Brian O’Driscoll may be one of the biggest names in Irish rugby but that doesn’t mean he’s a star in his house.
He jokes that his children don’t care about his sports career and he certainly doesn’t hold a candle to their sporting icons.
Speaking to VIP Magazine, he jokes: “When people stop me in public and ask for a picture, my kids are at the age where they can embarrass me.
“They’re like, ‘Oh I’m Brian O’Driscoll.’ They just want to take the piss out of me. They don’t care about who I am!”
That uncaring attitude does not, however, translate onto the pitch. His two eldest children 10-year-old Sadie and eight-year-old Billy are both into sports. He explains that Sadie is all about gymnastics and hockey while Billy is a football fanatic, and he does play “a little bit of rugby”.
“I think you have to roll with whatever they want to be involved in,” he tells us as we chat at the launch of Guinness’ latest rugby campaign.
“You’re a taxi person and you have to understand the upside to dangerous sports just as much as the downsides. The friendships, the comradery, the life lessons and the values you learn in rugby outweigh the risks.
“And if my son or daughter wanted to pursue another sport, which is the case at the moment, I would push them to do that as well! Certainly, as a parent you have to allow them to plough their own path, you have to allow them to enjoy what they do. And being able to bring the best out of them in that regard.”
And Brian won’t be forcing any of his kids into rugby, he is happy to support them from the sideline.
“I am able to enjoy what they are doing and encourage them and be positive,” he adds.
While Brian is certainly plenty of little children’s role models around the country, he also discusses the importance of women’s sport being seen more and more.
“I was at one of the women’s Six Nations games last year with my daughter, it’s all important for boys and girls to see women in sport as they’re growing up,” he explains adding what incredible role models Irish women sport really are.
“At home in my house when sport comes on my son doesn’t care if it’s men or women playing. When the Women’s World Cup final was on he was excited as he was when he was watching Mbappe and Messi! Seeing those role models and the Can’t See It, Can’t Be It campaign are all important to the next generation.
“There is as great an interest in female sport as there is in male, we just have to make it as accessible as possible. You only do that by showcasing it, by talking about it, by attending it. But we still have work to do.”
Of course, it’s not all sports in the O’Driscoll-Huberman household, with his wife Amy Huberman being very accomplished in her own right. From acting, to writing, to podcasting, Amy is equally as iconic as her husband.
And with three little ones at home, Sadie and Billy are proud big siblings to two-year-old Ted, being a parent is a juggling act.
“It is a juggle, isn’t it? It is always a juggle. I think complimenting each other when she is away and I am at home and vice versa is never perfect, but you roll with it,” he says simply, joking that as a parent they don’t have social lives outside the home.
“When one is busy you try and pull the handbrake up on the other person’s career. Like any good partnership or any good team, there is compromise involved.”
VIP Magazine was speaking to Guinness Ambassador, Brian O’Driscoll as he teamed up with Guinness to help launch their new rugby campaign ‘Don’t Jinx It’. This Autumn, Guinness is asking fans to resist the urge to tempt fate. Remember – Think It, Don’t Jinx It.
