Former Mayo footballer Shairoze Akram pays visit to Kinaffe school

“He won an All-Ireland with Mayo and he looks like me.” Those 12 words cut through the Mayo air last Friday afternoon and perfectly illustrated the new and exciting Ireland of today.

Shairoze Akram, a man who did indeed win an All-Ireland U-21 medal with Mayo in 2016, and a Sigerson Cup with DCU four years later, had just walked into a packed classroom in Kinaffe National School when a little boy in the front row uttered the famous sentence.

Kinaffe is a special school. Two years ago there were six students and one teacher. On Friday, there were 53 students and seven staff. The classrooms and corridors teemed with students from 14 different countries and the building echoed to a symphony of joy and adventure. Some had just witnessed snow for the first time and the laughter was infectious. The children gathered in the classroom awaiting their special guest hailed from Ireland, Nicaragua, Algeria, Georgia, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Albania, Morocco, Ukraine, South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Ethiopia, Somalia and Kazakhstan.

“This year, we have a football team for the first time in a very long time, so we needed jerseys and Ms (Sarah) Corcoran contacted Shairoze and his company GRG,” school principal Margaret Reilly told The Mayo News.

“The jerseys were just brilliant and we asked Shairoze if he would come to the school and share his experiences of Ireland with the students here.” That's exactly what occured on Friday afternoon and it proved to be a stunning experience.

The man who played minor, U-21 and senior for Mayo received a hero's welcome when he walked into the packed classroom where the entire school population had gathered. Days of preparation meant that every aspect of Akram's sporting life was known to the students and GRG had also just become their favourite business brand in the world.

“I arrived in Ireland when I was four,” the native of Pakistan told the audience. “I couldn't speak a word of English and my brother and parents were the same. I was shaking my head for 'yes' and nodding it for 'no.' It wasn't easy, but through involvement in different sporting and community organisations that soon all changed,” he told the gathering.

“I had never experienced snow, so the first time I saw it I was amazed. The teacher gave me a bowl and let me go out and play with it, I'll never forget it.”

The flying half-back then took the students through his childhood when he got involved in everything from skittles to the GAA. He told the avid listeners how he came to love Ballaghaderreen, Mayo and Ireland and then fielded a flow of questions which had been prepared over the previous two days.

A number of queries focused on language and an impromptu conversation in Urdu between Shairoze and a little boy from Kazakhstan had to be heard to be believed. The children who mostly live in refugee centres identified with the well-known sportsman and he told them about his love for Manchester United and Ronaldo and described how much he loved playing with his friends and kicking a ball when he was younger.

The children told their guest about their football team and how much they loved their new school jerseys designed and produced by his company. One girl asked about GRG and learned the sportswear company was founded in 2018 and is now producing bespoke gear for sports clubs, schools, colleges, corporate and business sectors.

However, the big lesson learned on Friday was the fact that Mayo is a home for all and sport can help break down barriers of all kinds. Shairoze Akram is a living breathing example of that.