Comedian Karl Spain talks to Richard Fitzpatrickabout his passion for soccer.

Soccer is in the family. Can you fill us in?

My father was a director of Limerick United when they won the league in 1980; he was a League of Ireland referee and a referee’s inspector; and himself and my brother, Gary, probably have the best programme collection in the country.

Soccer – it lasts 90 minutes. You might get one goal. What’s good about it?

There’s beauty in the game, not just when there’s a goal. I remember Spain beat us 3-1 in Dublin in the 1994 World Cup campaign. Nadal, the centre half, was outstanding, gave an amazing performance. He seemed to get his head on everything.

I was saying it to a Spanish guy a couple of years later. I said: “I thought Nadal that day gave one of the best defensive displays I’d ever seen.”

He said: “Ohh, we still talk about Nadal.”

When did you first start playing soccer?

I actually think my earliest memory is kicking a football. I remember being no more than a toddler and my older sister bringing me out to the back garden and me trying to kick a football and it not going anywhere. Years later, I was mascot for Limerick United the year they won the league. The photo they used for the season was in Shoot magazine in July 1980.

They were heady days for Limerick soccer. Do you remember much about the glamour ties?

They played Tottenham Hotspur in a pre-season friendly in Thomond Park. Tottenham had just won the FA Cup. I think it was 1982; they had just retained it. They beat Limerick 6-2. Glenn Hoddle scored four. One of the goals, Hoddle shot from about 30 yards and Kevin Fitzpatrick – who played for about 20 years for Limerick, arguably Limerick’s greatest ever clubman, who played for Ireland – didn’t know the goal had gone in until the ball rolled past him on the way out.

They played Southampton in the 1982 Uefa Cup, didn’t they?

They did. After the Southampton game in Limerick, Lawrie McMenemy did a post-match interview in front of the fans, which was very out of the ordinary.

He said when they came over to watch Limerick, they asked, “Who was the dangerman for Limerick?” One of his scouts was told, “Joe McKenna.”

What standard did you reach as a player?

I played for Limerick City’s Youth team. I would have been reasonably handy but I wasn’t picked on merit. I was picked because they were short. I was 15 playing under-17 with five or six internationals – I was just there to make up the numbers.

What position did you play?

I was a defender. I’m left-footed so when I played it was as a left-sided centre-half or left-full.

What kind of player were you?

I like to describe myself as Eric Cantona trapped in the body of Stephen Hawking, the mind was willing, but, ah . . .

Do you still play five-a-side?

No, I haven’t played in a few years. I used to play with an eclectic bunch, friends of friends. One guy, who used to play League of Ireland, used to come out and I used to annoy him no end. I used to just sit in front of defence and block. Or when I had a bit of pace, I’d mark him out of the game just to piss him off. Man marking someone in five-a-side is very annoying for the person being marked because there’s nowhere to go.

I’d frustrate my own players by hitting the ball the length of the five-a-side pitch but I’d hit it with the outside of my boot so it would look flash. The pass would be accurate but the ball would be spinning like crazy. The ball would fly off my team-mate’s foot. I’d be given out to, through people, of course, because it wasn’t the done thing (to do it face to face).

What was the most unusual match you were at?

My brother a couple of years ago saw on the Uefa website that they were selling tickets for the Uefa Cup Final. We thought we’d end up seeing Fiorentina and Bayern Munich but instead we got to see Rangers play St Petersburg in Manchester. There were big riots before the match. About 100,000 Rangers fans came down from Glasgow. They had a big screen in the centre of Manchester, and it failed.

They all started firing bottles and glasses. We’d spare tickets so my brother, being a programme collector, arranged to meet these guys he knew at a Rangers Supporters Club meeting in a pub next to the match.

We were waiting for them, sitting behind enemy lines, in the middle of these Rangers supporters singing sectarian songs.

In conversation with Richard Fitzpatrick.