Captured talking to Galway United fans pitch side at an away game against Sligo Rovers - Photo by Rob Stanik / Galway Locals
BEFORE THE FOOTBALL TOOK OVER.
I was born in Hammersmith, London and raised in Shepherds Bush. I moved across the Irish Sea to Carlow when I was nine years old. The ironic thing was while I was growing up in London I wasn't a big football fan by any means.
When I started school in Ireland, there was only really two choices the break. Running around playing tag, or football. I gave tag a go at first but found it boring. I decided to finally give football a go for the first time at age 10 and never looked back.
THE FOOTBALL.
Since I started playing football it took over my life completely. What's just as crazy is it took me until seventeen to actually see a professional level game. I was on holiday in Galway, and my first game was a friendly between Galway United and Liverpool at Eamonn Deacy Park in 2015. A teenage Trent Alexander-Arnold featured among others. I fell in love with the place and it started a tradition of going to Galway on holidays to catch one game each summer. Now I'm working in football and have collaborated with some of the biggest brands in the game.
Trent Alexander-Arnold playing at Eamonn Deacy Park - Photo credit: Ashley Cahill
2015-2016 - THE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY, DOING IT FOR FUN.
I started following Galway United from 2015, while in school in Carlow. This is where things ramped up a bit for my career in football. I remember in 2016 seeing a cool design of a player and thinking I'll have a go of it on my own. So I did. I downloaded photoshop and seen what I could do. I followed some YouTube tutorials and pressed a few buttons at random. Below you'll find my first ever graphic made on Photoshop back in 2016. I've come a long way!
My first ever proper design on photoshop back in 2016 featuring then United player, Ruairi Keating.
2016-2018 - FIRST BREAK THROUGH AT PROFESSIONAL LEVEL AT SHAMROCK ROVERS
From this point onwards I started sharing my work on social media. I decided to make a design of a Shamrock Rovers player for something different. I tagged the Shamrock Rovers account and to my surprise they followed me and messaged complimenting the design. They offered me a volunteer role with them in 2016. Which worked nicely as they would have been the closest professional team to me in Carlow. I was one of one of the lead content creators helping around matchday content, programmes, new signings, mid season friendlies and particularly their UEFA Europa League campaigns.
2017-2020 - STARTING WITH GALWAY UNITED AND CLUBS IN THE UK.
In 2017 I moved to Galway United and started volunteering with them the second I moved in. I also started consistently creating work and sharing it on my social media. Blackpool took note and asked me to design the cover of their match programmes at the time. Hibernian also invited me to take part in a charity initiative. Sheffield Wednesday asked me get involved in their kit announcement. I also worked with Exeter City for the summer announcing signings and a few miscellaneous pieces of content.
An illustration made for Blackpool back in 2018.
A full cover of Blackpool's Match Programme
A lovely letter from Hibernian for my work in 2018.
One of the many pieces of Content I made for Exeter City over between 2018-2020
A kit launch video I helped Sheffield Wednesday with back in 2019. I have a full write up on this under the feature projects tab of this site.
2020-2022 - GOING WORLDWIDE WITH THE FIFA WORLD CUP AND THE STEELERS
In 2020, I kept working away developing my work and I started some pieces of animation and rotoscoping. Which brought my work to the attention of some of the biggest brands in the world. In 2020 I was approached by Seven League to create some work around the 2022 FIFA World Cup. I have a full write up on this under the feature projects tab if you would like to read more. It was an unbelievable moment in my career and proved I have what it takes to create content at the very highest level. During this period I also still heavily volunteered with Galway United and my role stepped up significantly around this period.
One of the many videos I made ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Work created for NFL side, The Pittsburgh Steelers. Animating their most famous moment.
2022-2023 - GETTING THE INTERNATIONAL CALL UP
In 2022 I joined the Football Association of Ireland as the League Of Ireland Marketing Executive. It was a dream come true as I got to promote a league that has always been close to my heart. Here I did some content creation along with key marketing activities such as data analysis of KPIs, campaign and some event management. I was part of the team that helped launch the successful rebrand of the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland national team. You can check out a bit more of an in depth look at this in the feature projects page.
2023-2025 - THE RETURN TO GALWAY UNITED
In the summer of 2023 Galway United offered me a full-time role as the Marketing and Media Officer. It's my club and something I'm hugely passionate about, Galway is like a second home to me and I've felt welcome ever since I moved up almost a decade ago. I decided to take the offer for that reason and so I went back to club level in a full-time capacity after initially volunteering with the club from 2019-2022.
As Media and Marketing Officer at Galway United, I lead the club’s content strategy and digital presence, with a strong focus on social media, website management, women’s football promotion, matchday media operations, and monthly reporting. I oversee and produce all media output across platforms, coordinating written, visual, and video content to grow the club’s profile, drive attendance, and support commercial objectives. I manage and mentor a team of volunteers, structure development plans, and ensure consistent branding across campaigns. I also support the sponsorship and commercial team in executing partner activations and deliver regular board and sponsor reports, including detailed KPIs and insights.
2025 - FREELANCE CONTENT CREATOR
In the autumn of 2025 I started up freelance content creation again, with my first work back being for Everton of the Premier League. Creating an animation of Ndiaye's iconic opening goal at Hill Dickinson Stadium. You can contact me at paulmladdesign@gmail.com if you're interested to collaborate.
