Re: Mulryne in The Times. Hopefully copied in okay......

FOOTBALL
How football’s unholy trinity turned Manchester United star to priesthood

The money, the nightclubs, the attention of women - it was not for former Manchester United player Philip Mulryne, who left football to become a priest

Philip Mulryne felt vacant, the pleasure derived from playing anaesthetised by his hollow existence off the pitch. Having broken into Manchester United’s first team squad before forging a successful career at Norwich City and with Northern Ireland, the midfielder reached his late 20s with a dissatisfaction that he could not displace. “I had no sense of fulfilment or contentment,” he says. “I was empty inside.”

Then, out of nowhere, his calling arrived.

In 2009, unable to overcome a series of niggling injuries, Mulryne decided to take a year out, returning to West Belfast with the intention of finding a new club a season later. After that he had an eye on coaching. Until his path dramatically altered course.

He had grown up in a “normal Catholic family”, going to mass on Sunday and praying before bed, but drifted away from his faith when he joined United’s academy at 14 years old. When he arrived home for that extended break, though, there was a “stirring feeling” that could not be suppressed. Priesthood beckoned.

“It was a calling, not that I heard a voice in my head or anything,” he says. “It came from nowhere, which is how I knew it was authentic in that it wasn’t something coming from me.”

Eight years later the recently ordained Mulryne is chaplain of Newbridge College, a school 40 minutes south west of Dublin best known for a rugby team that has produced several internationals, including Jamie Heaslip. We meet on the school grounds, students greeting Fr Philip as they shuffle to their next classes. “They think, ‘How could you do that?’” Mulryne, now 39, says. “Not just becoming a priest but leaving behind that world and lifestyle.”

It was that way of living, however, which led to him rekindling his faith. There had been issues: his Northern Ireland career ended in 2005 after breaking a curfew to go drinking with his team-mate Jeff Whitley; there was excessive spending on luxuries; and he treaded the well-worn path of dating a glamour model. On the master list of footballers’ discrepancies they barely register but amalgamated it made for an unhappy existence.

“I didn’t like the trappings of being a footballer – the money, the nightclubs and the attention of women,” he says. “While that was fine for a while, when I got to my late 20s I started to feel really dissatisfied. I loved the game, loved the training. The lifestyle was bringing me pleasure but nothing lasting. I was buying three or four cars a year because I was getting bored and always wanting more. It was the same with clothes and houses.

“I started asking myself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ And, basically, the answer was that nothing was ever enough. I was constantly restless, borne out of the fact that I thought this way of life was meant to make me happy. I found later on that I was quite empty inside and that led me to a process of asking some deeper questions about life and what makes me happy. What am I missing?”

That void began to be filled after a trip to his local church with his family before, a couple of months later, he felt compelled to commit to something far greater than he could ever have imagined. He decided to enrol in the Dominican Order having researched their way of life following an invite from the Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor, who had recognised Mulryne’s volunteer work at a homeless shelter, to join the priesthood in July 2009.

He is now “halfway between a monk and a parish priest”, praying five times a day and teaching religion to a school with more than 800 students. There are similarities between the regimented lifestyle of a priest and being a footballer, not least having a superior who decides where he works.

Before being ordained Mulryne declared bankruptcy, leading to dramatic headlines that were unfairly spun considering it is a prerequisite of being a Dominican to live in poverty. “One of the characteristics of dominicans is that we are free to move,” he says. “That’s why we take vows of celibacy and poverty, which basically means we don’t own anything or have anything to keep us in one place. There is also a need for obedience because we have a superior who can send us to India or Iran tomorrow, where we have missions. There’s great spontaneity and I love that.”

I scored a hat-trick against Birmingham. Then when Beckham came back in, I was back on the bench
Mulryne had prayed occasionally when he joined United but, focused on fulfilling his childhood dream, it was no longer habitual. Three clubs had offered him a trial after impressing at the 1992 Milk Cup, but his decision was instant. “I grew up as a United fan, pictures of players plastered across my bedroom wall,” he says. “My dad played a bit at home and he always spoke about George Best.” Southampton and Liverpool did not stand a chance.

At the end of his five-day trial he lined up outside Sir Alex Ferguson’s office with his fellow hopefuls, a collection of teenagers learning one by one who would be offered an apprenticeship and who would be heading home. Mulryne can recall his heart pounding as he entered Ferguson’s room at the Cliff, the club’s old training ground.

“He was absolutely brilliant – telling me how well I had done, asking me about my background and at the end of our conversation he told me he wanted to offer me a two-year apprentice contract,” he says. “It was the most unbelievable feeling ever.”

Arriving at the Cliff when United’s vaunted underage system, under the guidance of Eric Harrison, was beginning to bear fruit made it a daunting experience, especially for a shy working class boy from West Belfast. “That environment took a while to adjust to,” Mulryne says. “When you saw the younger guys from London, they had an air of confidence and belief. But a lot of young Irish men don’t have that self-assurance. It took me a while to grow into it but eventually after the first year, when I was very homesick, I thought that I belonged there.”

Despite a fear of going back to Belfast “as a failure”, Mulryne’s development continued at pace and he played a key role in the side that won the 1995 FA Youth Cup. Mulryne continued to prosper after that success, performing well in the reserves and increasingly being called up to train with Ferguson’s side.

His first-team debut arrived in a League Cup defeat away to Ipswich Town in October 1997, but the highlight at United came in the first pre-season game of the Treble-winning season, 1998-99. David Beckham was given an extended break due to the furore surrounding his infamous red card in the 1998 World Cup against Argentina, affording Mulryne the opportunity to start on the right of midfield away to Birmingham City.

“We were beaten 4-3 but I scored a hat-trick and it was unbelievable,” he recalls. “Then when Beckham came back in, I was back on the bench.”

Mulryne says young footballers should be educated better when it comes to preparing them for later life

That high also signalled the beginning of the end. In March 1999, with the realisation setting in that a recurrent first-team role was increasingly out of reach, Norwich City put in a bid of £500,000. Mulryne had no hesitation in moving on.

“I was 20 but every week I was waiting to see if I was in the squad and then seeing if I had made the bench. I wanted to play every week. It was quite straightforward really – I made the decision and it was a great one because I loved my six years at Norwich.”

He won promotion from the Championship with Norwich and became a cult hero at Carrow Road before joining Cardiff City.

There were also 27 international caps and a debut goal against Belgium, although his time with Northern Ireland ended in calamity when Lawrie Sanchez, the manager, told him to leave the squad after breaking a curfew before World Cup qualifiers against Azerbaijan and England in September 2005.

Mulryne was flying to Belfast with Whitley, his Cardiff club-mate who has since spoken of his battle with alcohol and drug addiction. Their plane was delayed and they were going to miss training, so a few pints were sunk in the airport before one thing led to another and an impromptu night out ensued when they finally reached Belfast. “They had to be punished,” an irascible Sanchez said at the time. “There was no other option.”

“There is a sense of regret that I didn’t fulfil my potential,” Mulryne says. “Maybe off the pitch I wasn’t as dedicated as I possibly should have been.” Yet his playing career was, on a whole, an “unbelievable privilege”.

Some former team-mates, the majority of whom were disbelieving upon learning of his commitment to theology, remain in contact, among them Malky Mackay and Craig Bellamy. His love of the game remains but he finds little time to watch games, although he is bringing a group of students to Old Trafford on Saturday for the visit of Newcastle.

He tracks Norwich’s results and is always willing to show off his touch— “you never lose it” — when coaching the school team. Telling students about his career is also an effective way to capture their drifting attentions, but he has moved on and is excited about the future, helping and educating.

“They’ll ask me about what it takes to be a footballer and a lot of the things translate into the spiritual life,” he says of his students. “You need to discipline yourself. I talk to them about what it takes, my experience at United, nutrition, what was expected of you, looking after your body. I use my time as a footballer but, don’t get me wrong, I’m not using it to force spirituality on them.”

Young footballers should also be educated better, he feels, especially when it comes to preparing them for later life. “I remember always being envious of players who were well read, educated footballers like Eric Cantona, who had depth to their conversation. [A football career] lasts until you’re 35 at best and for the rest of your life, what are you going to do? As a young player I remember people coming into the training ground and giving talks on what to do afterwards. But we were dismissive of it. We thought we were invincible. Players need to start thinking about what comes after and start preparing for it in their mid-20s.”

It was not until his epiphany that he escaped his identity issue. “The last seven years have been amazing because of the self-discovery of who I am and that I am more than a footballer. I don’t think that’s why I was created and brought into this world – it was a gift I was given for a time but I’ve no doubt it’s something that the Lord wanted me to use to bring to young people.”

He adds: “My life as a footballer had a purpose, but I’m a believer in the idea of having a body and the soul. I used my body to play football, my soul has led to this calling.”

Posted By: JD3, Nov 16, 22:06:52