Grogan ready to live the American dream

We all grow up dreaming of being professional footballers, kicking a ball around in the back garden, pretending we’re Messi or Ronaldo, hoping that one day we can fulfill that goal. For many of us, it’s just a dream, but one little boy from Crettyard is realising his dream and is finally going to be a professional footballer. 

The little boy in question is not such a little boy anymore. At 19 years of age, Peter Grogan is realising his dreams as he signed his first professional contract recently, as he signed for Austin FC in America. Austin FC are an MLS club, and Grogan will be competing for their MLS Next Pro side, who are their second string side and are actually the defending MLS Next Pro champions. It’s been a whirlwind adventure for Grogan. Starting out his career at Deen Celtic in Castlecomer, he grew up dreaming of being a professional footballer. When he was old enough, he moved to Crettyard, which was his club. He made his way through the ranks there and soon attracted the attention of CK United who were then under the alias of Carlow-Kilkenny FC and he played for them for a few years. He went back to Crettyard for a while and made the jump into the senior team under Patrick Brennan, before looking for a new adventure with Bohemians in Dublin. 

After a successful spell with the U19’s at Boh’s, he got a call up into the senior squad for their LFA Senior Cup match against Shelbourne. He came off the bench and scored. It didn’t quite go to plan for him at Bohs and made the move to Bray earlier this season. At Bray, he’s made a splash, scoring seven goals in 20 games, and if it wasn’t for injuries, there’s no reason why he couldn’t have more. In between that, he's represented Ireland at schools level, and even captained them against England. At 19 years old, he’s done more in the soccer world than most can dream of, and has the world at his feet right now.

“It’s life changing really,” he said of the opportunity. 

“It’s what I’ve been working towards since I started playing soccer, I suppose, since I started taking it seriously. It’s entirely life changing, it’s going to be a whole other world over there but I think I’m ready for it. I’ve had a long time to think about it, it’s been on my mind since the start of June so I know I’m ready to take this step. Going into a professional full-time environment can only do me the world of good. It’s a life experience, if it doesn’t go well or I get homesick, I won’t regret it, it’s just something I have to do. I’ve had a lot of time to digest it but at first it was quite surreal, somebody calling you and telling you Austin FC want to sign you is just crazy, that you’re going to be a professional footballer. It’s news every young footballer would like to hear. It was relief, sometimes you start to think I’m doing so much hard work and not all the time is it that you get the fruits from your labour and you think I’m working so hard and getting nothing out of it so thankfully it definitely shows me that my hard work isn’t going unnoticed and I just have to keep working hard. When you think about it, driving up to Dublin to Bohs at first and then to Bray the last 2/3 years, it’s all worth it.” 

It’s an exciting opportunity for Peter but one that very nearly didn’t happen. 

“Early June was the first I heard of it. My agent called me and just asked me about the prospect and if I would like to go if I got the chance. My first thought was it would be a lovely offer but I probably wouldn’t. Then he let me know that there was an offer there that Austin FC wanted me. Upon further thought about it, it was a no brainer really. I knew they were newly founded and they were an exciting club. I had a zoom call with their scouting director and he introduced me to the club and showed me if I signed this is what I’d be getting, this is what your life would be like. I’ll be starting off in the MLS Next Pro which is basically like a seconds league, it’s like an U23’s squad in essence. I’d be starting off there and working towards getting a first team contract.

The question begs, how does an MLS side find somebody playing in little old Ireland. Grogan says their European scout found him during his successful period at Bray. 

“Their European Scout is based in Spain so they have somebody in Europe full-time, and he came over to Bray to watch me in a few games and they watched the rest of my games online on LOITV. Thankfully they were interested and they were looking for a striker too as well. This was during the period where I was scoring my goals so they were impressed by me.” 

He has a lot of commitments back home that he has to put on the backburner to follow his dream. 

“I deferred my college course and they’re ok with that, DCU are very supportive. Sinead, my girlfriend, she’s so supportive of me. She said she would have been mad at me if I didn’t take the opportunity. She knows it’s my dream, and I’m home every December for the full month so I’ll be able to see her, see my family and friends and they’ll all come out to Austin during the summer.” 

Despite the great opportunity, he’s quick to insist, this isn’t the final chapter, that this is just a stepping stone to even bigger things. 

“It’s not the end of the line though, it’s not where I want to stay. I want to push on as much as I can with it and see how far I can go. It’s amazing to sign my first pro contract but I don’t want to leave it there. I wanna keep working hard and see where I go.” 

Peter has been very close to his family all his life and says that their support has been key to everything he’s done. 

“I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it without the support I have. My family, my mam, my dad, my sister, my girlfriend, who’s just believed in me and supported me through every step of the way. Mam and dad, they’re just really proud of me and they’re really happy for me, they know this is what I want. I was living in Dublin for college and coming down for the weekends but it’ll be the first time properly living away from home. The time difference and the distance will be tough to get used to but it’s something I think I’m ready for. The people closest to me know how much I want it and how hard I work and they’re all so proud of me.

Only his visa application stands in the way of him and America. 

“I’m just waiting on my visa now. I have my contract signed and everything, I’m just waiting on my visa interview which takes place on Wednesday in the US Assembly so hopefully in the next two weeks but should be hopefully before the end of the month.”