Keeper Cluxton saves science

IN A profile on the Dublin GAA website, goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton once listed “not speaking to the media” as the best advice he has ever received as a sportsman.

He kept his own advice, even when becoming arguably the most in-demand person in the country after scoring thatpoint to win the All-Ireland final for Dublin last September. His media silence continued after he was made Ireland captain for the International Rules series in Australia.

Yesterday, however, he broke his silence to speak about his other passion, science. Cluxton (30) has been chosen as one of the ambassadors for the Euroscience Open Forum (Esof) 2012 – Dublin City of Science. He teaches biology at St Vincent’s CBS in Glasnevin and brought some of his pupils to the launch yesterday.

Cluxton was applauded when Lord Mayor of Dublin Andrew Montague said that whenever he was stuck for an anecdote he always remembered that famous win. “It turns the audience around.” Cluxton said he was happy to lend his support to the City of Science because it was a “phenomenal achievement to attract such a massive forum”.

“It will open more and more people’s minds to science. There is a lot of jobs in science. If people get interested in it, that’s job done from a teacher’s point of view,” he said. Science was not for “geeks and nerds” and could capture anybody’s imagination if presented in the right manner.

The only allusion he made to his football career was when he was asked if he regarded himself a role model for young people interested in science. “They should show an interest in science because they want to be interested in it, not because [of] who is teaching it,” he said.