Eamon Dunphy is 70 years old. That's a decent age for anyone to reach and still be as sprightly as the RTÉ pundit is. However, if you're to believe the man himself he's done well to get that far in the manner he has.
Dunphy has been speaking to the Star as part of retrospective look at his life on his milestone birthday and it's thrown up a rather intriguing claim from the former Ireland international.
Ireland at the start of the sixties was not the most prosperous place so, as far as Dunphy was concerned, emigration was the only option for him as a 15 year old boy.
The best decision I ever made was leaving Ireland two days before my 15th birthday. It was August 1, 1960. That was the best thing I ever did in my life.
When asked what path he would have taken had he not decided to go to England at such a young age, Dunphy gave a rather striking answer.
I’d have been incarcerated in a high-security prison for bank robbery. I’d have made John Gilligan look like a choir boy.
I do often think that I’d have ended up in prison, because I would not have submitted to the ruling classes in this country. So I’d probably have become a big-time gangster.
There's something to think about for the rest of the day. We'll decline to make a joke about whether Ireland would be better off with Dunphy the criminal or Dunphy the pundit.
[Daily Star]
