Gary Dempsey enjoyed a storied career as a professional football - the Wexford man started his youth career at Everton before spells with Bray Wanderers and Waterford and played for nine different clubs at home and abroad over a 15 year spell.
But it's for Scottish side Dunfermline that Dempsey made the most appearances and he remains a player that’s fondly remembered by supporters of the Pars who saw their side undergo something of a renaissance during the Irishman’s time there.
As Dempsey puts it himself; "Dunferline was brilliant, we were playing against Celtic and Rangers every other week and that was the proper [Old Firm.
"When we played Celtic in the Cup final you had Hartson, Larsson and Sutton, Petrov and Paul Lambert. When we played Rangers in the quarter-final you were looking at Mikel Arteta, Barry Ferguson, Ameruso, Frank de Boer, they were a proper, proper team them."
These days Dempsey runs a fitness studio in Wicklow town where a converted school serves as a base where clients can look after their physical and mental health and it’s for the later that the former Ireland underage international clearly has a passion.
Active on social media, Dempsey has been vocal about getting people, and in particular men, to speak out about their mental health issues and look after their emotional well-being. It was that work that led to the father of a Dunfermline supporting child to reach out to him.
Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, Dempsey told the story of Ollie Young, an eight-year-old who was being bullied in school in Scotland.
@Dempz8 my 8 year old son is a mad football son and a mad Pars fan. He wrote this note to his mum last night saying he is rubbish a football and he hates himself.. this all comes from bullies at his school. You couldn't do him a let message for him? His name is Ollie. Thanks pic.twitter.com/5LW0jVCMAl
— Simon Young (@djscrimmers) February 18, 2020
Dempsey explained: "I’ve been very active on social media in the last while regarding mental health and tried to just use the platform that I have to get man that are struggling to talk. Trying to get them to talk and see that there is help and there is a way out but you’ve got to speak up first.
"Ollie’s dad was following me on twitter and had seen a few of these videos and he sent me a picture of the letter Ollie had wrote.
"His mum had put him to bed and she could hear he wasn’t settling. He came down the stairs and handed her this note that he had written when he has upstairs along the lines of ‘I hate myself, I’m a fat idiot, I’m rubbish at football’.
"Karen, his mum, sat him down and said ‘well hang on, where has this come from?’ and it turns out he was getting a hard time at school.
"So his dad took a screenshot, tagged me in it on twitter and just asked me would I do a little 30 second video to Ollie saying ‘keep practicing wee man, stick with it, you’ll be fine,’ that sort of thing.
"To think that an eight-year-old who is football daft, which he is, is going to stop playing football because he was getting a hard time in school, it’s wrong.
"I did the video anyway and I told him I was going to send him over the jersey I had scored against Celtic with, but I also private mailed his dad and told him to send me on his number so I could Facetime him.
"So I got on Facetime with him and we were having a laugh and the craic on the phonecall and then privately I said to his dad, ‘look there’s a game on Tuesday, I’m going to come over, let’s organise something. I’ll pick him up from school, we’ll put on a coaching session with other kids and lets make a fuss of him.
"It sort of went from there. I got onto Stevie Crawford who I played with at Dunfermline who was the manager and he did a message for him, I got onto Hunty [Stephen Hunt] who is one of my best pals and he did a video and it just sort of grew from there and obviously went quiet viral at the time.
"He got an unbelievable day but it was heartbreaking stuff when I saw the letter on twitter, I thought a video message is not going to fix this, we need to get over and see him and let him know he’s special and unique and to stick in with the football."
Ollie was chauffeur driven for the day and watched a Dunfermline match from the director's box as well as being part of a big training session organised by Dempsey.
When Ollie Met Gary 🤣⚽️🤪⚽️👌💪@officialdafc 🙌🙌 pic.twitter.com/dI3eHYofyd
— Gary Dempsey (@Dempz8) February 25, 2020
Dempsey has added to his voice to the growing call for men to speak out and speak up when they're going through a tough time and is eager to help to tear down the stigma that surrounds admitting when they may be struggling or overwhelmed.
"The problem is with men in particular is that people feel it’s a sign of weakness when you’re asking for help, but it’s actually not it’s the other way, I think it’s incredibly brave.
"The way I think of it is that; if you’re at rock bottom, what have you got to lose? What have to got to lose by saying it to you mum, or dad, husband or wife or friend? Even if it has to be a phone call, a letter or text, just to say I’m struggling at the moment.
"We're just losing too many too many lives, we're loosing too many young men and good men with families."
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