Louse Galvin: 'I’m going out on my own terms and in rude enough health'
Ireland Women's 7's Rugby player and former Kerry footballer and UL Huskies basketball player Louise Galvin poses for a portrait at St Catherine's Park in Lucan, Dublin. Picture: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
A: It was 96 games in the World Series but we had lots of European Sevens games so I’m actually up to 120 or more, I just didn’t know that until now. But even if I knew it was officially 96 it wouldn’t have changed things. I’d planned that this would be my last season. I just didn’t know, at the time, that the World Series in Sydney last February would be my last tournament.
A: Yes. I’m going out on my own terms and in rude enough health that I can continue to play club sports at a good enough level still. It’s time to get my career back on track. Myself and Donnchadh (Walsh, ex-Kerry footballer) got married in December and, long-term, we’d eventually see ourselves settling back in Kerry. Playing Sevens is a full-year commitment and means staying in Dublin.
A: I was very happy to. I’d always done locum work while contracted to the Sevens programme because you don’t make that much money, so I had a good bit of ICU experience. I was able to step into a Covid ICU and worked in Tullamore, from April to September. I’ve now gone full-time, in community care with the HSE in South Dublin.
A: Yes and can still see the collateral damage because I now do a lot of home visits with elderly patients. Many of them used to be completely independent and walk to the shops or Mass or cycle, but have lost a lot of their confidence to mobilise outside. Their only interaction is with people dropping things to their door. We’ve got to help them get used to being outside again.
A: 2018 World Cup in San Francisco. Our men weren’t yet a ‘core’ team so weren’t on the World Series with us then but they were also at that. There’s a lot of equity in rugby Sevens. We’re paid the same, train and rehab together and that was like one massive squad going off together. We (women’s team) did particularly well, came sixth and should have come fifth, so performed above our ranking. San Fran is full of Irish people.
I’ve relatives there, my mam came over with a friend and so I had family there which was unusual at a Sevens event. We just had a great build-up and tournament and it was very special.
A: I joined this programme in 2015 to become an Olympian. We had a shot at qualifying, in a repechage we hosted in UCD, for Rio 2016 and didn’t get there, though we probably performed to our level at the time but not qualifying for Tokyo was the worst. We peaked in Sydney in January, picked up injuries and didn’t even qualify for the repechage. That was devastating.
Up until then the All Ireland final in 2012 was the lowest point in my career but that was worse. For months after, I felt my whole sporting career was a failure. That’s why I’m glad that I decided to play for another season. Even though I only got another half-season due to Covid I’m so glad. Otherwise I’d have left with that as the final part of my journey and left on a real low.
A: There’s fantastic young girls coming up who have been playing from a younger age. They’re not donkeys like me trying to transfer from other sports in their mid-to-late 20s. Obviously I wanted to play and keep improving this year but if I only helped them in some way I’m glad. There’s an underage interprovincial system now and they’re coming in with the skills and the knowledge. They’re not just people with athletic ability who have to be taught rugby. That’s been a huge difference.
A: No. When you’re contracted with IRFU Sevens you can’t play anything else but once I finished officially I got back to UL Bohs. There’s a few of us in Dublin so we travel down together for Wednesday night training.
A: I registered with the club (Finuge/St Senans) in July and was still tied up in Sevens but I’m so lucky. Our club was only formed in 2010 but made the intermediate final for the first time ever two weeks ago. So my first football game, in five years, was a county final in Fitzgerald Stadium!
All my family and Donnchadh were there and we won! It’s like a dream. We’re playing Clonakilty today in the Munster IFC quarter-final!
A: That’s been another highlight – to be one of the first three female Board members, along with ‘Junior’ Griffin and Maura Quinn, and be sitting there when RPI is negotiating with the IRFU. I felt we were just as valued as the male players and that’s a huge step forward. It shouldn’t be a surprise anymore, it should be a given, but it was great to be part of that.
A: From the Sevens, it just needs to continue to progress as it has and for 15s, we need to qualify for the Rugby World Cup. Getting Claire Molloy back is a huge addition for that.
It used to be that lots of women watched rugby. Now we’ve lots more women playing rugby.
It’s the only playing group in the game worldwide that is growing and World Rugby has said it wants to prioritise it. So they need to continue to put their money where their mouth is and not row back now because of Covid.
If they are giving people a dig-out financially they need to ensure that funds are ring-fenced for the women’s game. At the end of the day the IRFU is a business and they are worried about their bank accounts at the moment so it’s up to World Rugby right now.
A: I actually didn’t have one. What I’m most known for is eating a lot and warming up way before time. I wouldn’t be known for my mobility or flexibility, so I made plenty use of what I had!
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