Jordan Conroy: ‘I was very lucky not to fall into that vicious cycle, but I got very violent in school, and that’s when the problems started’

The rugby star witnessed abuse as a child and, as a teen, began acting the tough guy. He tells how sport gave him pride, community and the strength to be softer

Rugby star Jordan Conroy says sport helped him fit in. Photo: Frank McGrath

Liadán Hynes

In Jordan Conroy’s new show for RTÉ – Man Up?, a six-part series in which he tries to train a group of boys and make them into a rounders team – there’s a scene in which his side play a girls’ team. The boys are distracted, and, on the sidelines, ­Conroy becomes increasingly frustrated and competitive. He laughs when I tell him how much my daughter and I enjoyed that episode. ­Jordan, who is 30, grins.

“It was a lesson learned – that if you don’t take the game seriously, you’re going to get annihilated.”