“Always. Always. Every second of every day I was daydreaming but I live there in my head. I’ll always be there.” – Conor McGregor, August 2017
I come from Tallaght and it was a great place to grow up in. Looking back, though, there were some dicey moments.
Our house was broken into numerous times. We had cars stolen. Myself and a couple of my siblings were mugged. I was involved in three fights – W: 1, L:1 Ran away from: 1.
My sister had her Nissan Micra robbed from outside our house. It was found in Clondalkin the next day, abandoned in the middle of a torn-up football pitch. Four cans of cider, the Titanic soundtrack in the cassette player and a used condom were left behind.
We kept the car but it needed a serious hosing.
We had a long, straight road out the back of our house and it was the place where lads came to joyride stolen cars before burning them out. Kids often played in the shells of these cars and the county council could not come to remove them every day so sometimes the cars were placed side by side on a dirt hill until it could book in a tow-truck. Modern Art.
Those are some memories from over 15 to 20 years. It only looks bad when wedged together in black and white. We had the Garda helicopter as a sound-track to bed-time on many occasions but, for the most part, I felt safe there. It was all I was ever used to.
My grandparents lived in Finglas and the inner city. They often seemed ropier to me; more dangerous. You sometimes make snap judgements on places you don’t know.
Conor McGregor grew up in Crumlin and, according to interviews with him and people that know him well, he has seen his fair share of trouble and troublemakers. He has spoken of copping a vicious beating when he was a teenager after he started seeing the girlfriend of an older lad in his estate. In 2015, he told MMA Fighting:
“I was with with the girl and we were walking up the street one night and the car pulled up in front of me and a big load of them jumped out and whooped my ass. I curled up in a ball and took my beating. I’d done nothing.
“For me, after that moment I thought to myself, ‘I’m going to really learn how to fight so if anyone ever jumps out of a car or jumps out in any situation they will never do it again’.”
McGregor may have got involved in dicey situations but he had a good support network and parents that not only provided but wanted the very best for him. That involved moving out to Lucan when he was 17 but, still, McGregor was never out of Crumlin for long.
Many argue that ‘The Notorious’ and his back story have been exaggerated beyond belief. Hyped like the fights he engages in.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVYXRieACuw/?hl=en&taken-by=thenotoriousmma
‘Crossing Crumlin Road’ by ESPN’s Wright Thompson bombastically suggested McGregor was right in the middle of a gangland war that had bodies dropping on a daily basis. The residents of Crumlin were horrified and irate about the depiction of their home.
McGregor may have grown up in a largely working class, tough neighbourhood but it was not the struggle that is often depicted. He was a normal kid with a normal, working class upbringing. His parents always looked out for him and provided him with support and stability. They tried to get him work and were initially, and strongly, against him going into MMA.
The main hardship that McGregor has experienced is one that people from working class areas often suffer. The perception from those outside that it is lawless and base. That these sorts are to be avoided.
We had a friend that refused to say he was from Tallaght when bouncers asked ‘Where are you coming from lads?’. We would follow next and stick to our guns and be asked to step aside.
McGregor has always, and proudly, proclaimed he is from Crumlin and lived with the consequences.
In comment pieces, on talk shows and across social media, he has been dismissed as a classless thug and ignorant. He certainly pushes boundaries, and occasionally tramples past them, but he is an astute operator and one that has positioned himself to earn $100m from his first ever boxing match after already claiming UFC belts in two different weight divisions.
McGregor the fighter is a divisive character and some people carry their perceptions over to McGregor the man. If he is looked down upon it is something he has had to deal with for his 29 years on this earth. If he is a product of the society that raised him it is the same society that has shunned and brow-beaten his home and his people.
Thompson quoted Brendan Behan when he once proclaimed they ‘eat their young’ in Crumlin. Behan also declared, ‘People who say manual labour is a good thing have never done any’.
One suspects the celebrated Irish author would have immensely enjoyed McGregor’s quick wit and connection with his people.
On the dole at 25. A millionaire and UFC interim featherweight champion by the time he turned 27. Six months later, he unified the division and gushed about his homeland.
Credit: UFC“Ireland baby… we did it! Yeah!”
His net worth will be over $100m by the time his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. is in the history books.
He could have left Crumlin behind long ago but, just like when he was 17, he keeps coming back.
Crumlin is hard-edged yet tight-knit community. It is not perfect but it is fiercely proud and fiercely loyal. Much like their latest favourite son.
Much like the people that he so passionately represents, McGregor rises above by stepping out his front door each and every day, shaking off stigmas and getting on with it.
Of all his victories, that is the greatest.
