Gillian Quinn
“It’s a world first in professional football.”
For Gillian Quinn, embarking on a PhD was a very personal matter. She wanted to explore how professional footballers and their partners cope with the transition when the player retires. As the wife of Republic of Ireland legend Niall Quinn, she knew all about the pitfalls.
“When Niall retired from playing football, it was a very sudden, impulsive decision to quit and we hadn’t prepared for it as a couple,” says Gillian. “So as a result, we were caught up in this whirlwind, and it had a really negative impact on our marriage and our family life.”
At the time, Gillian noticed many of their friends from the world of football were facing similar struggles, with divorces being common. Her frustration with the lack of research into the phenomenon or support for the families ultimately led to her returning to education.
Having left school at the age of 14, Gillian admits academia wasn’t always on her horizon. At the time, she dreamed of being an actor, and she went on to have a successful career in modelling. She and Niall married when she was 20, and they started a family soon afterwards.
“Going to university was never something I ever considered possible for me because I had dropped out of school so young.”
But at the age of 40, things started to change. With her two children in higher education, and with Niall’s career having successfully transitioned to the business side of sport, Gillian felt she needed a new challenge.
When Niall was awarded an honorary degree by the Open University, she was surprised to see people of all age groups graduating at the ceremony. In a lightbulb moment, she could see herself returning to education, and soon afterwards, she signed up for a degree in Psychology with the Open University. “It all just came at the right time.”
Gillian says the focus of her return to education was to help couples in football avoid the difficulties she and Niall had faced. “I felt, although I had lived experience, I didn't have any credibility without an education. Nobody would listen to me.”
Having earned a first-class degree, she wanted to investigate further and approached DCU with a PhD research proposal.
For the first two years, Gillian was on a PhD track, which prepares candidates for doctoral research. This element involved exploring which methodology she would use in her investigations. Her training also involved attending Master’s level modules on Psychotherapy and doing workshops on thesis writing and time management.
Having gained approval to proceed with her thesis, Gillian knew she had the benefit of being an insider in the football world. But given the intrusiveness of the tabloids and social media, she also knew that most footballers and their families fiercely guard their privacy.
“They’re terrified,” says Gillian, “And obviously, players' wives in particular are portrayed in such a poor light in the media and unfortunately, the only ones that do speak out would not represent the majority.”
The sensitivity of the topic was an additional barrier. “I'm basically talking about a massive event in their lives that, for many, has had serious consequences for their mental health and their marriages. And so, being able to go in as an insider researcher, because I'm seen as one of them, helped somewhat with recruitment.”
Added to that, the strict criteria of the selection process meant she didn’t know any of the participants personally before conducting interviews with them. “So recruitment was not as easy as you might think.”
In the end, she recruited 16 participants, nine former players and seven former players' wives. Interviewing each one individually, she gained insights into the pressures and pitfalls facing married couples when a footballer’s career ends, and how they navigated the transition, for good or bad.
Currently, Gillian’s research is under embargo, but there’s already a huge amount of interest. “It's a world first in professional football,” says Gillian. “There are lots of people kind of trying to snap my hand off to know ‘what are your findings and what did you find out’, which is really exciting and very flattering.”
For now, she’s keeping it under wraps until she works out the best way to disseminate her research. Gillian says her ultimate objective is to develop a psychoeducational programme to help couples prepare for the transition at the end of a professional football career.
While professional footballers and their partners are a niche group, Gillian believes her findings will be transferable to other sports and to the entertainment industry.
“The findings would be 100 per cent transferrable to people like that, but also for people in other industries where one of the partners has had a very high-powered job, and suddenly they've been made redundant or sacked, or for whatever reason, can no longer do their job at that level and they find themselves with no status, no purpose, no identity.”
Having completed an executive coaching qualification, Gillian now feels ready to apply what she’s learned for the benefit of couples facing difficulties. She plans to do workshops with professional football clubs, and separately, she will be offering advice and services for partners and wives, including one-to-one sessions.
Looking ahead to her graduation day, Gillian admits, “It’s been a long time coming.” Over the course of the past seven years, she’s faced various personal challenges.
She was the full-time carer for her elderly father during this time, as well as coordinating a busy home life. Then two years ago, her mother died unexpectedly, which was “a massive shock”.
She reflects that the University was “very understanding” and allowed her additional time to complete her thesis. In particular, she praises her three supervisors, Dr Rita Glover, Dr Gerry Moore and Dr Gemma Kiernan. “They were so dedicated and helpful and supportive.”
“A lot of people go, that must have been a nightmare with three different people telling you what to do. But we were like a team, it was amazing.”
Applauding her on her graduation day will be Gillian’s other team, her family. Gillian’s children and husband, Niall, all have DCU degrees. Now, she completes the set as Dr Gillian Quinn.