Early Life
McGrath was born in Ealing, London to an Irish mother and a Nigerian father. According to Donald McRae, his father disappeared soon after his conception, while his mother, Betty McGrath, gave him up for fostering when he was four weeks old: terrified that her father would find out she had become pregnant outside marriage and in an interracial relationship, she travelled in secret to London to have her child, who was considered illegitimate.
When he was 5 years of age, one of the daughters of the family he had been fostered by came to Betty to say they couldn't control him. At that stage his mother had him back for a number of days before having to put him into an orphanage. Despite being Paul McGrath on his birth cert, the admission form required the name of the father, hence he was known as Paul Nwobilo for a time. He was brought up in a number of orphanages in Dublin but had regular visits from his mother, as well as his sister, up until the time he left.
Read more about this topic: Paul Mc Grath (footballer)
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