PLAYING FOR Treaty United recently, Marc Ludden made his 400th League of Ireland appearance.
It was a considerable achievement that saw Ludden join a prestigious list of less than 100 Irish-based players to have passed the 400 barrier, with legendary figures like Al Finucane, Owen Heary, Gino Lawless and John Caulfield also part of this relatively exclusive club.
The 33-year-old credits minding himself “as much as possible” off the field as well as having the good fortune to avoid major injuries for the most part.
“I kind of knew I’d been in the three hundreds for a while. I always wanted to break the 400,” Ludden tells The 42.
“I definitely won’t get to the 500 based on my age now. But to break 400, it’s a huge milestone — very, very proud of it.
“The last three years I played every minute of every game for Treaty, bar 10 weeks where I had a grade two tear of my MCL [medial collateral ligament].
“So that was a killer because if I didn’t miss those 10 games, I would have broken 100 games for Treaty this year so it would have been a nice one — that would have been three clubs that I had 100 or more appearances for.”
Ludden, who was born in Brussels and played football in Belgium until he moved with his family back to Ireland at 11, cites getting promoted with Galway and beating Shamrock Rovers in the cup among his career highlights, while there is one game in particular that stands out in the memory.
“The main game I will remember for the rest of my life is the night [Galway] beat Cobh 7-1 and I scored four goals from left-back — I’d never scored four goals and never will again.
“So that will always be the highlight in terms of something that was just crazy. We were 1-0 down at half-time so to come back and win 7-1 and to get four goals, I just never thought I’d get a hat-trick, never mind four.
“It was mayhem and the goals I scored, there were no penos.
“Three from play and one free kick. So it was just a freak night. I remember the date was 13 September. It was Friday the 13th, I always remember that date.
“I scored the fourth goal and the lads actually stopped celebrating because they were just like: ‘This is just ridiculous.’”
This season in general has not gone so well.
Going into the final round of games this evening, Treaty look set to miss out on the playoffs.
The Limerick-based side currently trail fifth-place Athlone by two points, so they must win away to Waterford and hope their rivals lose at home to Longford, who have little to play for as they are set to finish eighth regardless of tonight’s outcome.
Our interview took place a few weeks back but even then, Treaty’s promotion chances were looking remote.
“We’ve actually probably played the best football of the last three years,” he says. “But what’s cost us this year is that we conceded some stupid goals, really soft goals that killed us.
“I don’t like making excuses about budgets because it’s 11 versus 11 on a Friday night. But I think for Treaty, we probably overachieved the first two years [when they made the playoffs].”
Despite the campaign appearing set for a disappointing climax, Ludden can be pleased with his personal contribution, scoring five goals from defence and making 26 appearances so far.
His longevity and consistency through the years are all the more remarkable given that he works a full-time job and has done so for much of his career.
In addition to his footballing responsibilities, Ludden works as a Strategic Alliance Manager with TitanHQ, a cybersecurity company based in Galway.
Other notable athletes working there include Galway footballer Peter Cooke and Mayo hurler Conor Henry.
While his employers are as accommodating as possible, working full-time has had some impact on Ludden’s football career.
After starting out with Mervue and then spending seven years with Galway United, Ludden opted to leave his hometown club in 2021 after they went full-time.
“I have a decent job. And I couldn’t make that commitment. If I was 18 or 19, I could say: ‘Yeah, let’s give football a go.’
“But I was in my latter 20s at that point, and I was like, it just doesn’t make sense with a family to make that jump. So I moved to Treaty.
“But it’s great to see Galway [go up] this year. They walked the league. I thought it’d be a lot closer between Galway and Waterford if I’m being honest, but they ground it out and deserved winners. They had a really good season and a lot of lads I played with like [Stephen] Walshy and the guys got their medal.
“Me and Walshy would be very close, it was always something we said we wanted — to finish with a medal. Thankfully, he got it. I’m still searching for that medal. I don’t think I’ll get it. But you know, you give 14 or 15 years of your life, which he has done, and he comes up with a League of Ireland medal, which is fantastic for him.”
With a young child at home too, Ludden’s schedule continues to be extremely hectic.
“I’m very fortunate to work for Ronan Kavanagh, who is CEO and Conor Madden, who’s my sales director and very big into sports and supports me. So when Galway went full-time in the early days, they would have let me train from half eight to half 11 and come into work from 12 and work until eight.
“If you look at say, Monday, I left home at half seven [in the morning], then drove down from Galway to Limerick for training at half six [in the evening], then trained until quarter past eight, and then you’re not back home until 10.
“I saw my child at half seven and probably saw him again at about one o’clock [in the morning] when he woke up for a bottle.
“But that’s a big commitment, especially with a family, it’s tricky. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it and I absolutely love playing football and it’s all I’ve known since I was 17. I’m now 33. So it’s been a long journey and I’ve loved the Friday nights.
“You cannot replace that high of three points with a group of lads that you really enjoy playing with. So that’s what I chase every Friday night.”
There are other League of Ireland players in a similar position to Ludden. Not every club is full-time, though Irish football is increasingly going that way — including Treaty, with new CEO Ciara McCormack this week suggesting the first step would be “professionalising everything around the club” and “training four and five times a week”.
On the challenges of working a job in addition to being a footballer, Ludden adds: “We’re working on Friday, I finish work at half four on a Friday and I drive to Limerick, or we take a half day and we drive down to Waterford or Cobh. And it’s just about trying to keep yourself as fresh as possible so that you can actually do your job for 90 minutes. And that can be challenging, especially for new people that are starting new jobs and this is their first year of doing it.
“People are giving their time and commitment and probably losing money really. When you take in the time and the travel and everything, they’re not really doing it for the money, they’re doing it for the love of the game and to keep playing.
“So that’s why seeing clubs going full-time across both divisions is a really good sign. And I think it will only make the divisions a lot more exciting and will bring up the level of football standard, which is what we want to be seeing.”
On the other hand, one of the plus sides of incorporating people like Ludden who have a normal work-life outside of football is that it makes them much more relatable to fans.
“I think something that the League of Ireland do really well is that a lot of players will have no issues meeting the kids after [games],” he adds.
“And I suppose we’re just a bit more accessible because we don’t see ourselves as any form of superstars, and no disrespect to any players — we’re not. But even at Treaty or when I was at Galway, after every game, there would be a queue of kids and everybody would be signing autographs or taking pictures.
“[Players] spend time with the kids because ultimately, these kids think that we are these big superstars, and it’s great to see the buzz that they get.
“We bring out a mascot every Friday and they’re just in awe coming into the dressing room meeting all the players, signing autographs. They come in after the game, we give them pizza and it’s just like a different world to them, it’s absolutely brilliant.
“You have to always remember that these kids are coming, their parents are paying to see you play, so you want to do well and perform, but you want to make sure that they had a good time and if you meet people [at the ground or] on the street, you give them some time and you talk to them because that’s part and parcel of the game. That’s really important and it brings people back, which is also really important.”
How long Ludden continues on as a player remains to be seen — he plans to take a well-deserved break from the game once he does hang up his boots but hopes to stay involved in the sport long-term having done his coaching badges.
“[Treaty boss] Tommy Barrett said to me a few times he could see me in management. And I’d say when I do retire, I think it’d probably be a few years just kind of get my own time back and focus on my family.
“But yeah, I think I will always have some involvement with the game. I love it too much and have too much passion for it.”
