The 42FM

This week’s episode is all about sports books, as Sinéad quizzes Gavin about the process of co-writing The Racket with Conor Niland, which won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award for 2024. They delve into how the book came about and how the structure of the book was decided upon, along with discussing the process of writing it. Gavin and Sinéad also pick their favourite sports books and offer some left-field recommendations. You can get in touch with the show by emailing sinead@thejournal.ie [sinead@thejournal.ie] and gavincooney@the42.ie [gavincooney@the42.ie]. Happy Christmas! ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

On this week’s show, Gavin and Sinéad are joined by The 42's GAA correspondent Declan Bogue to get into the details of Revenue’s audit of GAA county boards. Why are Revenue targeting the GAA, and what specifically are they looking at? Is this matter likely to extend to under-the-table payments to managers? How seriously is this being taken by the GAA at central level, and how worried are the various county boards? And what are the best and worst-case scenario outcomes - could the ramifications of this audit change the GAA forever? 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.

On this week’s show, Gavin and Sinéad explore the controversy around the Premier League’s Rainbow Laces campaign, a long-running visibility and inclusivity campaign in support of the LGBTQ+ community which two Premier League captains and the Manchester United team chose not to support fully last week. Is the campaign doing more harm than good? Why is the men’s football so hostile to the LGBTQ+ community, where the women’s game is much more inclusive? Is it unfair to focus on individual footballers, when the sport as a whole does not stand up for the values it claims to hold? Is this story indicative of a wider retreat and regression on LGTBQ+ issues? And, ultimately, can sport really be the inclusive force for progressive values we sometimes like to think it can be? 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.

Is Gerry Hutch an exponent of sportswashing? Are Sinn Fein the FAI of politics, to Fianna Fáil’s GAA? And why do all count centres look like Ireland circa 1992? Gav, a “humble sports correspondent”, puts these and other questions to Sinead, who had led The Journal’s coverage of GE24, and must therefore be in a good place to offer some general election player ratings for the party leaders, and a lot more insight besides to a man who has noted an increased sportification of how politics is covered in the media. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

On Friday, a jury found that Conor McGregor sexually assaulted Nikita Hand in a Dublin hotel in 2018. Gavin and Sinéad discuss the case on today’s show, and some of the reasons why the jury may have come to their decision. They also discuss the likelihood of McGregor being granted an appeal, and salute the astonishing strength and bravery of Nikita Hand. They also chart McGregor’s rise and fall: why did he become so popular in Ireland in the first place? And when did that popularity first begin to wane? Plus, why did McGregor gravitate to politics, and does this case truly end the possibility of him running for president? Get in touch - email 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.