club from different people and then given a back when you can as well in different roles coaching and I used to be heavily involved in summer camps for years and things like that but I like I remember I did an interview after after times recovering we did myself and down did an interview and one of the questions was did you ever see a license or did you did you feel like you were looking for support and that was never an issue for our family never and I think that has to be done from the fact that we had so many places to ask for help you know we had a big family and everything but we had we had support we had groups of friends that were not gonna in your door to help you so you know I think that that has to come from being heavily involved in the club but I think it has to be and it's not just it's not just the sport it's the other aspects of volleyball as well they're so so important you know the fact that I'm still very good friends with all these girls 25 year later like we still have a revenue default and we try to go away once a year you know without fail and they're all bodybuilding so you know that that it's that in itself is is everything you know um you have how many kids have you got three three boys and are they all involved with Bowdoin or the eight no eight five two so we're getting there but the two year old has a pair of football boots and he wants to join bodybuilding and so I don't have to hard to tell him that he's three years he's not bad actually yeah he's got to do that tackle on him you're the two are involved already and they're enjoying us yeah yeah they're in summer camp this week actually so it's great yeah they're at they are enjoying a champ and you've got to be the the mom of the sideline um shouting and roaring or you got to be the the quiet one I think we know the answer to that question but I won't be sharing at the rest I've never do you you've never know that in your career no I guess finally you've talked about uh Valley Bowdoin and and what it's meant to you from a young age uh you know breaking through playing and all you know the success you had and obviously through the difficult times the last year what does Valley Bowdoin say then does mean to you you've spoken there about about us friendships and community what what does it mean to you you know I think I think the last we started this podcast around the time of COVID and I think the the the GA clubs in general kind of found their found their feet a lot during COVID in other ways where people kind of really saw the importance of of GA clubs and how important they are to communities and and all that sort of thing um and you know when it was taken away from us I guess during COVID we you know we kind of realized the importance of them of that community so I guess what does Valley Bowdoin mean to you in that regard and what did you miss from it in that kind of year or so that we maybe weren't able to be as much of a club as we as we normally are I missed the you know the lottery and the being part of one you know it's been part of a team I missed that kind of connection that you would get once or twice a week meeting up with this bunch of people and and you know like you could travel the world and you'd always meet someone from Valley Bowdoin or and know someone from Valley Bowdoin it's just such a widespread spreading you know community that we have and and it's just what it means is I suppose it's lifeline and that's the important part for me is that it's carried through from the edge of 10 to to now and I'm going forward you know and it's it's provided me with so much you know and I just love being part of that community I love being I love being Asian around the shops or whatever and just meeting all these people and a lot of them might be I might even know their first names but for the matter you still should stop and have a count on top of whatever whatever backers on but um and I particularly loved to see the you know the players going back now it's the senior team the C team and they're 23-24 and they haven't aged since they're 18 but you know they're coming back and I just love to see that because never realized the importance of us you know what they had when they were 16 17 18 and they went way for a while and they're coming back to it now and it's brilliant because they realize how important it is in their life so that's what it means to me it has that's a very magnetic field because I I stopped playing when I was 14 and now I'm here on the phone on the bottom podcast yeah that's it yeah all these years later how's that going to draw it back in doesn't it you're always yeah it does it draws you back in you find a place to slap back in and now it's it's it's brilliant like it's there's and there's something for everyone that's the thing you don't have to be an amazing footballer you know that that that's not important to you know there's a there's a place for everybody and like I know me in some of the most towns of footballer but you know there was there was a place there for me and you know it's a place for everybody and it's that's great yeah and I think even again talking about you know that COVID period it became such a kind of hive of activity you you dropped down there pretty much any time of the day any time of the week and it's busy there's people down there all the time dropping in for you know could see whatever it might be the place is always it's always busy I guess that's even something new to the club that maybe wasn't there previously or in the in you know which previously to that it seems to be just a place it's always busy now there's always somebody down there to have a chat with or whatever it might be if you need to yeah absolutely like I'm having a coffee shop there and the ice cream shop there like I'm spending most my weekends there but it is brilliant it's a great place to just pop down and the lads can have a little play and you can catch up with people and it really is it's a fantastic kind of resource to have in the air you know so it's very lucky and you know people always say that's and would you ever move there's no way that's that's no way I could move away from that you know and it's too important to everything that I do now I'm in bed it's there for life so yeah yeah yeah that's my next tattoo me and sell out she won't thank me for that but that's our next tattoo very good well listen on that note but thank you very much for joining us for this podcast it's been great to chat to you and chatting to your career and your memories of bodybuilding throughout the years incredible career like I said we went through the role of honor to embarrass you the very stark what it is it's been a brilliant career and the brilliant time you've had a little of obviously over the last one more years and obviously you're still involved we will be involved for many years thanks really for joining us today thank you Jack thanks rain thanks very much