John Giles has revealed that opposition players use to call him a "Paddy" and "potato-picker" during his career.

The issue of sledging or verbal abuse on the pitch has raised its head in GAA of late and John told Off The Ball that it is not something alien to him from his own days in soccer.

"They didn't call it sledging in my day. It was just straight-forward having a go at everyone. Billy Bremner was famous for it and well, I wasn't behind the door either. But you have to take it as well as give it. The amount of times I was called a 'little Irish so-and-so, Paddy, potato-picker, whatever it might be ... it never bothered me. I could give as good as I got," he said, before a few specific examples and added that there were no grudges held after the end of a game.