Award-winner Darren a real PRO
IT summed up how bizarre and manic Darren Crawley’s year has been that half-way through an interview discussing his Press Officer of the Year award last Tuesday he was interrupted by two well-oiled Yorkshire women looking to know where was good to ‘go on the lash’.
Just as he has handled all queries that have come his way this year in relation to Dundalk FC, Darren dealt with the request diligently – duly pointing them in the direction of Temple Bar before returning to the task at hand.
It was that sort of calm organisation that saw him voted PRO of the Year by the Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland, with a fine year for Dundalk FC capped by the club also picking up the Website of the Year award for the sixth time at the event at The Palace Bar in Fleet Street in Dublin.
The exact numbers of the vote aren’t known but it would be somewhat surprising if the 24-year-old wasn’t an overwhelming winner.
With Dundalk battling for honours at home and abroad he catered for every media demand, while the establishment of a WhatsApp group to keep journalists informed of events and happenings at the club is something that others can undoubtedly take inspiration from.
‘It’s a huge honour,’ he told The Argus after collecting the award for a second time following on from his inaugural win in 2014.
‘To win it for a second time is great. The fact we had such a volume of games and trying to balance that with work as well means that it probably means more this time around. It was just something special this year.
‘There were 56 competitive games in total and it has just been mental.’
While most of Darren’s time this year has been put into his Media Officer role, it is purely voluntary. His main employment is as Event Management Operator with Boylesports at their HQ on the Inner Relief Road and he paid tribute to his employers for giving him the time to fulfil his main passion as he trekked around both Ireland and Europe following the Lilywhites.
‘They’re too accommodating think,’ he laughed.
‘I go in with mad requests to my boss Michael Conlon. I remember texting him when I was in Iceland after we beat FH saying I’ll need to be off on Sunday because we’re going to Belarus and he said no problem.
‘They’ve been fantastic and I can’t thank them enough. I really don’t know what I’d have done if they hadn’t given me the time off so I give them total credit. I’m just hoping they do the same next year if they get as far.
‘It was essentially a job this year.
‘My mother says this isn’t my real job but I’d like to argue that it is. It’s the one I get the most enjoyment out of. Friends can’t understand how I enjoy it so much but I do. I full-time
‘I didn’t know the amount of work that would hit me after we beat BATE.
‘The morning after we had TalkSport, Al Jazeera, BBC World Service, ITV and all the big players on with requests for interviews.
‘The press room in the Aviva for the Legia game was something I had never seen before. I hope we see it again next year or any other year but it was full. There wasn’t a seat to be had and that was because so many people had come over to see us.’
Trips to Iceland, Belarus, Poland, Holland, Russia and Israel might have been the stuff of dreams for a man who has supported the Lilywhites from a very young age but it’s something he could only have dreamed about when he became the club’s new PRO ‘by fluke’ in 2012.
‘I did an interview with Martin Connolly for Extratime.ie and Colm Murphy text me and asked me could he use it for the programme that week and that was the start of it.
‘After that he asked me did I want to do this and that and without realising it I was in the media officer’s job.
‘Stephen came in then at the end of that year and the rest is history. I didn’t realise at the time the amount of time it would take up but it’s still a hobby. I still get so much fun out of it and I still get the buzz. I’ll admit that it does help we are doing well but if we were at the bottom of the league it still wouldn’t matter to me. You get immersed in it and that’s it.’
Of course, Darren’s job is made easier by a good working relationship with the club’s players and manager Stephen Kenny.
‘I have a great relationship with Stephen but I’m lucky that the players and Stephen are as open as they are.
‘They’re a great bunch and I have a good relationship with them all. It wouldn’t work otherwise. If they didn’t think I was trustworthy they wouldn’t deal with me.’
Just like Kenny in his role, Darren strives to be even better though, with plenty of lessons learned from 2016 set to be carried into 2017.
‘What I like about the European games is they’re far more structured. You have to do things at certain times or you get punished.
‘The FAI don’t really care what happens here, but in my opinion pre-match press conferences should happen every week, mixed zones should be mandatory and there should be media events happening at all times.
‘At Champions League and Europa League level that happens. Here it doesn’t. When we start getting that right I think things will start moving forward.’
With Darren running the media side of things at Oriel you can be sure things at Dundalk FC won’t be standing still any time soon.