Gooch: The Autobiography
by Colm Cooper (Transworld, €20.00)
At the outset Cooper explains the origin of his nickname. It arose because when he was eight years old he had a passing resemblance to red-haired ‘Goochie’ dolls popular at that time.
The real heroes in this book are Colm’s parents, Mike and Maureen. They began their married life in Cricklewood in London, but returned soon afterwards to Killarney. Mike was a builder’s labourer, Maureen held two jobs, one in a bar, the other in a restaurant. Both worked hard to care for their two daughters and five sons. Committed Catholics, they were exemplary parents.
Cooper is refreshingly honest in recalling his early years. The family resided in a working-class area in the town, where ‘neighbours looked after each other and their children’. Hence Colm and his siblings were able to roam around the town without much supervision.
He began his education in the local convent school. Then he attended St Brendan’s College, known as the ‘Sem’ as it was founded to provide priests for the diocese of Kerry. It is the alma mater of many of Kerry’s best-known footballers. Although initially he tended to be overlooked because of his slight physique, he was soon a regular on the college teams.
The Cooper family were involved with the Dr Croke’s football club across a number of generations. Colm played on the club’s underage teams. He graduated to the senior team and aged 17, with his four brothers, was a member of the Dr Croke’s side which won the Kerry Senior County Championship in 2000. Cooper leaves one in no doubt that it is this club and its members which has pride of place in his affections.
He was the Dr Croke’s team mascot when they won the All-Ireland Senior Football Club Championship in 1992 and captained the team, when they won it again in 2017. While standing down as a Kerry player in 2017, he indicated his intention to continue to play for his club.
It is as a Kerry footballer that Cooper is best known. Apart from appearances in National League games, he has lined out for the county in 85 championship matches, including five in which he won All-Ireland senior football medals.
He records his experiences of some of the most important of these matches, those in which he and his teammates were successful and those in which they had to gracefully acknowledge defeat. Cooper claims that before all the ‘big’ matches in Croke Park he remained composed and focussed.
As one who for more than 10 years celebrated Mass with Kerry teams before they went in to play in Croke Park I can vouch for the fact that all those well-prepared teams were equally composed and focussed.
Outspoken
By nature outspoken, Cooper is critical of the lack of sportsmanship exhibited by some of the Tyrone footballers, particularly with regard to their practice of “sledging”. He reserves his severest criticism for the thuggery of the Australian Rules players in the international match in Melbourne in October 2005.
Throughout Cooper reveals the severe training regime which present-day top-flight Gaelic players have to submit themselves.
The book includes a large measure of self-analysis. This concerns his grief following the loss of his father and later his mother, to whom he was greatly attached. He also discusses his dark brooding following a devastating injury which threatened to cut short his football career.
Inevitably he provides a number of reflections and suggestions with regard to the future role of the Gaelic Players Association in the GAA.
The extensive use of expletives in the book is needless and off-putting. But still it is an interesting and valuable autobiography of a man who will be remembered for his sublime football skills for many years to come.
