"For me, amputee football was like winning the Lotto"

How sport can help to find new meaning and international competition

If James Conroy is honest, he never wanted to play for an amputee team. It didn’t sound like “my cup of tea”. It sounded like “disability” - he emphasises the word with air quotes - not intense, not competitive. Born with a shorter right arm, he had been playing mainstream soccer and Gaelic all his life in and around Navan.

But one evening he was standing at a bus stop and a man pulled up, telling him bluntly since he “was missing an arm” he should join the Irish Amputee Football Team that he was coaching. “Your man kept texting me,” Conroy says. “His confidence and passion convinced me to give it a go. That was 2013 and I never looked back.”

The man was Christy McElligott, the first Ballymun United captain to lift the FAI Junior Cup in 2000 – six weeks before he lost his leg in a car accident.

“Many players suffer traumatic incidents,” says Conroy about his teammates. Unlike himself, they out of nowhere have to try to come to terms with a life altering situation. “With me, I forget that I only have one limb, but for some of them, their first thought after cancer, a car accident or another near-death experience is: My life is over.”

However, Conroy has seen firsthand how the “power of sport” turns a negative into a positive: “We’re perfectly happy. We sometimes ponder, if you had all limbs, but not the amputee football, would you prefer it? They all say no. We wouldn’t change a thing.” Amputee football is giving people a chance to achieve something they never would have dreamed of. Like putting on a green jersey on international level.

Amputee football is a 7-a-side game on a 70x40 meter pitch: six outfield players use crutches for support, with outfield players having one leg and the goalkeeper having one arm. Rules are similar to mainstream football, though goalkeepers cannot leave their box and throw-ins are kicked. Crutch contact with the ball counts as a handball.

Ireland currently has around 50 active players across senior, development, and academy levels. Clubs include Bohemians, Shamrock Rovers, and Cork City, forming a small national league. Players are recruited through club matches, trials, and outreach. The sport also welcomes people with limb differences, not only amputations.

Daniel Gilmour, a 21-year old goalkeeper coach from Mountnugent, joined the Irish Amputee Football Team in the summer of 2023. He was invited by head coach Chris McDermott, whom he knew from his youth football days.

“I’ve basically been on a football pitch since I was four. I started helping my dad coach when I was 14 or 15, then did my badges at 16 - I’ve been coaching ever since.” His dad is Cavan FAI Head Coach Ciaran Gilmour - the passion for developing football talent thus lies in the family.

Daniel now holds a UEFA Goalkeeping B Licence and UEFA Outfield C Licence, and is applying for his Outfield B Licence to progress further while studying Sports Performance at ATU in Donegal. Despite these merits, he was fairly nervous before meeting the team. Not only was he young, but he also only had limited knowledge of amputee football.

“Once I saw a session, I was blown away - it’s fast, competitive, and physical. Some of these lads move quicker on a pair of crutches than I can on two feet!”

Once he saw this was a highly skilled and competitive sport and the team in turn realised his age was no indicator of lack of knowledge, the match was made. Daniel sees the FAI providing strong inclusion and support, with their team training monthly at the FAI headquarters in Dublin. A sports psychologist also assists players, many of whom find purpose representing Ireland internationally. “Football gives everyone that sense of belonging and pride, especially pulling on the green jersey.”

At the recent 2025 Nations League in Spain, Ireland played four matches - beating Georgia (2–0) and Germany (3–0), but losing narrowly to France and Spain, finishing third in their group and retaining their group status. Daniel praises the players’ professionalism, and spirit, noting there’s “no difference” between amputee and mainstream teams. “My goal is to raise awareness - amputee football isn’t a ‘different’ sport, it’s just football. These players are footballers, full stop.”

During play, goalkeepers have to keep the limb under the jersey to avoid any unintentional contact. Coming from Gaelic, James was used to catching the ball with one arm, but had no real experience with diving – other than mimicking Packie Bonner in the backyard in the 1990s as a schoolboy. A rather “informal” introduction to goalkeeping he laughs.

He went on to train with people like Daniel Gilmour and even completed a coaching course to improve his own skills.

“A lot of work and personal effort goes into training for the team.” While they only meet on a monthly basis, the players themselves follow a rigorous schedule to stay fit. “Next year we’re playing the World Cup in Rosta Rica and I’ll be training 4-5 days a week for it,” he lays out his plans.

Acknowledging “we’re punching way above our weight” when competing, the training has to be taken seriously. Countries like reigning World Champion Turkey and European Champion Poland have semi-professional Amputee Football Leagues and have a far bigger catchment area.

“We struggle with numbers,” admits James. He encourages anyone with the love for the sport to try it out. “For me it was like winning the Lotto, because I love football, I can travel the world and represent my country.”

Since he joined, the sport has “gone off the charts”. Initially there might have been a “Sunday League Vibe to it”, but that has long been brushed away by sports science coaches, a training spot at the FAI grounds in Dublin and a willingness to excel as sportsmen. “It is embedded in us to think as athletes.” A focus all of them take pride in.