The 42FM

Sinéad O’Carroll and Niall Kelly are joined by Declan Bogue to discuss a change of approach to underage GAA.

Declan sets out the nature of the challenge for the GAA: the dropout rate in early teenage years and what is behind this.

An excess of seriousness and a lack of playing opportunities for some players are leading many to walk away from hurling and football at a young age. So the GAA are examining the possibility of supplementary games in a less competitive environment. How they will be rolled out will vary from one county to the next, with some battling rural depopulation and clubs in others struggling to cater to their huge numbers.

Declan gets into why there is always such a backlash to ideas which might dilute the competitive nature of underage GAA. He examines the role of helicopter parenting in kids’ sports today, and the role of coaches who can sometimes take an overzealous approach.

Sinéad stresses the need to find the balance between nurturing all young players and providing an outlet for the competitive nature of many.
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Living in Ireland since 2007, Matt Steerman made a pilgrimage to Wisconsin to see his beloved Milwaukee Brewers play in baseball’s World Series for the first time in 44 years.

He hoped to see the Brewers finally win it all for the very first time. On Wednesday night last week, the Brewers did just that, clinching baseball’s holy grail with a 4-1 series win against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Here, Matt tells Sinead and Niall about the hold baseball still exerts over the American people, how he fell in love with the Brewers and why their victory resonated in so many ways.
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Niall ran his third Dublin Marathon on Sunday and when asked to describe it in a word, he said: slog.

He tells Sinéad about the privilege of being one of nearly 20,000 runners to toe the start line on a special day when Dublin city is truly its best self; the pain of feeling his best-laid plans for the race quickly unravel; and the pride of getting to the finish line.
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Sinéad and Niall welcome Mark Horgan of the Second Captains/BBC podcast 'Where is George Gibney?' to reflect on the paedophile's criminal conviction and sentencing 33 years after he was first charged in a Dublin court.

The trio talk about where journalism fits into the decades-long story and why the global nature of podcasting was a key feature in bringing it to a conclusion that previously looked impossible to the swimming coach's victims.

They delve into what sports journalism should be, including why and how smaller impacts are just as motivating.
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Paul Howard joins Sinéad O’Carroll and Niall Kelly to talk about how sport would work in a united Ireland.

This is a subject Paul has spent a lot of time thinking about during the research and writing for his new novel, A Nation Once Again.

The book centres on a secretive civil service department tasked with preparing for a unified country.

As sports fans know, the union of the Republic and North and IFA and FAI could be among the most tricky diplomatic challenges for a fledgling state.

What would be an acceptable flag, anthem and home ground for such a team? What happens to the collective memories of both fanbases? Would it even matter to the younger generation, who would quickly replace what’s been with their own, new reality.
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