Retiring Sydney Swans player Tadhg Kennelly has paid tribute to his adopted code in an 
emotional speech to a star-studded AFL Grand Final event in Melbourne.
The Kerryman delivered the keynote address at the official Grand Final function at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of an audience that included Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Kennelly spoke about his upbringing in Listowel and his journey to Australia where he became the first Irishman to win a Premiership medal in 2005. But he had glowing words for Australian Rules football, a game which, he said had defined him and made him who he is today.
“It has taught me to respect elders, respect women, always be honest and true to myself, always display my passion and love, but most importantly it has taught me how to be a human being with the utmost respect for other human beings. Football, I owe you my life as you have given me mine,” he said.
The 30-year-old said his football journey began “the minute I could walk”.
“My childhood was no different to many other children’s in that I idolised my father and whatever my father did I wanted to do. The only problem was my dad had won five All-Irelands (premierships) with Kerry so I had a lot to live up to.
“So from as young as I can remember I had a football in my hands, practising, training, playing doing whatever I could to be just like my idol, my father.”
He was just 17 when the call came from Australia.
“Our house at the time in Ireland was above my father’s pub and when the Swans recruitment officer Rick Barham would ring, more often than not, Mum would be upstairs getting dinner ready for us and the barman would call up from the bottom of the stairs shouting: ‘The man from Australia who wants to take your kid away is on the phone’.”
The first few months in Australia were, he recalls, “really tough”.
“Not only was I 15,000kms away from my family and friends but I was being challenged physically and mentally. My determination to succeed grew stronger and stronger. I was on my own, and I was going to make it because one thing was for sure I was not going home as a failure.
“I was slowly beginning to learn was that AFL – just like the GAA back home – was, and is, more than just a game of football. It’s all about family and supporting each other and I soon had my own family, the Sydney Swans.”
Talking about the famed Sydney Bloods culture, Kennelly said the club philosophy wasd that “everyone is equal, everyone contributes whether it’s the CEO, the boot studder or the players, the club is what matters most and not the individual, we are all just passing through.
“It’s a “no dickhead policy” and something I’m sure we could use in parliament, what do you think Julia?”
On a more serious note, Kennelly recalled the death of his father Tim just weeks after the 2005 Grand Final win.
“It was an extremely difficult time for my family and I. To go through the emotions of extreme satisfaction and happiness to the worst possible emotion anyone can feel, the feeling of loss was very very difficult.”
He described his emotional return to play with Kerry in 2009.
“On the last Sunday of September I won an All-Ireland medal for Kerry – 30 years to the day when my dad won his first.”
On his decision to retire from AFL he said: “I came to Australia 12 years ago as a very fresh green innocent young lad. I was entering a phase in my life where all my morals, ethics and beliefs would be either tested or made stronger.
“I’m very happy to say that my morals and ethics have been made a lot stronger from my new environment, the environment of the Swans and the AFL.
“A lot of great human traits have being taught to me along the way. Support your mate, discipline, no short cuts, honesty, integrity, you’re a footballer 100 per cent of the time all the time.
“I’m a very passionate, enthusiastic person and I always wear my heart on my sleeve – that’s the way I played my footy and that’s the way I lead my life.”
