A real-life, closeted love affair between two football players has the internet welling up

The writer says the show reminds him of a brief but intense relationship he enjoyed with another Gaelic football player when he was in his early 20s. Gaelic football is similar to rugby.

The letter was read about by Brendan O’Connor on RTÉ Radio 1.

“I am a successful, reasonably wealthy, married man with two adult children,” the listener began. “But sometimes I find myself lost in emotion.

“Way back, I played soccer and Gaelic football and a friend at the time played Gaelic football for an opposing club. We met a few times on the pitch on opposite sides, both determined to do the best for our teams,” O’Connor read from the letter.

“In one particular match, we both went after the ball, and he slipped, losing the ball. As I took up the tackle passing him, he said, just loud enough, ‘Go for it.’ The slip was deliberate, but well covered.”

“I fancy you”

After the match in the clubhouse, the rival player bought the writer a drink, before pointing to the top shelf with the spirits and the liqueurs and asking him what drink he would fancy.

“My reply was, ‘I fancy you actually.’ There was no look of surprise, no stand back, no blush. He asked for a lift home, which I gave, and as he got out of the car, he leaned across and kissed me on the side of my face and said, ‘See you soon, I hope’.”

And this began a 2.5-year affair, conducted mainly in hotel rooms. Both men were aged 22 at the time.

“Just like in Heated Rivalry, we stayed distant except for an after-match drink with the teams and left separately to meet later.”

Sometimes they told people they were attending fictional training courses.

“Staying in the same room in a hotel was not unusual for guys traveling together,” he explained.

“We were very, very good friends to each other privately while still being seen as opposition players by our teammates. Then, after 2.5 years of happiness, comfortable conversations and intimacy, he disappeared from my life,” he wrote.

“I have not seen or heard from him in all that time. But guess what? I think about him every single day since, and I still love him, even though we never said it to each other.”

“The firm embrace of a man”

He went on to say he misses his former lover “every single day,” recalling “the hugs, the firm embrace of a man, the ability to be intimate in a way that is hard to express, regardless of the sex angle.

“As I write this, I’m getting emotional, and I’ve no one to share this with. So I would say to anyone who is watching Heated Rivalry, ignore the sex, see and feel the intimacy, and listen to the dialogue,” he continued.

“Feel the pain of the characters as their relationship develops, and feel the good pain, which comes on the realisation that the attraction that was there initially is no real love, concern, and a deep protective instinct. See the transition to the realisation that they really love each other.”

“I still have difficulty 30 years later. He could find me again. I’m confident of that. I don’t know if it will ever happen, but hope springs eternal.”