The 42FM

How should football talk about Diogo Jota’s death?

After Scotland’s remarkable qualification for next year’s World Cup, captain Andy Robertson gave an emotional insight into his grief following the tragic death of his Liverpool team-mate, Diogo Jota. On this week’s podcast, Sinéad and Gavin discuss Robertson’s interview, and why it led to a wider media discussion about the continuing impact of Jota’s death on everyone at Liverpool. With Liverpool enduring a terrible run of results on the pitch, they explore how to discuss the players’ on-field underperformance in the context of this grief. Is Jota’s death and his family’s grief at risk of being trivialised by being used by pundits and journalists to explain poor results on a football pitch? Or are we doing a disservice to the players involved by not acknowledging it? And why do we not give space to our elite sportspeople to be human beings? Is this unfair on our behalf, or is it part of the contract between supporter and the well-paid football professional: that they are not allowed any room for escapism in what is our favourite form of escapism? Get in touch - sinead@thejournal.ie [sinead@thejournal.ie] and gavincooney@the42.ie [gavincooney@the42.ie] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Why are we so happy? How does football make us feel this way?

It is another gloriously happy day, as Sinéad and Gavin continue to bask with the rest of you in the beautiful afterglow of Ireland’s victory in Hungary. Gavin is back from Budapest and gives Sinéad the lowdown on how the whole, mad drama played out in the stadium. But truly it doesn’t matter where you watch Troy Parrott’s winning goal - what matters is that you are united with millions of Irish people in such total happiness. Sinéad and Gavin dig into why Ireland’s wins mean so much to so many people. Is this merely proof that we are Football Country, rather than Rugby Country? Or is there something deeper at play? How has the national football team become such a vital part of our national identity? Why is it so important that a whole generation of players and fans experienced this moment? Basically - why are we so ludicrously happy? Get in touch - gavincooney@the42.ie [gavincooney@the42.ie] and sinead@thejournal.ie [sinead@thejournal.ie] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Hungary v Ireland - The aftermath, with Gavin Cooney, David Sneyd and Shane Keegan

How many times has Sinéad asked Gav is it possible? Could we?... is there any way? She should have been asking Troy Parrott. Ireland's stunning 3-2 win over Hungary is all anyone wants to talk about today. Unfortunately, Gav and Sinéad record on Tuesdays and Gav, naturally, is a wanted man elsewhere today. But we wanted to give our loyal listeners an extra treat - free access to The 42's Football Family podcast. We will be back tomorrow to talk more football, and the impact of a week like we've just had. But until then, enjoy the insights from The 42's David Sneyd and Shane Keegan, alongside our own Gav. If you like what you hear, and honestly, how could you not? You can subscribe to The 42 on a trial basis for just 1 euro a month at the moment. What a no brainer. We're in for a busy year! ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

How sport exposes Ireland’s housing crisis

With the League of Ireland season over, clubs’ attention now turns to recruiting new players for next year, during which they will quickly run into the realities of Ireland’s housing crisis. On this week’s show, Sinéad and Gavin explain how the crisis affects professional sport in Ireland, how it has come to define certain sports and competitions, and how these impacts articulate the wider issues felt by a whole generation of Irish people. They then look at the reasons underpinning the crisis: do we simply not have enough houses? Or are there wider problems with the investment funds buying up the few houses that are put on the Irish market? They then point to the incipient triumph of Ireland’s hosting of the Ryder Cup and ask whether politicians really believe this is a housing crisis, and whether they are committed as they claim to be when it comes to addressing it. Get in touch - gavincooney@the42.ie [gavincooney@the42.ie] and sinead@thejournal.ie [sinead@thejournal.ie] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Ciarán Murphy on why hurling and the Irish language have a similar struggle

The Irish language and hurling should be accessible and a source of joy to many. Has this always been the case? Is it even the case now? Or are they ring-fenced? Taught in specific environments - school and GAA clubs that happen to offer hurling, which are not so plentiful in much of the country? But what could happen if the language and game of hurling were not restricted to these environments? How could they begin to thrive if attempts to make them more widely available were backed rather than thwarted? These are some of the questions tackled by Ciarán Murphy of the Second Captains in his new book, Old Parish, where he takes up hurling in his early 40s. Today, he chats with Sinead about the humbling effects of competitive hurling, and the life-affirming adventure of returning to his father’s club in the Waterford Gaeltacht to live, write and hurl. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.