Soccer Interview - Nicky Byrne

NICKY BYRNE showed off his soccer skills during the trip in a match at the national stadium in front of 20,000 people.
The singer was a promising goalkeeper as a youngster and had trials with Premiership side Leeds United. He was bitterly disappointed to be ditched aged just 18.
During the tour he captained the Westlife XI against local side the Malaysian Rockers United.
Playing in midfield he scored twice as his team, which also featured the rest of the lads - and me - won 7-1 in a game following a gig they played at the ground.
Nicky, 24 who also got booked in the match, told me afterwards: "Before I was even at Leeds I dreamed of playing in a packed national stadium. What footballer doesn’t?

At Leeds I thought I was going to go all the way. I had visions of playing for Ireland.
"Then my career in the game was over before it had even got going. I was gutted.
"The match here in Malaysia went some way to making up for that. I had been looking forward to it for months.
"To play in front of 20,000 people was absolutely amazing."

Nicky spent two years chasing his dream of becoming a footballer. When things turned sour he thought his chance of fame had vanished.
He returned to Ireland and started singing karaoke with his dad - and that’s when he decided to pursue his other passion, music.
It was as he was struggling to get over his disappointment with Leeds that he spotted an advert to audition for a boy band. Nicky told me: "Westlife has helped me get over not making it as a footballer. The band saved me.

"I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do when things went wrong."
He added: "I was different from a lot of the other lads at the football club anyway. I got stick in the dressing room for listening to Boyzone when they liked dance music."
The match wasn’t the lads’ only sporting outing during the trip, they also took to the golf course.