FORMER IRELAND AND Munster out half Ronan O’Gara admits he ‘struggles to get his head around’ where rumours about his personal life have come from in the past.
In a new documentary to be broadcast tomorrow night, (RTÉ One, 9, 30pm), O’Gara address the rumours about his marriage which were the backdrop to a disastrous World Cup in 2007.
“In terms of me, you ask yourself ‘would I have done anything differently?’ No you don’t, because you can’t press pause on life,” he says. “There was rumours about my marriage being over… where is Jessica. So it was like ‘poor Ronan, with his parents and no-one to love him’.
“The way I worded my statement, I said I loved Jessica and I hoped she loved me too. And the fact that I put in ‘I hope’ created all the doubt and uncertainty. So that was another angle the press decided to go after as well.
“Where all these rumours come from, you struggle to get your head around it. Gambling debts of, I think, €300,000. It’s funny now but at the time it wasn’t funny. I’ve no problem admitting I love the horses and going to the races but in terms of anything in relation to your own game I’ve nothing to do with it.
“It’s easy for me to say it wasn’t too big a deal but it was tough for Jessica, it was tough for my parents, tough for my parents I’d say because you’re seen as a bad guy. Obviously you’re disappointed with the rugby and that was something that was hugely disappointing.”
Ronan and Jessica O’Gara with the Heineken Cup in 2006. Pic: INPHO/Billy Stickland
O’Gara, now a kicking coach at Jonny Sexton’s Racing Metro, says he can deal with the role of the media in the life of a professional rugby player.
“People think you’re famous, but you’re not; you’re a rugby player,” he says. “These pictures in the newspapers or the magazines, doing this or that, you know, it’s not the real person. Unless you crave that attention or you want it, it doesn’t cost me a thought. As in I think I’m good at dealing with what the papers or the media write about you or say about you or think about you but essentially all that matters is what your family and friends think.”
The documentary airs on Thursday, 2 January on RTE ONE at 9:30.
