John Small: 'I want to give as much back'

By Cian O’Connell

Family, friendships, and sport remain intertwined. Ballymun Kickhams’ relevance to John Small will never waver. “It is huge,” the former Dublin footballer says. “It is the reason I played.”

Now, Small wants to give back. That element matters deeply to him. “The club was very, very good to me,” Small adds.

“I try to give a lot back. I'm involved in a lot of committees; I'm on the executive. Obviously, I'm still playing football. I'm up there in the Academy on Saturday mornings.

“Ballymun Kickhams was great to me, it's one of the biggest things in my life, Ballymun Kickhams. I love the club. I want to give as much back, as I can. It couldn't mean more to me, to be honest.”

Being on the executive of a GAA club isn’t something everyone in their early 30s is interested about. “It is just to try to improve,” Small explains.

“We're always trying to get better. I've my own strengths and things that I can probably help with. So, I try to impart some of that stuff. Even, I try to carry over some of the work stuff I've learned, looking at things that we can do better as a club.

“I want to get involved in the weeds and the heavy lifting piece because people did that for me when I was younger. It paves the way for guys to be able to do that, too. Hopefully, there will be another John Small in 30 years’ time, doing the same.

“It is all about conveyor belts and getting good people involved in the club. It was really good to me. So, I want to be good back.”

Retaining players and volunteers in different roles is crucial. “It is a very tight knit club,” Small says.

“A lot of people, their fathers played, and they do now even if they live outside the locality or community because we're quite close as a club. There is a real family feel to it.”

Small is refreshingly honest about a gifted collection of Ballymun footballers in a highly competitive Dublin Championship. “I probably think that we underachieved a little bit,” Small says.

“That Vincent's team kept beating us, on paper we were probably better, but as a team they seemed to have it nailed down better than we did. We'd be trying to integrate everyone into the group really quickly.

“We'd huge talent alright, we got to a lot of semi-finals and finals. We only won two Championships and there was probably at least another two or three in that team.

“Ultimately, we did underachieve a little bit, but I still think there is a good crop of good players in Ballymun. Hopefully, we can still achieve something.”

In sport, there is always a dash of hope. Last October Small announced his retirement from the senior inter-county arena. Seven All-Ireland SFC medals were gleaned. Memories made. “Life just moves on, I went into the game on Saturday,” Small says about attending the Allianz Football League Division One opener against Donegal.

“I went into it with my brother still playing. I'm heavily immersed in club stuff, work is very busy, and just family life. So, things just move on. I'm a supporter now, I go into watch Dublin, hoping they'll do well.”

Ultimately, Small is content to leave the inter-county stage. “I think as you get older, your perspective, as life becomes a lot busier, and priorities change,” Small says.

“Football was a huge part of my life; I'm still a massive GAA and football fan. To give it the dedicated time, if you want to do it, you'll do it, but I'm 33, and I just think it was the right time to retire. There was a natural ending with Dessie (Farrell) finishing up, too.”

Since October how much has Small reflected on his Dublin career? “I don't really think about it too much,” Small responds.

“Now, when I'd be talking to you, I might talk about how special a time it was. A group of guys came together and did something special. The longevity of it was pretty incredible. I don't really reflect or think about it every day or anything like that.

“I do recognise it was really, really amazing what we did, and in my opinion, probably the best team that ever played the game, and what we achieved with the management team.

“What we did was phenomenal. The group of players we had was phenomenal. I recognise how important it was and how special it was.

“It was an incredibly talented squad. We probably had 30 guys, some of our B team players were some of the best players in the country.”

That is what kept the Dublin players and management coming back for more. “The level of competition was incredible,” Small adds.

“We'd a phenomenal culture, that isn't cliché. We were always challenging each other; it was very competitive. You were always nearly hyper paranoid that somebody was coming to take your place.

“Jim (Gavin) created an environment like that and mentally we did a lot of stuff so that in those clutch moments we'd be able to get over the line. There were so many different aspects, there were multi-faceted elements to what we did. They're just some of them.”

GAA chat is frequently on the agenda with work too for Small. “Procure.ie is Ireland's largest energy broker, we've partnered with Guaranteed Irish,” he explains.

“It is offering 20,000 to local GAA clubs, all they've to do if you're business, take a photo or video of what you've done for your GAA club.

“We're very GAA orientated, we've Dean Rock, myself, my brother Paddy, and Seán Óg Ó hAilpín. It is great, it is important because we know how hard it is for GAA clubs to fundraise. Initiatives like this are very welcome.”

Part of the Ballymun Kickhams club executive, Small is embracing challenges on and off the field.

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