For and Against

The Women’s Indian Premier League takes women’s sport to unprecedented heights. Joined by award-winning journalist, lawyer and Indian sports afficianado, Ritam Mitra, the team breaks down the history-making TV deal and player auction which sees the game’s top female players earning more than half a million dollars for six weeks work.  It’s a big moment which could redefine the landscape for women’...

At the start of the year, Cricket Australia surprised the sporting world by announcing an early resolution of their next TV rights deal. But did they go too early, take too little money and choose the wrong partner? Who better to take us through it than the For & Against team and special guest, Dr Hunter Fujak sports management lecturer from Deakin Business School and author of Code War$: the...

They’re out again, those lists about the highest paid sports people in the world! And who better to tease out the big winners and the big surprises than your For & Against team! In keeping with the theme, those multi-million dollar NFL contracts get put under the microscope for what is and isn’t guaranteed (spoiler: most isn’t) and the NRL try to agree a collective bargain in their own inimita...

Who needs enemies when you can get broadcast networks to pay you millions of dollars for the privilege…welcome to 2023! It’s the Australian summer, which can only mean one thing: cricket! Well, two things: cricket and a host of opportunities for the For & Against team to ask what Cricket Australia will do wrong next. TV rights are up for bids and the team give CA all the wisdom they will ever...

Carnivals actually! The World Cup is over. 2022 is over. And another year of For & Against is over. World football expert (and For & Against alum!) David Gill joins the team to dissect the world game’s showpiece in Qatar, and whether Australian football has once again wasted its greatest opportunity. Speaking of carnivals, we check in on the David Warner circus and a golden final red card...

Boxing gets a rare run, with an equally rare example of a sport delving into the archives and reversing a 30 year-old result, setting quite the precedent.....ESG finds its inevitable way into sport.....the Cappuccino Kid, Alex Watson, turns good guy and is trying to save Modern Pentathlon from itself (and the animal rights fraternity).....and the 'G chucks its twenty cents worth into Red Card Yell...

The World Cup plunders on, providing more material than we know what to do with: armband bans, Infantino's multi-personality diatribe, the beer sales backflip, etc. etc. And was the early morning Socceroos opener the real reason no-one turned up to an Aust v Eng ODI? Red Card Yellow Card has a football focus, with a can't-be-unheard nomination for Wayne Rooney. After impressing in the qualifiers l...

Show me the money! Or at least where a savvy advertiser should place it. The team work through the usual suspects and a few surprises on this year’s Most Marketable Athletes List. They can’t agree about the future of Pickle Ball or the Giteau Law, but they do agree that this show has one of the most fun interviews ever: one half of Australia’s recently crowned Wife Carrying Champions, Nick Topham...

The World Cup is about to kick off in Qatar and the team talk to journalist, Kevan Sangster, who helps us navigate player protests, FA remedy petitions and Denmark’s black kit. We also venture into the virtues of Netball sponsorship and the values of the Essendon football club and its one day CEO! The banter in this one is deep and meaningful, though there’s also $50,000 NFL lunches and a star-stu...

The ink is barely dry on the AFL’s new $4.5b contract and the team bring in Dr Hunter Fujak to put it under the microscope…and bring the hammer down on the NRL (who must be feeling very sorry for themselves). We also object to a Scottish legal ruling that sport is not a religion and discuss the holy relics known as sporting collectibles. Amen to another great episode of For & Against!  See omn...

In this show, the For & Against team get serious - if just for a short time - to discuss head injuries, concussion and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). And given that they can barely pronounce encepha… encephalo… CTE, they bring in Dr Alan Pearce, world-renowned neurophysiologist, to talk about how we might reduce the chances of our sporting heroes spending their later lives suffering f...

Yes, we’re making up words, but only because words can’t describe the high drama and controversy that For & Against’s intrepid investigative team uncover in this show! The NRL is looking for bidders to host their Grand Final, Super Bowl-style. Will it catch on? Or is it just another piece of V’landys brinksmanship?  And the noble sport of Cornhole has been rocked by allegations of cheating by...

First it was One Dayers, now it’s the jewel in the traditionalist’s crown, Test Cricket, whose life is on the line. South Africa might be the number one ranked team in the world, but does their lack of sponsors mark them as a canary in a coal mine? Fear not, because the For & Against team is all over it! Listeners should also take heart that Ash Barty has a new job, we have discovered the Exce...

He’s back! Sound the trumpets! Wave your flags! The walking encyclopaedia of all things football, David “Bear” Gill, is back from sabbatical to celebrate and reminisce over the 30th Anniversary of the introduction of the back pass rule! We also cover other great rule changes, Sam Kerr achieving legendary status on the cover of FIFA2023 and Australia’s secret championship credentials in Obstacle Co...

Is it sacrilegious to watch sport on Christmas Day? Or sacrilege not to? To figure it out, the team interview Sydney Kings Co-Owner, Paul Smith, who recently announced the NBL’s intention to break the taboo and own Christmas Day. Paul gives an off-the-cuff, sports business masterclass on potential benefits of first mover advantage, the risks that he and the NBL are taking and, most important of al...

After the team celebrated a century in our previous show, it’s time to get back down to business - specifically, the business of spending billions on cricket and football. The ever-insightful Ritam Mitra joins us to dissect the IPL’s latest jaw-dropping deal and what Apple might be thinking taking Major League Soccer to the world. The team also dig into the most important part of the Commonwealth...

Welcome to a very special edition of For & Against: our one hundredth show! 77 on ABC Grandstand and 23 on the Diamantina Network. And in a first for the team, we discuss whether we owe Greg Norman an apology. Speaking of sell-outs, the spontaneous sale of the Netball Grand Final venue gets examined as do the chances of the FFA spending the bounty of a fifth straight World Cup qualification. L...

We're joined by former Aussie cricketer and now coach Nathan Hauritz, to talk about bridging the generation gap in coaching (and his very recent appointment to Ireland). Still on cricket, is the giant awakening in the US? If the money is any guide, that's a yes. And to the disbelief of many, FIFA dumps FIFA! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wimbledon takes a stand against Russia and the ATP/WTA return serve…where’s the moral high ground? Probably a lot closer to US soccer, where gender pay parity has arrived. And was the federal election coverage better than watching sport? As with sport, depends who you support… See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Where will it end? And do we want it to? In this episode, For & Against discuss the next sports looking to emulate the success of Netflix’s Drive to Survive. We also count the costs of Ash Barty’s retirement…to the cost of TV rights to next year’s Australian Open! And there’s an absolute classic nomination for It’s Not Sport But We Like It: Extreme Ironing!...

For & Against gets tribal as Rugby League great, Brad Clyde, joins the team to debate whether Rugby League should break with tradition and move the Grand Final north of the border to Lang Park! The team also discuss the Wimbledon sanctions, the not-dead-yet Saudi golf league and the legacies of two departing administrative giants, John Coates and Gil McLachlan. And of course, there’s Red...

Does live sport have a future? Will the crowds come back as COVID recedes? Join Paul, Simon and Stephen, as they discuss what sports need to do to get people buying tickets again. Or is the future of sport virtual, and coming soon to a metaverse near you? Find out on another great show of For & Against. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ash Barty's retirement shocked the world and blindsided sports-mad, hero-worshipping Australia. Join Paul, Simon and Stephen as they explore whether her actions are unprecedented or enlightened! The team also covers the march of private equity into sport and the consequences of Italy's failure to make the World Cup for the second time in a row. It's an extra-sensitive, game-changing episode of For...

Who says sport and politics don’t mix? No-one on For & Against, that’s for sure. The team tackles Russian sporting sanctions, with a special interview with sporting economist and sanctions afficionado, Tim Harcourt, and discuss their impact on the hearts and minds of fans…and the budgets and sponsors of sporting administrators like FIFA and the IOC. They also look at 2022’s 'new and improved'...

The fall of Tim Paine, the rise of Crypto-in-Sport and how the Great White Shark plans to unite the world in peace and harmony...these topics and a whole lot more can only mean one thing...it's time for another great episode of For & Against! The team dissect whether Tim Paine fell on his sword or was pushed (can you be pushed onto your own sword?) and debate whether anyone can meet the standa...