‘I’m going from watching my NFL heroes to hopefully playing in it’
Down’s young goalkeeper with the booming kick is adamant he can make it big in American football
FITTINGLY, it was a kick that sparked Charlie Smyth’s love affair with the NFL. By his own admission, he wasn’t too much of a fan prior to the cold January evening seven years ago when he watched the play-off game between the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys at a friend’s house in Mayobridge.
The drama went into overtime. Packers kicker Mason Crosbie ended up winning it with a 28-yard field goal and the young goalkeeper was hooked. ‘It just came down to this last-minute field goal for the Packers and Crosbie nailed it. And I just had this huge liking towards the Packers and Aaron Rodgers from that moment.
‘And now, I am going from watching it and following the NFL intently to hopefully going to play in it. It is all just a bit surreal,’ the 22-year-old says, smiling widely at his pinch-me moment.
The former Down Under-20 goalkeeper is the youngest of the four Irish athletes flying to Florida this week as part of the NFL’s International Pathway Programme. Along with Monaghan’s Rory Beggan, Wicklow’s Mark Jackson and former Connacht player Darragh Leader, the quartet will arrive in the US, smack bang in the middle of SuperBowl week.
‘We are going to be in the middle of an NFL environment when the SuperBowl is going on, that is going to be quite cool to experience,’ says the young keeper. The four Irish hopefuls are part of 16 athletes plucked from different sports, including Welsh rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit, who will participate in the NFL Academy in Florida for the next three weeks before getting a chance to impress NFL scouts at the combine in Indianapolis, which starts on February 29th.
For someone who grew up dreaming of wearing the red and black of Down, it is quite the detour in his sporting journey. But he thinks that an earlier disappointment in his Gaelic football career played its part. Smyth was overlooked for the county minors. Didn’t even get trials, as he remembers.
So, at a time when his peers were at county training three nights a week, and doing gym sessions every other evening, Smyth was down on Mayobridge’s pitch, practising his free-taking and kick-outs.
‘I suppose I was disappointed not even to get a minor trial, but at the end of the day, it didn’t faze me too much. To be honest, looking back, it turned out that it was a massive advantage for me because at that age, 16 and 17, all I did was go to the pitch and practise my frees.
‘If I had been on the Down minor panel, I wouldn’t have been able to do that because you would have been training three nights a week, gym sessions another couple of nights. But I was able to come into my own as a kicker because I practised my kicking every night. And then I grow a bit in height, got a bit more power in my legs and got onto the club senior team and Down under-20s and it was just through my ability to kick frees. So, my path has actually been a bit unusual, but it couldn’t have worked out better.’ Smyth’s long, booming restarts from the kicking tee have been a trait for Mayobridge and the Down under-20s, and it is something that he hopes to be able to show in Florida and Indianapolis, especially when it comes to the NFL kick-off, which is also off a tee.
‘It is a bit similar in that you use a kicking tee for your kick-offs and for kickouts in Gaelic football. For me, one of my big strengths for my kick-outs is that I can get it down the field pretty far. With Mayobridge, we use that tactic a lot, I just kick it as far as I can and we try to get flick-ons for goals. It is the same principle with kickoffs. You want to kick the ball 65 yards plus and you would be looking to kick the ball into the end zone every time and that will be my aim.’
It was another disappointment that directed Smyth towards the NFL a few months ago. He hadn’t made the Down senior panel and having noticed the stories of Ross Bogler and Ronan Patterson, two Gaelic footballers who had got college scholarships as kickers through the kicking academy set up by Tadhg Leader, he contacted the former Connacht rugby player. And from there, he finds himself with this opportunity.
‘For me, in my career, I had been so locked into football and had always envisaged myself being the starting goalkeeper for Down and it just took me to this year, where football didn’t go as well, so I thought let’s give this a try. So I went down to Dublin and met Tadhg and got myself into the loop and from then on, going to that first session, where Tadhg recognised I had a decent kick and the NFL opened up its international pathway to kickers and punters shortly after that and he asked me to come to a session to join a few of the lads, Rory [Beggan] and Niall [Morgan]. Just training with those lads was a great buzz and it is mad to think where we are now.’
Smyth is still a little unsure of what to expect in Florida. He has been told that each day will start at seven in the morning and go until eight in the evening and there will be plenty of kicking. ‘So, it’s going to be pretty hectic, but you would expect that because we are trying to break into the NFL.’
The NFL are trying to make it a little easier for international players, with each franchise now allowed an extra practice player to their roster if they were born outside the US or Canada. The opportunity might crop up for someone who can kick the ball more than 65 yards consistently... like Smyth.
Around Mayobridge, there has been nothing but good wishes towards him following his dream. Even some local legends of Mourne football have been encouraging him to go. Last week, Smyth was out walking his dog, a West Highland terrier called Maisey who he will miss, when he bumped into Benny Coulter.
‘Benny had a big smile on his face and said “Jaysis, you are going to be more well-known than me soon!” That’s Benny, he was just telling me to grab the opportunity. And I met Mickey Linden the other day too, and he was the same, just saying what an incredible opportunity and to make the most of it.
‘That’s the way it has been around Mayobridge. There has been zero negativity. Anyone I have spoken to, my family, friends, everyone wishing me well, my club are very supportive as well, they just want to see the best for me at the end of the day. I am representing my club and county and hopefully representing Ireland as well, I just feel very lucky to be able to do that and if I do get signed, I will put Mayobridge and Down on the map.
‘And we are putting Gaelic football on the map too. If we impress in the NFL, we have come over as Gaelic footballers and they will want to know more about the game where we learned how to kick. So we will be putting Gaelic on the world stage if we were to make it.’
And as the old song goes, if Smyth can make it there…
For more information visit www.nfl.com/international/playerpathway
‘IF I DO GET SIGNED, I’LL
PUT DOWN AND MAYOBRIDGE ON THE MAP’