Nomad keen to retrace his steppes

HOME AND AWAY IRISH RUGBY MISSIONARY IN KAZAKHSTAN: Gavin Cummiskeyrevisits the story and reviews the film of an extraordinary rugby ambassador, Luke O'Callaghan.

'I FEEL very proud every time I pull on the jersey, I feel very privileged to pull on the jersey . . . for Kazakhstan."

Luke O'Callaghan, Rugby Nomad. You may have heard this story before. It's about a man from Shannon, Co Clare, who plays international rugby for Kazakhstan. It's about a traveller settling in a far off country.

Let's begin with a refresher course. It's 2002. Luke O'Callaghan is in Thailand, a young wanderer blending in among fellow tourists. How he got there and what he's doing raises the collective brow, though. No Irishman has ever come off the bench to win a first cap, of eight, for Kazakhstan in an 89-10 hammering of India.

It began at Trinity College Dublin, where O'Callaghan graduated with a degree in Russian, a qualification that opened the gates of the former Soviet Union to a young Irishman.

O'Callaghan's rugby education started in St Senan's. He spent his teenage years with Garryowen. On moving to Dublin, he dabbled with Trinity, Suttonians and Bective - where he still plays on the seconds under coach Steve McIvor, a former Ireland scrumhalf.

Luke's friend Richard Mulcahy put him in connection with his uncle, whose ties to an oil-and-gas company in Kazakhstan provided the outlet that, within months, led him to his wife, Natalya Li, and an international cap.

It was around this time that he met Ross Killeen while working in Milano's pizzeria in Dublin. Killeen is a gifted photographer and film-maker. They came up with a simple plan: follow O'Callaghan's exploits through Asia as the Kazakhstan national team attempt to qualify for the 2007 World Cup.

Telling the story of an untapped rugby resource became a massive undertaking that proved a very hard sell. The Irish Film Board did not want to know. Nor did TG4, despite O'Callaghan being able to provide Sharon Ní Bheoláin as narrator, as Gaeilge.

Eventually, Setanta Sports viewed the final cut and screened it as part of their World Cup coverage. It was the culmination of a three-year slog to produce a respectable documentary on a shoestring budget.

Both producers, Killeen and O'Callaghan, persevered, perhaps because they knew they had quality raw material.

"I didn't really do anything," says O'Callaghan. "Sure, I was in front of the camera being myself and doing the tasks required of me as a player, development officer and interpreter for the Kazakhstan rugby team, but it was Ross who deserves all the credit."

The financial return barely covered Killeen's costs. And that does not take into account the blood, sweat and tears that went into his work behind the scenes.

"It also showcased his talent," says O'Callaghan of his collaborator. "He brought a unique feel to the documentary by the way he positioned the camera for certain scenes - the angles he took."

The images from Colombo, Sri Lanka, are particularly resonating.

Nor does it mention the torture Killeen was put through by the Kazakhstan players.

"Yeah, they used to hide his camera, which would understandably piss him off as it was worth 16 grand," admits O'Callaghan. "They behaved, like, well, rugby players."

There is a hilarious scene where the scrumhalf, Sheshin, is showboating to the camera in his native tongue after victory over Malaysia before he slips into broken English: "Gimme, please, cigarette."

The lads persuaded Denis Hickie to be the narrator.

"Ross heard him on the radio and we approached him through the Leinster Branch," says O'Callaghan. "He did it for nothing so the next time we do this we'll owe him big time. It was good to get a top-quality rugby player who was also articulate to do it."

It certainly helped the promotional process.

"We certainly can't do it for free again but we hope to do a documentary where we play 15 rugby matches in 15 different countries across the former Soviet Union and Asia.

"This time we would send it to some festivals. We probably should have done that with Rugby Nomad."

O'Callaghan is back living in Dublin, working for Special Olympics Ireland as a development manager for affiliated groups. He's also kept his hand in with the IRB as a consultant for Russia and Asian nations and is behind next month's tour of Ireland by Enisei STM of Krasnoyarsk, Russia - they play Connacht A and Leinster A, with a match against Bective also in the pipeline.

He almost settled in Russia as a high-performance manager but a couple of false promises about personal arrangements, coupled with a less than enthusiastic attitude from the union, led to a parting of ways.

"They are still on course to making the next World Cup in New Zealand, having recently beat Romania and Portugal, but I just felt the high-performance plans I was trying to implement weren't going to see the light of day," he explains. "I gave it six months before coming home."

Life in Dublin with his wife is fine right now, although O'Callaghan does admit to some problems with modern Irish society.

"It is difficult for a Kazakhstan woman living in Dublin. The Borat jokes are getting old, for a start. Ireland has changed a lot since I last lived here. It changes more every time I come back. Irish people, generally, seem to lump any person from the East into one bracket. If you look Chinese it doesn't seem to matter if you are from Japan.

"There are 130 different ethnic races in Kazakhstan . . . her family are originally from Korea but her grandparents moved during the 1950s and she was raised here. So they are now from Kazakhstan. I suppose we'll have to make a choice about where we live when we start a family."

He returns to visit the in-laws this month in Almaty but hopes of lining out on the wing against Japan in the Asian Five Nations (Kazakhstan are in the top tier of Asian rugby now) in May were dashed recently by concussion and a hand injury.

"(Japanese coach) John Kirwan said he will select a full team so I would have loved the opportunity to play against such opposition. They showed plenty of quality during the World Cup.

"When Steve McIvor, my coach at Bective, came over to do some clinics for us he compared them to a top-end AIL Division One club.

"I suppose I would have a greater tactical insight into the game of rugby that allows me to survive but they are big, powerful men."

The goal for Kazakhstan is qualification for the 2015 World Cup. O'Callaghan's ambition is to play in that tournament.

"I'll only be 35," he says. "I might have to move into the centre by then but it's possible."

It would be a fitting culmination to a fascinating, and above all unique, journey.