Kells recalls the summer a future World Cup winner came to stay

The people of Kells had an extra special reason to celebrate Spain's World Cup win on Sunday as Xabi Alonso, the Spanish midfielder, once played football in the town with locals. The Real Madrid player, now a World Cup winner, stayed in Kells in the mid-1990s, when he visited the town with other Spanish students to learn English and played football with local youngsters during his stay. The former Liverpool star was just 16 when he arrived in Kells as a Spanish exchange student. He stayed with Liam and Fidelma O'Brien of Headfort Park and their family for a number of weeks. Figgy Curran of Kells Celtic recalled that he had played a bit of soccer with other youngsters in the Headfort Grove area and had impressed a lot of people with his skills. "He also tried a bit of Gaelic, but found it a bit tough. Nobody knew at that stage that he would grow up to become a World Cup winner," he said. Alonso also went to a Meath match while staying in Kells, saw the atmosphere first hand, and apparently loved it. "I played Gaelic Football with some of the local boys. It was very fast, very tough. Maybe they should wear crash helmets," he said in an interview some years ago. "When I was 16, I went to Ireland for a month to learn to speak English. I didn't know back then that it would turn out to be so useful! But I had a nice summer," he told reporters. He is reported as saying that in the beginning it was hard in Kells because his level of English was not very good. He tried to improve that and made some good friends while there. "I stayed with the O'Brien family and I remember there were the parents, and two boys and two girl," he added. "It was very different to go to Ireland from the north of Spain, because of the weather, for instance. The culture is totally different but it was nice to spend a month there." He involved himself in soccer matches in the town - and those games opened his eyes to a different way of playing than what he was used to at home. "It was the first contact I had with the UK and Ireland, and I realised that they liked to tackle and the physical contact. But I really enjoyed it." He said his experiences in Kells helped prepare him for the physicality of the English Premiership when he moved to Liverpool. His footballing career really started to take off on his return to Spain and he began his career at Real Sociedad and captained the club to second place in the 2002-'03 season. He then moved to Liverpool in August 2004 for £10.5 million and won the UEFA Champions League in his first season at the club. He moved to Real Madrid for the start of the 2009-'10 season in a deal worth around £30 million. He made his international debut in April 2003 in a 4-0 victory against Ecuador and the highlight of career was undoubtedly Spain's win in the World Cup last Sunday.