Rodney has no regrets from his life in snooker
Snooker means absolutely everything
TWENTY-ONE years ago, Rodney Goggins was on top of the world.
In the October before the turn of the millennium, the Wexford man beat Rolf de Jong of the Netherlands 11-4 in the world Under-21 snooker championship final in Cairo, a reward for all the hours of hard graft he had put in on the green baize during his formative years in the 147 Club.
If you quickly browse through the list of players that lifted the trophy in the years before the Wexford man’s triumph, names like Ken Doherty, Peter Ebdon and Ronnie O’Sullivan jump off the page, stars who later went on to win the biggest prize of all at The Crucible, and Goggins could have been forgiven for believing that it was a springboard to almost guaranteed success.
Marco Fu, Ding Junhui and Neil Robertson also etched their names on the Under-21 roll of honour, before carving out glittering careers for themselves in the professional ranks.
Although Goggins did achieve his aim of gaining a place on the main tour, he never went on to hit those kind of heights, but though he’s somewhat hard on himself when assessing his career, he refreshingly doesn’t harbour any regrets, reflecting on matters with an almost self-deprecating humour.
‘They were great players. Obviously I would have been reading about those guys. I can remember getting Pot Black magazine when Doherty won the Under-21 in ‘89, he won it out in Iceland.
‘I read about Ebdon winning it in Australia in 1990 and then reading about this 15-year-old kid O’Sullivan in 1991, you just knew he was going to be special. Comparing myself to those lads, I would never put myself into that type of bracket,’ he said.
‘The main thing is doing it on the day. Isn’t that what all sport is about? You hear of club teams training well, but then when it comes down to the nitty-gritty on match day they might not perform.
‘The difference between the top lads and the journeymen is the mentality that allows them to do it on the day. I always felt I had a good mentality for it. I always felt like if I got beat I didn’t go into the doldrums and I went back to the practice table.
‘But there’s players that have talent and then there’s the gifted ones. The ones you see winning on the telly are the gifted ones. The fact is, I just wasn’t good enough for the pro game. Sorry for being so brutal on myself, but I just wasn’t,’ he said.
Goggins could be looked upon as a nearly man in the cut-throat world of professional sport, but he is a glass half full type of guy and is grateful to be one of the few that got the chance to pit his wits against the best in the world in his chosen field.
It’s not the winning, but the taking part, that counts, and for a player who gave his all, that old adage certainly rings true.
‘I failed as a professional, hands up. I only got to 71 in the world, but I loved it, I feckin loved it, and I still do. I have no regrets about what I did do and what I didn’t do. I still love the game.
‘I might have won a few more matches here and there but it just wasn’t to be. I did everything I think I possibly could. If anything, I’m a bit of an over-achiever.
‘I’m a massive sports fan and I got to play in my own sport as a professional. There’s very few fans that get to do that,’ he said.
For those of us looking in, to be ranked that high in the world is no mean feat and his achievements should be richly lauded, with the Goggins journey, which hit a few bumps along the way, really gathering speed with his big win in Egypt back in 1999.
Reflecting on his wonderful world Under-21 success, it’s clear it’s a memory he truly cherishes, a source of immense pride for himself, his family, and his county.
‘For me it was a dream that came true. It was a little bit like winning the lotto to win a world Under-21. I just went out and played. Looking back there was no pressure on me because I was maybe ranked third in Ireland in the Under-21s, behind T.J. Dowling and Robbie Murphy from Dublin.
‘The only pressure I had came from myself. There was was no one expecting any great things. I just played my matches and it all came right for me,’ he said.
‘I was on the road for three weeks, because it was a two-week tournament in Egypt and the previous week I was in Wales playing home internationals and the Pontins Open. I was very tournament sharp going out to Egypt.
‘Larry Codd started coaching me in May ‘99, and in September I went out to Egypt and won it. It just shows what a coach can do.’
The success in Egypt opened doors for a then 21-year-old Goggins, and he was really on top of his game during a whirlwind period, acquitting himself well in the world amateur championships in Papua New Guinea in 1999, before claiming his one and, so far, only Irish amateur title the following year, prompting a move across the Irish Sea to Leeds.
‘By winning the world Under-21s I got a wildcard to the world amateurs and I got to the quarter-finals tha matches away from d beaten by the winner good shape. I was fly
‘I won the Irish am a big thing. That was winning the world I honed my craft an tournament in Irelan
‘I had said to my da ry, “I’m thinking abou After winning the Irish “You have to go Rod yourself. You’ve done do in Ireland”.
‘I think going to E as a snooker player glad I went to Englan say I should have gon was younger, but I do I hadn’t earned my s
‘I would have bee a ballboy, and, to be over I was a ballboy took me a while, yo deeper pool of playe
It took Goggins s feet in a competitive in typical fashion th more an appreciatio taken him on, altho that he didn’t adapt t quickly enough.
‘It took me four or f card, I was 26. I cam tournaments in Wale now, I couldn’t have education.
‘I probably didn’t le sibly could have, tho it took me a little bit lo
‘I was like a spon down in The 147 and but looking back I tho do the same later o detrimental to my ga
‘I lost my card and to get back on the to learning and I still fe game. I feel like I’m s
‘I don’t know if I’m level, that’s another I’m still playing a fair
His second stint tour concluded in 20 means the end, with of his snooker story