'Fire in my belly' - West Brom star Callum Robinson breaks silence on Covid controversy

Six months ago Callum Robinson found himself in the middle of a Covid controversy after the West Bromwich Albion man revealed that he was not vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The revelation caused a stir in part because it was somewhat unusual to see a professional footballer speak openly about not being unvaccinated in the midst of the pandemic, but also because he has contracted the virus on two separate occasions. That led many to question why he would leave himself and those around him more open to infection.

The public discourse around Robinson's remarks last October threatened to distract from his on-field duties for club and country, with the forward linking up with the Republic of Ireland at the time. But he would go on to score five goals in two games for the Boys In Green, including his first hat-trick at international level, that very same week.

Robinson once again played a key role for Ireland this past weekend as he set up Chiedozie Ogbene's first-half equaliser against Belgium in a friendly that ended two goals apiece. While not everything has gone to plan with West Brom this season, he has certainly excelled on the international stage since his vaccine admission.

In his first public statements on the matter since then, Robinson admitted that the fallout from his comments motivated him to put in his best performances in a green shirt, calling it a "big turning point" in his international career.

“I think it put a fire in my belly, that’s just me being honest," he told the FAI's in-house media. "As footballers you always give 100 percent no matter what, but what happened that week gave me more fire in my belly to show what I could do on the pitch.

“There was a lot of talk off the pitch, and I wanted