“And just living that professional lifestyle was something like ‘ye this is for me now’.”
Former Down keeper Charlie Smyth missed out on a place in the New Orleans Saints’ active roster for the current NFL season, but has signed a new deal which means he will have another off season on the practice squad, keeping his American dream alive.
Smyth – a punter came through the International Player Pathway system – has been vocal in the past with his criticism for the GAA.
Speaking to SportsJOE last month, he said: “I just feel like sometimes in the GAA, we’re very uptight at times. I think that’s improved over the past few years, but just for everybody, just be a bit more relaxed whenever you’re not on the field. Like there’s more to life than just football.”
In a new interview with Sky Sports, he once again spoke about falling out of love with Gaelic football, and reiterated his enjoyment of the more relaxed, but professional NFL lifestyle.
Smyth said: “I wasn’t really enjoying my Gaelic football as much. But at the same time I’d wanted to try out American football for a long time, and the fact that there was now a pathway in Ireland to get seen.
“I went to that just for fun, then I get an email three weeks later that the NFL is opening up its doors for kickers and punters. From that point on I was quietly saying to myself ‘this could be something here’.
“I was at the perfect age to do it, I was 22 at the time, just finished four years of college in Belfast so I wouldn’t have had any eligibility to play college football anyway.
“I’m still not at my end goal yet, I want to be a starter and I’m confident that something good is going to happen in the near future.
“You’re nearly training like a professional athlete for the first time, because obviously Gaelic football is really competitive and really time consuming, but you also have to have a job during the day.
“So you were getting into the stage where you were preparing for your hobby to be your job, and that was your daily schedule.
“And just living that professional lifestyle was something like ‘ye this is for me now’.”
