A Bohemian Sporting Life

The League of Ireland is commonly seen as a development league,  one  whose best players are signed at an early age, usually by larger, wealthier clubs from Britain, following a pattern established more than a century ago. But in this set of four case studies from the  1 920s through to the twenty first century another narrative is examined: the stories of footballers who have come into the League...

Recorded live in the Joyce Tower museum during the Joycenight festival, host Gerard Farrell chairs a discussion on the events that took place in the Sandycove Martelloe tower that fractured the friendship of James Joyce and Oliver St. John Gogarty, gave rise to Stately plump Buck Mulligan and what all this has to do with Bohemian Football Club. With expert guests Des Gunning, Graham Hopkins and Br...

Conor Curran is the guest on this episode talking about his new book Soccer and Society in Dublin, charting the history of the sport in the capital as far back as the 1880s.

Fergus Dowd chats to Matthew Collins about football and the far right, the new book and TV drama based on his experience, and his fondness for Cork Cork.

A chat with Sam Robinson about Glentoran's 1914 tour of Europe and their triumph in the Vienna Cup and what happened to the footballers who returned to Belfast with War just months away.

Interview with Outside Write host Chris Lee about his new book "Defiant - the history of football against Fascism" covering everything from Italy in the 1920s, World War 2, the Balkans and Eastern Europe as well as football in South American under the dictatorships of the 1970s and 80s.

Interview with Northern Ireland amalgamated supporters chair Gary McAllister.

We chat to Dietrich, a prolific German author on football, about football history, Johann Cruyff, his time living in Ireland and the Bundesliga among other subjects

Fergus chats with actor Maxine Peake about her role playing Anne Williams, campaigner for the victims of the Hillsborough Disaster.

Fergus talks to writer Adrian Tempany about the Hillsborough disaster and the search for justice.

We chat to former referee Keith Hackett about taking charge of an FA Cup final, UEFA matches and bribery in Europe, the dawn of the Premier League and what we can learn from modern rule changes such as VAR.

We chat to Pat McGibbon about Old Trafford under Fergie, the social skills of Roberto Martinez, Windsor Park in 94 and how dealing with tragedy has led him to the work he does today.  For more on Pat's work visit train2bsmart.com  

Fergus chats to stats expert Marshall Gillespie - he's on Twitter @NIStats - about working for the IFA, his passion for football and the growth of statistical analysis from a minority pursuit to becoming central to the running of modern football.

We chat to Michael Ganley about the Football fans museum in Sunderland which began from his own extensive collection of football memorabilia. For more visit https://fansmuseum.org/  

An interesting and amusing chat with former Middlesboro and Liverpool forward David Hodgson about the Anfield bootroom, playing in Japan, Spain and France, and why you don't want to take a wrong turn with a cattle truck in Buenos Aires.

Fergus chats to Kieron Brady about a hugely promising career cut short, playing in a Cup final for Sunderland, choosing Ireland over Scotland and facing personal challenges after his career was over.

We chat to former Cork City striker Roy O'Donovan about his career in England, Scotland, Brunei and Australia. Including what it was like to play under Roy Keane at Sunderland, the Scottish Cup final, and playing for a Sultan.

We chat to Tony Dorigo about how an Australian teenager ended up in 1980s Birmingham, about playing for England, Italia 90, rooming with Gazza, success at Leeds, the dark side of Italian football and much, much more.

We chat to Warren Feeney about his footballing family, his playing career in England and the route that led to his to a managerial role in Bulgaria.

We chat with former Ireland international Paddy Mulligan about his eventful playing and coaching career which included stints at Bohemians, Shamrock Rovers, Chelsea, West Brom & Crystal Palace as well a spell playing in the NASL and coaching in Greece.

We chat to Dominic Foley about appearing in two Belgian Cup finals, being signed by Stephen Kenny but never playing for him, coming up against a young Vincent Kompany, and the unusual trajectory of his international career.

Alan talks about his fascinating career in Ireland, Spain, Belgium and Scotland from playing under John Giles as a teenager to helping teach Quique Setien English and who was tougher Dermot Keely or Andoni Goikoetxea.  

We chat to Lawrie Sanchez about managing in the League of Ireland and the Greek top flight. Scoring the winning in the Crazy Gang/Culture Club cup final, and his experiences of playing for and managing Northern Ireland.

We talk to former Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday, Wolves, Man Utd & Southamption player Jim McCalliog. Jim tells us about a possible Ireland call-up, playing and coaching in the USA and Norway, two epic cup finals that took place 10 years apart and much more...

I chat with Bohs fan Eric Lalor about his family's generations-long connection with Bohs, going to games in the 70s and 80s. His career in entertainment, and showbiz Bohs fans.