Irish rugby stars line out for seasonal sketches

IRISH rugby star Ronan O’Gara demonstrates a capacity for tenderness while his teammate Donncha O’Callaghan likes to bring things to a head.

Those are among the findings of graphologist Denis Sexton who today analyses the sketches and doodles of members of the Ireland rugby team to find out what they say about the players.

The Irish stars generously participated in this year’s Irish Examiner’s Christmas wrapper initiative in aid of St Vincent de Paul. The wrapping paper showcasing the Irish players’ doodles and sketches will come free with tomorrow’s newspaper.

Following on the success of last year’s free designer Christmas wrapping paper, the Irish Examiner decided to repeat the campaign in 2010.

A number of well-known Irish people supplied artwork for the specially created seasonal paper which has been free with the Irish Examiner since Tuesday. In today’s paper we showcase the newspaper’s unique image archive while tomorrow the final sheet of wrapping paper is a collection of Christmas drawings created by Luke Fitzgerald, Denis Leamy, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara — each an artist on the rugby pitch, now displaying a different kind of artistic skill.

According to Mr Sexton if your handwriting says a lot about you, so too do your doodles and drawings.

“Doodles from the subconscious mind are a bit like dreams and can reveal a lot. Artistic drawings tend to be more considered but in these sketches there is a mix of both and what comes through subconsciously are the shapes they use. Some use round shapes, others triangular.”

According to Mr Sexton, a certified graphologist who will be conducting a graphology workshop at Writers Week in Listowel next June, the players’ sporting talents may not be very evident in their sketches but they do reveal individual characteristics.

* For more information on graphology go online to www.graphologyireland.ie or contact Denis Sexton on 045 433291 and [e-mail]