Liverpool loved before outhalf's sporting conversion

SPORTING PASSIONS DAVID HUMPHREYSHe has excelled for Ulster and Ireland, but David Humphreys's first love was soccer, Liverpool in particular. He talks to Mark Rodden

WHEN I WAS younger I wanted to be a footballer and the team I always supported was Liverpool. I suppose I only fell into rugby by chance simply because of the grammar school I went to when I was 12 or 13. Up until that point I didn't even know what a rugby ball looked like.

At that stage there was no such thing as mini-rugby, certainly not around Broughshane and Ballymena where I grew up. At primary school, soccer was really the only sport that I played.

Everybody else in my family were Manchester United supporters but when I was very young my uncle was over at a course in Liverpool and he brought me back a Liverpool flag and a scarf. I must have been six or seven and that was how I started following Liverpool.

I can still recall the first big game I watched was when Liverpool won the European Cup in 1977.

I think for anybody who supported Liverpool around those times, Kenny Dalglish was the main man. I grew up wanting to be Kenny Dalglish playing for Liverpool and out the back garden, that's who I was.

At that stage there were so few live soccer matches on television. Kenny Dalglish was somebody you heard about occasionally but always as part of a winning team. I suppose that's why players had such an aura around them in those days, because they were only on TV once a week. When I was very young, the highlight of the weekend was being allowed to stay up to watch Match of the Day and that's why football was so special.

My dad was a Manchester United fan and so is one of my brothers. Another brother is a Liverpool fan so we were split right down the middle.

The last few years have been miserable especially with Man United doing so well. For me, Manchester United are the team we want to beat more than any other.

We've got a physio at Ulster called Gareth Robinson and he is the biggest Manchester United fan you'll ever come across. The physio room in Ulster is a pretty miserable place any Monday when Manchester United have lost, particularly if it's to Liverpool.

Two or three of my good friends would be avid Man United fans and they don't want a Liverpool-Man United European Cup final in case United lose, whereas I'd be quite keen for that. Liverpool would have nothing to lose - everybody would expect United to win.

It's been a mixed time to be a Liverpool supporter. Obviously winning in Europe has been great but ultimately you'll be judged on how you perform in the Premier League. I think every year every Liverpool fan goes into it with a certain amount of renewed optimism but they just flatter to deceive.

This year with Fernando Torres they've become more of a force, but the danger of that is that they've become so reliant on Steven Gerrard and Torres. They're three or four players short of matching Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal throughout the course of the season.

The main sport I play outside of rugby is golf. Rugby is my job but golf is my passion. I have four or five months off when I finish rugby this year before I start work properly and I'm going to try and play as much as I can.

My official handicap is seven but I always qualify that by saying that when I was a student I never did any work in the summer. I played golf for four months every year for about five years at university and that's why I managed to get it down.

I'm a member at Royal Portrush and that's where I've always played my golf.

Having been lucky enough to tour around the world on rugby tours and played a lot of courses, I still don't think there are too many courses that come anywhere close to matching the courses in Ireland, but particularly Portrush. Obviously I'm biased because I've played there so much but it really is a wonderful course. No matter when you go up to play you never lose the buzz that comes from getting out there and getting off the first tee.

I think when you play a team game, golf is just so different. You're out there and you're not battling against anybody - you're just battling against yourself and the course. It's a completely different challenge than being part of a team and playing within team plans or game plans.

You're totally responsible for what's happening and you have nobody to shout at or blame but yourself.