History-making Mayo GAA star reveals what inspired him to take up the sport
HISTORY-making Mayo GAA star Shairoze Akram has revealed he was inspired by the legendary Andy Moran to take up the sport.
Akram make national headlines in 2016 when he created history as the first Pakistan-born player to win an All-Ireland title when he was wing-back on a Mayo Under-21 side that beat Cork in a thrilling decider in Ennis.
His family came to Ballaghaderreen for work when he was four but he didn’t start playing football until much later at 11.
It was only at the promptings of former Footballer of the Year Andy Moran that he kept at the game.
Without Moran, he may never have taken up the sport.
“It was Andy funny enough that dragged me into it,” he told the Irish Independent.
“He was doing PE at the time and he encouraged me to take it up and go with the club and the school team at the time.
“So I went to the national school team and played with them. I struggled initially with the skills and getting to grips with the rules, but then having worked at it I improved and thankfully I’m playing at a higher level now.
“He’s a nice guy personality wise. And he’d do anything for you on or off the pitch which has been brilliant for me and my development as a player and even just off-field stuff too.
“It’s nice to have someone like that there that can help out younger guys and people from different backgrounds.”
He also acknowledged in his interview that football has helped him and his family settle in the town on the border of Mayo and Roscommon.
“The community in Ballaghaderreen, it’s a very close-knit community.
“They would be encouraging people from different backgrounds, it doesn’t matter where you are from, to get involved.
“Dad would be at a lot of the games now so he’d be friendly with most of the people and Ballagahdereen is a very small town so you’d kind of know everyone and that helped too.
“Being friendly with the guys then, you know what they are about and what they are trying to promote at grassroot levels.”
Akram attended the Mayo trials before Christmas.
He’s not part of the set-up just now but hopes that a strong Sigerson Cup campaign can force him back into consideration for what is an already formidable looking half-back line with James Horan having the likes of Colm Boyle, Leeroy Keegan and Paddy Durcan to call on.
“If you look at the half-back line at the moment you a have a Footballer of the Year from 2016 in Lee.
“You have Colm who has a number of All-Stars and Paddy Durcan is an up and coming young guy that is fighting for his spot.
“And Stephen Coen who was captain of the U-21 and minor sides and captain of the Sigerson team from UCD.
“There are a lot of guys trying to break in to that line, it’s a tough line to get into but hopefully I can get in there and make my name there.”