The brutal reason Love Island’s Fitzy earns nothing, nada, zilch from his football career

Teacher Sean ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald is already emerging as a favourite on Love Island, and in a time-honoured tradition for the reality TV show, of course, he’s a former football player.

Outside of his teaching work, Fitzy is a player of Gaelic football (GAA), which combines elements from both traditional football and rugby. He began his career at age 20, playing in the under-20 All Ireland team before moving on to Galway County football, where he’s been since 2022.

At the time of his casting, people questioned whether his team would be annoyed at him ditching their Championship final to get a tan and snog fit girls for eight weeks. Thankfully, the team were very chill about it.

“Everyone @clgbhearna na Forbacha wants to wish club man Sean Fitz all the best in Love Island 2026 this summer. We are very proud of him on and off the pitch. Áth Mór Fitzy! Island!” the club wrote on Instagram.

Love Island’s Fitzy has earned nothing from football

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A post shared by Fitzy (@fitzy.007)

Unlike some of his English counterparts, like bombshell George Knight and last year’s Harry Cooksley, Fitzy earns nothing from Gaelic football. That isn’t to say he’s sh*t, though; it’s just the way the league works.

You see, GAA players do not get paid to play the sport. It’s purely amateur-based. That being said, they do receive a measly grant from the government to cover things like travel, gear, nutrition and training. For men, it’s between €1,000 and €1,700, but women only get €920 per year.

That might explain why Fitzy is both an athlete and a teacher, but it’s not clear whether he’ll be returning to the primary school after the show or continuing on the influencer/reality TV track.

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The influencer line and the brand deals that follow could be a good shout for Fitzy, who already has 100k followers on TikTok. It’s actually where he posted his audition video for Love Island.

Recalling the moment he recorded his audition, he said: “Yeah so when I posted that video I wasn’t really doing an audition as such, I was just watching clips on TikTok and loads of Love Island clips were coming up. I just thought it seemed quite boring, or like the people on it didn’t seem like that much craic.

@fitzy.007

Get me in there @Love Island

♬ original sound – Fitzy

“I was thinking ‘Jeez, I wish I was in there I could liven it up a bit’, so I just went outside, did a bit of a spiel about what I would do if I was in there. It wasn’t actually an application as such, it was just a video kind of messing or whatever saying what I’d do if I was on there.

“The next day they actually rang me saying would I want to do an interview, so I didn’t apply or anything. I said, ‘sure I’ll do an interview.’ But I wasn’t really thinking about it much.”

Teacher pay is fixed in Ireland, so Fitzy should make somewhere between €45,379 and €51,000 a year.

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Featured image credit: ITV/James Crombie/INPHO/Shutterstock