As a kid, Irish rugby star Donncha O’Callaghan was forced to lug his massive accordion to school twice a week for five years despite hating the instrument.
The Munster player said the accordion helped his rugby career though as the sheer weight of the instrument built his strength up, making him into the 6ft 6, 17-stone giant that he is today.
He says: ‘I had to play the accordion, which was an absolute disaster of an instrument.’
Donncha and his accordion which he carried to school for five years as junior infant. He still can’t play a note.
Donncha appears on School Around The Corner and returns to Baile An Easpaig National School in Cork, the same school that Ronan O’Gara attended.
‘The accordion helped me out but not in a musical way. I’m sure it developed maybe a bit of power and speed for my rugby career. I’d have killed for the tin-whistle instead,’ he joked.
It turns out that Donncha isn’t very musical and he was so bad in the school choir, his teacher asked him to mime rather than ruin the performance.
He can’t sing either and was asked to mime by his teacher rather than risk ruining a performance. Here he is with the current school choir
‘We were singing it city hall and Mr O’Callaghan my teacher, didn’t want to risk a poor performance. He saw to it [saying] that ‘O’Callaghan you’re miming for this!’
Although an exception was made when singing the national anthem where he was told he could it didn’t matter if he sounded like a crow. Bizarrely, the school choir also prepared him for a life in rugby.
‘It’s actually exactly what happens in rugby when you come into a new squad. You have to sing a song so that’s maybe where we learnt it, junior infants!’
Although he sings the national anthem with gusto when he plays for Ireland
During his visit on RTE’s School Around The Corner Donncha recalls that he was a really happy in Baile An Easpaig National School Cork although even then he struggled to fit the school char.
‘We kind of tend to look at the next game and the next match and the next year. You don’t really look back over your memories so that’s why today is really exciting.’
‘It was great to step out of the rugby bubble for a while and just relive some of your childhood and to be fair, all I can remember of been small was been really happy.’
Even as a kid, Donncha had trouble fitting into his chair much to the amusement of the class
Watch School Around The Corner on Sunday at 6.30pm on RTÉ One.
A much younger Donncha minus his accordion, ‘a disaster of an instrument.’
The post Which Irish rugby star was so bad at singing he was asked to mime in the school choir and how the accordion kick-started his career? appeared first on EVOKE.ie.