Republic of Ireland football

UEFA's recent Grassroots Conference in Madrid was privileged to welcome Republic of Ireland legend Robbie Keane for an in-depth question-and-answer session ...

If you’re in the street with some kids that you don’t really know, but who love football, you can become friends with them, no matter what, because the two of you have this love for the game. I got away with a lot of stuff that I probably shouldn’t have got away with because the teacher was always wanting to play football games. If they want to do it, I believe ex-players and top players should be involved in the game a lot more; I know UEFA are trying to bring in as many ex-players as they can. Understand the game, and play as much as you can with your friends. Having said this, at the end of the day, if you’re good enough and you have the mentality, and you have the desire to make it in the game, it’s okay. I was known in football for having a good first touch, and I promise you that this came from just [playing] against the wall every day; thousands of touches against the wall. Maybe I’m the kind of guy you need to shout at, maybe you’re the kind of guy you need to put an arm around, making sure everything is okay. You have to start somewhere, you have to start at a local team in your area like I did, and hopefully climb the ladder. When I was a kid, it was the same thing. And if you do that every day for one week, you’ve got thousands of touches of a football, and that will make your touch a lot better. It’s actually very difficult when you’re a parent and you’ve played the game yourself, because of the expectations on your children. The importance of just getting outside and kicking a football, if you can, it makes a huge difference.