On TV3 tonight we'll finally get a proper chance to see what David Bentley was like as a gaelic footballer. As part of 'The Toughest Trade' documentary, Bentley turned out for Crossmaglen Rangers and it's definitely piqued the interest of a lot of people. So far we've only seen snippets of the former Blackburn and Spurs winger in action, but tonight we'll get the whole hog.
Bentley isn't the only sportsman appearing in the documentary. Aaron Kernan has been training with Sunderland, Jackie Tyrell swapped positions with Brian Schneider to head off and play baseball with the Miami Marlins.
And while that is all interesting in itself, there is a special bit of interest surrounding Bentley given the seemingly constant debate on these shores about the merits of GAA players in comparison to their Premier League counterparts.
Bentley who has been open about his rocky relationship with the game he made a very good living out of, was speaking to the media and he set out in no uncertain terms that he is now fully on the side of football. Gaelic football that is.
It was nice for me obviously because I had problems with the way football - sorry, soccer - has gone. I say 'soccer' now.
Before the heated debate breaks out, he may have been jesting for the audience, but there is a more sincere side to what Bentley experienced while he was playing with Crossmaglen.
Bentley fell out of love with the game he played all his life and that was down to the fact that he began to see it as a job that he didn't enjoy. People may scoff at that, and that's fair enough, but you have to give him credit for being able to admit to that.
I love playing soccer/football, it's what I love to do. It's my life. But I had a problem with the direction it went as a job. There have been quite a few things I have fallen out of love with in football. I fell out of love with that aspect of it.
Compare that to his experience of playing gaelic football for the Armagh side.
To come here, it was great for me to see the togetherness. What they have here is what I fell in love with as a young player, so to be a part of that for just a week was really good for me.
So, as the majority will probably attest to, professionalism in GAA may not be the way to go. You can see 'The Toughest Trade' on TV3 at 10 pm.
