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Ireland’s brightest footballers are weighing county glory against professional certainty, and the numbers tell a powerful story. We dig into why AFL and AFLW clubs are no longer dabbling with Irish recruits but building pipelines, and how that shift is reshaping careers for women and men. With Mark O’Connor allowed to delay preseason for a club final, we explore the human side of the decision: loyalty, timing, and the practical realities of pursuing the top level abroad.

We break down the tiers that define the AFLW j...

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Leadership isn’t built on a straight line, yet two of the biggest clubs in world football keep pretending it is. We dive into why Manchester United’s decision to move on from Rúben Amorim and Celtic’s thirty-three-day tenure for Wilfrid Nancy signal a deeper problem with how elite sport treats patience, culture, and accountability. Drawing on the lived reality inside high-pressure clubs, we examine how constant resets stall player development, erode identity, and turn “culture” into a slogan rather than a system you can train against every day. Duration: 00:09:32

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A creative heavyweight returns to Paddy Power as we examine how a provocative brand voice can evolve under tighter rules and higher expectations. We reflect on past culture-led stunts, agency lessons, and the path to responsible, high-impact sponsorships in 2026.

• Paul Mallon’s return and why it matters
• Signature campaigns that built brand distinctiveness
• From provocation to participation through responsibility
• Agency-side lessons applied to a tougher market
• Aligning with rights holders on values and voice
• League of Ireland fixtures and Dalymount milestones
• Event details to k...

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We share the energy from the Sport for Business Women in Sport conference and turn the mic to two athletes who show why listening changes outcomes. 

Linda talks rugby, nursing, and a Master's that opens new doors; Laura charts a late start in racing and a clear route to Le Mans with honest talk on funding and grit.

• Athlete voice as the driver of real change
• Linda’s rugby journey, nursing background, and sports management masters
• Stepping away from a central contract to grow leader...

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We go inside Hockey Ireland’s ten-week sprint to transform the Sport Ireland Campus into a Pro League venue with world-class broadcast, a sold-out crowd, and a free fan village that widens the sport’s reach. 

Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer Nick McElwee brings us inside the decision-making process that will deliver World Class Hockey in Dublin this week.

• Winning hosting rights on a ten-week timeline
• Leaning on a small core team and expert partners
• Turning a campus into a functioning venue
• Balancing weath...

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A single statistic reframes the future of Gaelic games: a quarter of Ireland’s youngest children live near just 50 clubs. We dig into the GAA’s National Demographic Report and explore how rapid urban growth and rural decline are reshaping teams, facilities, coaching, and community life. The patterns are stark, the implications immediate, and the choices ahead will define whether the sport remains present and vibrant in every parish and postcode.

We talk through the data that redrew the map: one in three people living in or near D...

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Some stories only land when the mic is live and the notes are gone. We sat down for a raw, unscripted session at the Active Disability Ireland Annual Conference to hear what sport really means when life bends, breaks, and rebuilds. Rob opens with honesty about living with MS, then we pass the floor to two remarkable guests whose journeys reframe resilience and inclusion in Irish sport.

First up, Melanie shares how a spinal injury closed one chapter and opened another with wheelchair rugby league. She walks us...

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Kellie Harrington returned to a sold-out Round Room and showed timing, movement, and control in a one-sided exhibition that points to a patient climb back to competition. 

We also preview the Active Disability Ireland National Conference, focusing on inclusion through policy, coaching, facilities, and lived experience.

• Harrington’s composed return and what it signals for 2026 and LA 2028
• Exhibition context and opponent calibre
• Homecoming energy and athlete agency
• Inclusion as systems change across Irish sport
• Panel focus on policy to practice
• Ministerial persp...

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We explore how the Teneo Accelerate programme helps young female athletes build brand, social, commercial, and media skills, pairing practical training with year-round support. Ellen shares growth from an Irish pilot to a European footprint, plus candid lessons on online safety and contract literacy.

• Why the programme exists and who it serves
• Cohort growth from three to six athletes across Europe
• Selection through sporting bodies and NGBs
• Four pillars: brand, social, commercial, media
• Contract basics, agent choices, and sponsorship fit
• Social media strategy, Link...

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Kevin Doyle joins us to talk about the buzz after Budapest and the graft that keeps a community club alive. We dig into girls’ football growth, the cost of renting pitches, and how a guaranteed-prize lotto can fund a permanent home.

• The celebration that lifted Irish football spirits
• Stepping from parent coach to club leader
• The weekly grind of facilities and scheduling
• Building girls’ teams and keeping them engaged
• Success defined by smiles, health and friendships
• Pride in underage internationals without chasing odds
• Clarity...

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We mark a landmark day as the Sport Ireland Campus breaks ground on a €100 million national velodrome and a new badminton centre, blending high-performance ambitions with real community access. Ministers set firm expectations on budgets and delivery while the CEOs of the two sports outline how a home base will transform pathways, participation, and pre‑LA 2028 preparation.

• €100m investment at Sport Ireland Campus
• National velodrome and 12‑court badminton centre
• Ministers set delivery timelines and accountability
• Local access for West Dublin communities prioritised
• Cycling targets structured c...

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We explore how the newly titled Laya Arena aims to blend sport, culture and community in the heart of Dublin, and what a true home ground means to players and fans. 

Rebecca Trevor outlines the brand vision, Barry Murphy bridges rugby and music, and Linda Djougang explains how crowd energy becomes performance.

• Decade-long path to Leia Arena naming
• Modular venue design across sport, music and show jumping
• Member-first experiences for 710,000 Laya customers
• National reach beyond Dublin and provincial pride
• Barry Murphy on Irish crow...

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The headline reads like a simple renewal, but the story goes much deeper: Aviva is staying on Ireland’s biggest stage, and we unpack why that matters for fans, partners, and the future of Irish sport. We sit down inside the stadium with the FAI’s Head of Commercial, Sean Kavanagh, and Aviva’s Head of Sponsorship, External Communications and Sustainability, Brian O’Neill, to explore how a naming rights deal became cultural shorthand for big nights in Dublin 4—and how the partnership now stretches from elite fixtures to the kids lac...

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We break down the 1-0 win over Armenia, the shifting maths in Group F, and the scenarios that could still send Ireland to a playoff and beyond. We also map Northern Ireland’s cleaner path through Bratislava and scan the wider sport landscape from social impact to sponsorship.

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What happens when a swimmer refuses to settle and a mentor refuses to mail it in? We bring together Olympian Darragh Greene and business leader Pádraic O’Kane to explore how elite performance really works—on the stopwatch, on the balance sheet, and over a career. 

Dara traces his path from a sport‑mad Longford upbringing, through a broken leg that sent him back to the pool, to sub‑60 history in the 100m breaststroke. He lays out the choices behind the results: switching programmes when the ceiling clos...

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We examine Shane Ryan’s move toward the Enhanced Games and the strong backlash from Irish sport, exploring what this means for fairness, health, and the future of clean competition. We weigh the promise of transparency against the risks, legal hurdles, and the meaning of sport itself.

• Ryan’s announcement and Las Vegas timeline
• Immediate condemnations from Sport Ireland, Swim Ireland, and OFI
• WADA’s warning on health risk and youth influence
• The harm-reduction argument set against fairness and safety
• Governance fallout and career consequence...

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We break down Ireland’s 9% shot at a World Cup playoff using a simple, transparent model, and celebrate five Champions of the Weekend across football, swimming, rugby, and Gaelic games. 

I hope you enjoy all of the content that we see on sportforbusiness.com and look forward to having you back here again on the Sport for Business Daily tomorrow

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Two Munster stories show how smart sponsorships shape jerseys, stadiums, and community impact. We dig into Tipperary’s Clover rebrand with Fiserv, Waterford’s Azzurri Walsh Park deal with Azzurri, and what naming rights mean for fans, facilities, and funding.

• Tipperary renews with Fiserv under Clover brand on county jerseys
• Performance-linked elements and support across senior and underage panels
• FBD Semple Stadium naming rights delivering upgrades and community programmes
• Waterford partners with Azzurri to rename Walsh Park, deepening local ties
• Facility modernisation at Walsh Park is im...

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Sony acquires a majority stake in StatSports, bringing wearables into a broader stack that already includes Hawkeye and Beyond Sports to build a hybrid tracking future. We also highlight Ireland’s growing sports tech ecosystem, preview Analytics Summit 2025, and scan today’s key headlines.

• StatSports’ journey from Newry startup to global leader in wearables
• Sony’s strategy to fuse optical and wearable data for richer insights
• Impact on Irish sports tech talent, jobs and R&D
• How hybrid tracking could change coaching, medical and fan experiences Duration: 00:05:26

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We break down Budget 2026 for Irish sport and what it means for national bodies, players, clubs and facilities. We share the numbers, the politics behind them, and where the real gains can land over the next 18 months.

• €10.8m uplift for Sport Ireland and legacy programmes
• Core funding increases for GAA and IRFU
• Targeted support for inter‑county players
• Growth funding for hurling and camogie in new areas
• €3m for League of Ireland academies
• Women’s rugby pathway investment
• High-performance funding steps towards LA 2028
• Ve...

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A new boat, a fresh medal, and a partnership built on trust, this conversation dives straight into how Fintan McCarthy and Philip Doyle are reinventing Irish rowing momentum on the road to LA. 

We pull back the curtain on their whirlwind post-Paris year: Philip navigating shifts in the emergency department before rediscovering his competitive fire, Fintan shifting from lightweight to heavyweight without chasing “dead weight,” and the two of them finding speed after only a handful of rows together. 

The Shanghai story is bigger than a bronze...

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What if public funding for major sporting events isn’t a gamble at all, but one of the smartest economic levers a country can pull?  The core question remains the same: when do headline costs translate into visitor spending, tax receipts, jobs, global visibility, and a lasting legacy for participation?

We unpack why critics conflate two separate debates—event underwriting versus core domestic sport funding—and show how keeping those ledgers clean actually strengthens both. 

Ireland’s edge is cultural and practical: a natural affinity for...

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A week can crown a champion or cut one down. We follow Jim Gavin’s leap from the certainty of silverware to the volatility of a national presidential race, exploring why mastery in sport doesn’t automatically translate to survival in politics—and what that means for anyone tempted to cross the line from the sideline to the ballot box. 

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What if the kit an athlete wears truly began with the athlete? We pull back the curtain on a partnership built around performance, comfort, and identity—then show how a Craigavon factory turned that ideal into everyday practice for Team Ireland on the road to Brisbane 2032.

We trace the journey from a founder’s small home office in 2004 to a thriving operation producing up to 2,000 garments a week, all while keeping production on Irish soil. 

There’s more across the Irish sports landscape. We spotlight Goal Jers...

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European nights can change a season—and a balance sheet. We break down how Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers step into the UEFA Europa Conference League with around €3.8m already secured and a clear path to push total earnings past €5m with a couple of smart results. 

Beyond the headline story, we shine a light on the local heartbeat of Irish sport: multinationals backing GAA clubs, the first speakers for our Sport for Social Good conference, and commercial momentum with BDO extending its relationship with Leinster Rugby. 

Today's...

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We trace Stephen Smith’s journey from analyst at Leinster Rugby to founding Kitman Labs and building league-wide systems that put evidence at the heart of athlete welfare and performance. 

Along the way, we talk friction with tradition, mentorship, scaling globally, and why leagues now see themselves as talent businesses.

• moving from gut feel to objective decision-making in elite sport
• the early friction between medical staff, coaches, and data
• catalysts that proved the model beyond Leinster
• mentors, hiring like a coach, and scaling a tea...

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The Aer Lingus College Football Classic stands as a remarkable testament to sport's power in building bridges between nations. In this revealing conversation with Padraic O'Kane and John Anthony, the visionaries behind this extraordinary event, we discover how a college football game has transformed into a cultural and economic phenomenon that strengthens Irish-American relations in profound ways.

Since its inception with the Notre Dame game in 2012, this sporting spectacle has evolved into something far greater than just a competition. Each year, approximately 24,000 Americans travel to Ireland, staying 7-1...

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The gaming revolution is reshaping entertainment, competition, and global business, and G2 Esports CEO Alban Dechelotte is at the forefront of this transformation. 

With gaming now engaging 3.2 billion players worldwide, this episode offers a fascinating glimpse into an industry that has grown from niche entertainment to global phenomenon.

Dechelotte shares remarkable insights from his journey from traditional sports sponsorship at Coca-Cola to leading one of esports' most successful organisations. G2 has claimed 12 of 16 League of Legends European championships and built a fanbase that rivals Champions Lea...

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What does it take to transform a sporting organisation and earn recognition as National Governing Body of the Year? Enda Lynch shares the journey of Badminton Ireland's growth and success since taking the CEO position two years ago.

From his background in sponsorship at O2 and leadership roles at Munster Rugby, Lynch brings a wealth of insights about building high-performing teams and creating sustainable sporting communities. He reveals how Badminton Ireland has grown from 12,300 to over 17,200 members, with much of that growth coming from ethnic minorities and fi...

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Kevin White's remarkable journey from accidental high school coach to the upper echelons of American collegiate athletic administration unfolds with warmth and wisdom in this captivating conversation. Recorded at Fire Restaurant in Dublin, White reflects on how family circumstances unexpectedly launched him and his wife Jane into coaching careers that would ultimately lead to leadership roles at some of America's most prestigious universities.

What began as a temporary teaching position while caring for his terminally ill father blossomed into a nine-year coaching career followed by 38 years as an...

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The economic powerhouse of Irish golf takes centre stage in this bonus podcast episode with the leaders behind a groundbreaking new economic impact study. 

What does a sport contribute when it delivers €717 million annually to the economy, supports 15,600 jobs, and returns seventeen times more to government coffers than it receives?

Professor Simon Shibli from Sheffield Hallam University breaks down the meticulous six-month research process that uncovered what he calls "the holy trinity" of economic indicators. His findings show golf represents 14% of all sport-related consumer spending in Ir...

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The digital revolution sweeping through sports broadcasting has long been central to thinking and planning for the future in the GAA.

As the Football and Hurling championships reach their climax, the way fans experience these games has undergone a dramatic transformation through GAA+, the streaming service, which brings more matches to more screens than ever before.

In this week's Sport for Business Podcast Noel Quinn, Director of GAA+, takes us behind the scenes of the evolution from serving the diaspora to becoming a cornerstone of do...

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The sporting pitch has long been a battleground for social progress, and few fronts have been more challenging than the inclusion of LGBTQI+ individuals. In this thoughtful conversation, Jim McIlroy of Bohemian FC's Gay Bohs offers a candid look at what genuine inclusion means in Irish football today.

Founded in 2016 after Bohemian FC publicly supported marriage equality, Gay Bohs reclaimed a slur and transformed it into a symbol of pride. Since 2017, Dalymount Park has flown the Pride flag at every match—the only League of Ireland ground to d...

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When Aidan Walsh stepped away from swimming and water polo as a young man, he didn't see anyone who represented him in sport. The locker room culture, casual homophobic language dismissed as "banter," and complete absence of visible LGBTQI+ role models created an environment where he couldn't bring his full self to the activities he loved.

Fast forward to today, and Aidan is at the forefront of transforming Irish sport as a key figure with Sporting Pride, an organisation now in its ninth year of creating safer, mo...

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Keith Shorten invites us inside the commercial engine room of Ulster Rugby, revealing how his unlikely path from KPMG accountant to global entertainment executive with AEG perfectly prepared him for the challenges of provincial rugby. 

The Head of Commercial shares candid insights about arriving at Ulster during a perfect storm of change - the conclusion of their long-standing Kingspan partnership, a head coach departure, and CEO transition all within his first three months. Rather than being deterred, Shorten's background working with iconic venues like the O2 Arena and...

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The sporting landscape for women and girls in Ireland has transformed dramatically, but maintaining this momentum requires continued investment, strategic vision, and cultural change. In this illuminating conversation, Michelle Tanner – Chair of Sport Ireland's Women in Sport Committee and Head of Sport at Trinity College Dublin – takes us through the journey that's reshaping Irish sport from grassroots to governance.

Michelle shares her formative experiences growing up in north Dublin, where community-based sporting activities shaped her understanding of leadership and teamwork. From teaching herself camogie alongside her daughter to coa...

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Nancy Chillingworth reveals the extraordinary journey of Team Ireland to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina. As Chef de Mission, she's orchestrating a team of up to eight athletes competing across seven winter disciplines - despite Ireland having neither mountains nor snow to train on.

The podcast takes us behind the scenes of Olympic preparation, exploring how Irish winter athletes train globally from Korea to Canada while still maintaining a unified team culture. Nancy shares fascinating insights into the logistical challenges of an Olympics spread across northern It...

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The digital revolution is reshaping sport in ways we couldn't have imagined just a decade ago. From wearable technology tracking every heartbeat, to AI analyzing performance metrics, to new platforms transforming how fans engage with their favorite teams – the future of sport is being written in code.

Dr. Kieron Collins of Technological University Dublin stands at this exciting intersection of tradition and innovation. As leader of the postgraduate diploma in Sports Analytics, Technology and Innovation, he's helping to position Ireland as a global hub for sports technology whil...

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The path from Olympic glory to meaningful leadership isn't straightforward, but Aifric Keogh is navigating it with the same determination that earned her bronze in Tokyo. 

As the newly elected Chair of the Olympic Federation of Ireland's Athletes Commission, she's setting out to create and articulate a vision for athlete representation at the highest levels.

"Sometimes it's people doing great work, driving policies, making change, getting funding, but sometimes the actual athletes' concerns and opinions get lost," Keogh explains, pinpointing exactly why her role matters. 
...

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Patrick Nelson's journey from trainee computer programmer to guiding Northern Ireland football through nearly two decades of transformation reveals how sport can change a nation's cultural landscape. As CEO of the Irish Football Association, he's witnessed firsthand the unifying power of football, particularly during Euro 2016 – what he calls "the best period of my working life."

The newly christened Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park forms the backdrop for our conversation about football's remarkable ability to bridge divides in Northern Irish society. "Football happened on a Saturday, peop...

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Maeve McMahon is the CEO of OFX in Ireland, with a remit covering half the world and a passion for sport.  

The company is the sponsor of the OFX Legends Golf event at Mount Juliet this week and Maeve also sits on the Board of the FAI.  

We had time to sit and chat recently, after a few holes of golf on the Jack Nicklaus designed course, and the conversation moves across, sport, business and in the end with Severiano Ballesteros.

I think you...

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This week's episode of the Sport for Business Podcast focuses on the historic upcoming test match between the British and Irish Lions and Argentina, taking place June 20th at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin—the first time the Lions will play a full test match on Irish soil.

Key Highlights:

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This week's episode is an interview with Benny Cullen, the Head of Research and Innovation at Sport Ireland.

Benny has been a regular on the show and when the Irish Sports Monitor was published it was an easy call to make to get his valuable insight.

He asks the questions, the answers to which help guide sports policy in the long term.  It is a vital piece of work in enhancing how we structure sport so that we can become a participation nation, and provide the...

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In this week's Sport for Business Podcast we are chatting with Hannah Dingley, Head of Women's and Girl's Football at the Football Association of Ireland.

As a coach she made history become the first female manager of an English Football League team with Forest Green and now she is trying to make a difference for the generations yet unborn that are coming to football in the years to come.

We have an international team that has made it to a first world Cup, a domestic le...

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In this week's Sport for Business Podcast we are chatting with Lynne Cantwell, the newly appointed Head of Women's Strategy at the Irish Rugby Football Union.

The conversation was recorded live at the Sport for Business Sporting Year Ahead 2025 with Teneo a few weeks back.

Lynne is a legend of the game here with Grand Slams and World Cup appearances to her credit.  She took that drive and leadership with her when she hung up her boots, Chairing the Sport Ireland Women in Sport Committee and...

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Welcome to the Sport for Business POdcast where this week we are chatting media, sponsorship and sport with Paul Henderson, the CEO of dmg media which is home to brands including the Irish Daily Mail, EVOKE, Extra.ie, Business Plus and more.

We talk about the world of digital media and the attention span we need to compete for.

About the new partnership between EVOKE and the Irish Women's Rugby team and about the value that media partnerships can bring to sport.

We al...

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In this week's episode of the show we bring you a three for one deal.  

League of Ireland Director Mark Scanlon, SSE Airtricity Head of Sponsorship Ashley Morrow and FAI Commercial Director Sean Kavanagh all dropped by at the launch of the 2025 League of Ireland and filled us in on some of the reasons why this promises to be a year of great excitement.

We talk broadcast deals and sponsorship activations, the buzz surrounding the clubs after last season's climax and plenty more.

The...

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In this week's Sport for Business Podcast we are chatting with David Courell, CEO of the FAI in a conversation that was recorded live at the Sport for Business Sporting Year Ahead 2025 with Teneo a few weeks back.

We talk about every aspect of the role from selecting international managers to managing relationships with government, about the need for more facilities and the excitement of the League of Ireland going from strength to strength.

Plenty of detail and plenty of hope for a bright future.

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In this week's Sport for Business Podcast we are chatting with Gordon D'Arcy, one of Ireland's most decorated Rugby internationals and now a man of many parts in the worlds of business media and life.

We talk about a career in which professional rugby grew up and touch upon the benefits and the sometime drawbacks of those changes; of reaching a state where everything goes right in a match, of the challenge of moving back into real life at the end of his playing career and plenty mo...

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In the latest episode of the Sport for Business Podcast we are chatting with Irish athlete and European Champion Ciara Mageean.

She really is as likable a person as she comes across in her media engagements and we talk about her career, the highs and the lows, as well as the role of role models and the small matter of an invitation to meet the Pope as the result of a previous podcast...

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In this week's Sport for Business Podcast we are chatting with Eimear O'Sullivan, the Corporate Affairs Director of Lidl Ireland.

The reason for kicking off the year here is the launch of Lidl's partnership for the year ahead with the Ladies Gaelic Football Association.

This is a sponsorship which has worked so well in so many ways and we explore the reasons why that might have been and continues to be the case.

We dive into the detail of fresh research into the im...

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In this week's Sport for Business Podcast we are looking back on the summer of sport in Paris with the man who was at the heart of making it possible.

Gavin Noble is responsible for Marketing and Communications at the Olympic Federation of Ireland but he is also the Chef de Mission for Team Ireland heading to Paris this year and already planning for LA in 2028.

We find out what that entails, how he goes about ensuring every obstacle is reduced and every opportunity enhanced fr...

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In the latest episode of the podcast we chat with Matthew Dowling, a year into his role as Chief Commercial Officer at Leinster Rugby and relishing the complexity and the excitement of it.

On Croke Park

"So obviously we didn't have full control over over pricing. We don't always, but we tried to and our ticketing team are so experienced that they were able to kind of say, listen, if we keep this to the right price, we reckon we can get there."

On...

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In today's 92nd episode of the Sport for Business podcast we are chatting with Stephen King about the announcement that KPMG is renewing it's partnership with the KPMG Women's Irish Open for another three years.

They were a key element in bringing the tournament back onto the schedule after an abeyance of a decade and the success over the past three years is evidenced by this renewal.

We talk about why it is important for a professional services company to be involved in sporting partnerships, th...

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We are back on the subject of sponsorship in today's 91st episode of the Sport for Business podcast.

I'm delighted to be joined by Kevin Kent of Laya Healthcare to take about their new campaign - We are one Always which has the ambitious aim of using sport to combat loneliness.

There are some great insights and research into the subject and we talk about bringing those to life, working with Leinster, Munster and Connacht Rugby and their players and plenty more.

According to...

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For Episode 90 of the Sport for Business Podcast, we headed to the heart of Government. We had a wide-ranging conversation with Thomas Byrne TD, Minister of State for Sport, Physical Education, and an Gaeltacht.

Recorded in his office within the labyrinthine corridors of Leinster House, nothing was off the table from his own entry into politics, getting to the matches of his children and his wife, the Government record on the funding of sport and its relationship with the sporting sector, especially the FAI and its new pe...

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It was a morning to learn, engage, and be inspired. Our Children and Sport conference, held in the foothills of the Dublin mountains, drew an audience of those working in the space and those who are attracted to helping and making a difference.

Dr Fiona Chambers was perhaps the most uncomplicated interview I have ever done on stage, brimming with enthusiasm and ideas on subjects as diverse and yet related as digital nativism, values fluency and the superpower that can come from engaging with future generations on th...

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In today's 88th episode of the Sport for Business Podcast, we focus on the Amgen Irish Open, which will take place at Royal County Down between September 12th and 15th.

We are joined by the Tournament Director, Paul Gillmon, who invites us inside the ropes to look at what it takes to put on a major sporting tournament on the shore of the Irish Sea in Newcastle County Down.

We chat about preparing the course, building the facilities for a...

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It was only for a few minutes, but it was still great to spend time with Rhasidat Adeleke as she came down from the high of Paris 2024, with a whole new life as a full-time professional athlete laid out before her.

We spoke about the impact of the Olympics, village life, how she handles being involved in commercial partnerships, and whether she is still using her Gold phone from the athlete 'goodie bag'.

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In today's 86th episode of the Sport for Business Podcast, we are diving back into questions of leadership and the future.  


I’m joined by Warren Deutrom the CEO of Cricket Ireland and proud to be getting stuck in, after recent announcements, to planning for a future with a national cricket stadium; a World Cup coming to Dublin and Ireland in 2030; the possibility of an Olympics appearance two years earlier and growing the sport towards a six-figure level of participation.

We chat about...

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In today's 85th episode of the Sport for Business podcast, we continue our short series of interviews in advance of the Paralympic Games, which will get underway in Paris on August 28th.

Next up is Shot Putter Mary Fitzgerald, who will thrive on the energy of a full stadium, friends, and family in Paris.

An occupational therapist with Enable Ireland in the day job and one of our leading para-athletes ready to shine in the Stade de France.

...

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In today's 84th episode of the Sport for Business Podcast, we continue our short series of interviews in advance of the Paralympic Games, which will begin in Paris on August 28th.

Next up is the lively spirit that is sprinter Orla Comerford, the visually impaired athlete working in the visual arts and running faster than ever heading to Paris.

We chat about her Tokyo experience and how she is looking forward to Paris in so many different ways.

...

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In today's 83rd episode of the Sport for Business Podcast, we continue our short series of interviews before the Paralympic Games, which will get underway in Paris on August 28th.

Next up is Ana Maia, a crucial member of the team behind the team in Paris and the Classification Manager of Paralympics Ireland.

Over the next 15 minutes, we will guide you through what it means when you see an S11 or a T54 classification at a Paralympics event, helping you to...

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In today's 82nd episode of the show, back after a short Olympic fuelled summer break, we are diving into the world of Formula One, and the position of an Irish company at its very highest level.

Colin Westcott-Pitt is the Global Chief Brand Officer at Glanbia Performance Nutrition, and his signature is only just dry on a deal with the McLaren F1 team.

Glanbia is now fuelling the drivers who are flying around the tracks, making life-and-death decisions in mi...

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In today's 81st episode of the show, we are kicking off a short series of interviews with Team Ireland members who will represent us in the Stade de France as part of the Athletics team at the Paralympic Games.

First up is 1500-metre runner Greta Streimikyte, who is ready to compete in her third Paralympic Games after coming to Ireland from Lithuania.

Our Paralympic Coverage is sponsored by our Partners PTSB and Allianz an...

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In today's 80th episode of the show, we are back on the Road to Paris.

Our guests are Beibhinn Parsons and Harry McNulty, who hope to be stars of the Irish Rugby Sevens teams. They are coming off a great year and heading to the Stade de France with genuine medal ambitions.

TritonLake became the title sponsor of the Ireland Men’s and Women’s Sevens teams in June 2021 and is delighted to continue supporting and celebrating the success of bot...

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In today's 79th episode of the show, we are again focused on the Sport for Business PwC 30 Under 30.

The 2024 intake came together in recent weeks, and this is the second in a short series of interviews with those who have shown the potential to be leaders in our industry for years to come.

We are joined by Craig Derham who could have been gracing the pitch at Elland Road or Richmond Park but instead has forged a career on th...

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In today's 78th episode of the show, we are firmly on our Olympic Pathway, chatting to James O’Callaghan, the Performance Director at Irish Sailing and a man with a real passion for the Games.

We chat about Ireland’s three boats, the sailors in them and their journeys both to Marseilles and beyond.

There are some great lessons to be learned about resilience, the love of a dog and the healthy concern that we will be able to cope should success come on the water...

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In today's 77th episode of the Sport for Business Podcast, we are focused on the Sport for Business PwC 30 Under 30.

 The 2024 intake came together in recent weeks, and this is the first in a short series of interviews with those who have shown the potential to be leaders in our industry for years to come.

We are joined by Michelle Davoren, a master's Graduate in Sustainability, a former European Parliament public servant, a former worker with the Green Party, a business founder, a ladies' football cha...

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In today's 76th episode of the Sport for Business Podcast, we are chatting with David McHugh, the newly minted captain of Wasserman’s Irish operation, founder of Line Up Sports, friend, mentor, and commercial adviser to a host of Irish sporting stars including Tadgh Furlong, Paul O’Donovan and Kellie Harrington.

We talk about what that role means in terms of his relationship with clients, about the power of sport and the special way in which the Irish public engages with its favourite personalities.

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In today's 75th episode of the show, we are chatting about sponsorship with Daragh Persse, the founder of the Brand Fans and the driving force behind the establishment last week of the European Sponsorship Association or ESA’s first fully-fledged national extension ESA Ireland.

Daragh’s credentials in the game are impeccable having worked with Vodafone on GAA, F1 and more, as well as Rights Holders like Arsenal FC, Dublin GAA and many more.

We talk about why sponsorship is suc...

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Hello and welcome to the Sport for Business Podcast.

I’m your host Rob Hartnett and In today's 74th episode of the show, we are chatting with the man who is in charge of guiding PTSB’s partnership with Team Ireland, the Olympic Federation of Ireland and Paralympics Ireland, Ger Mitchell.

A softly-spoken man of Tuam in County Galway he lets us inside the ropes of one of the biggest sporting partnerships of the year.

We t...

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In today's 73rd episode, we are chatting with bestselling author, business leader, one-time sponsor of the Ryder Cup and now Director of the British and Irish Lions, Nuala Walsh.

She has written Tune In - How to make smarter decisions in a noisy world and it is a book that will make you smarter by reading it.

There are loads of examples to guide you, ten of the traps that can trip us up when it comes to decision ma...

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In today's 72nd episode of the show, we are returning to a special occasion that takes place every year and gets us out of bed even earlier than usual.

Darkness into Light is a coming together of people from all walks of life and for thousands of very personal reasons to walk into the dawn and raise money for Pieta House.

Electric Ireland are the long term sponsors of the event and we sat down this week with Executive Di...

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In today's 71st episode of the Sport for Business Podcast we are kicking off our 2024 Series on Leadership.

In this we will speak to those who have risen to the top of their sporting organisations and for whom the buck stops at their desk.

It is our privilege to chat with Brian Molloy, elected in recent weeks as the first ever male President of the Camogie Association.

The Galway native got into the sport th...

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In today's 70th episode of the show, we are joined from New York City by Laura Weber, the designer of Team Ireland’s Opening and Closing Ceremony outfits.

We chat about fashion and the way it should make you feel, where the connection came to become the designer of such an iconic piece of the Olympic story and so much more.

Our Road to Paris Series is in Partnership with Permanent tsb, sponsors of Team Ireland.

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In today's 69th episode of the show we are joined by the Race Director of the Irish Life Dublin Marathon, Jim Aughney.

We chat about the reasons why he is still excited about the race in his fourth decade of managing it, the things that wake him up in the middle of the night and the importance of the agreement with Dublin City Council to keep the race at the heart of the City

Irish Life won the Best of...

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In today's 68th episode of the show, we are joined by Hall of Fame former captain of the Irish Women’s rugby team Fiona Coghlan.

There was a record crowd for an Irish Women’s Six Nations Game at the RDS this season for the game against Italy but still no win and now the focus switches to Cork this weekend and the visit of Wales

Fiona joined us at an Energia event looking to encourage more fans to come along and cheer on the girls...

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In today's 67th episode of the show, we are back in the Business of Gaelic Games.

The GAA is basking in the glow of a great Allianz Football Finals weekend but sport is so often all about the next thing and with the Championship season starting almost straight away the Association has launched its first new advertising campaign in five years.  


We have a preview of the radio ad

There are TV spots, football-specific ones and cou...

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In today's 66th episode of the show we are back in the Business of Golf, looking at the launch of the 2024 Legends Tour event at Seapoint Golf Club.

We have a rich cast of characters to explore why the Legends is an important part of the golf landscape.  

We’ll hear from Roddy Carr on the impact of Tourism, and from Keith Mitchell about the importance of reaching out to an audience with time and money.

But f...

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In today's 64th episode of the show, we are starting a new series looking at the importance of Children’s sport.

We are joined by Anne Smyth of Electric Ireland and Nora Sullivan a Ph.D. researcher and a player with Belfast Ravens to look at some recent research and some lived experience.

The Electric Ireland Game Changers partnership with the Irish FA is into its seventh year and is a real winner.

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In today's 63rd episode of the show, we meet with Ireland’s Chef de Mission for the Paralympic Games.

What you may well ask is a Chef de mission?  

This Road to Paris series is supported by Team Ireland partner PTSB helping athletes and all of us be altogether more human.

The human side of bringing the team to Paris involves a lot of decision-making.

This is about the nuts a...

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In today's 62nd episode of the show we meet with Ireland’s first-ever Double Swimming World Champion and a genuine contender for Paris, Daniel Wiffen

This Road to Paris series is supported by Team Ireland partner PTSB and amongst other things we find out from Daniel what it is that an athlete looks for from a good sponsor.

We also find out about his hopes for Paris, the reason he started his popular YouTub channel, something of the science of a...

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In today's 61st episode of the show, we meet with the Ireland and Leinster Full Back Hugo Keenan.

We don’t normally focus on players so much as those who enable them to be brilliant but when you are out at the High Performance Centre and Hugo is there well it would be rude not to.

The Business side comes when we are talking about the Energia campaign for which he is an enthusiastic ambassador but first, well we had...

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In today's 60th episode of the show, we meet with J Batt, the Athletics Director of Georgia Tech University in Atlanta.

Georgia Tech will play Florida State University in this year’s Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.

We chat about the changing world of college athletics, about managing 18 high performance programmes rather than just one and plenty more.


We start with how he got to the role he is in today, the excitement of the...

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In today's 59th episode of the podcast we focus on High-Performance sport and the funding of programmes and individual athletes.

I’m joined by Niamh O’Sullivan, High-Performance Director at Sport Ireland

Our conversation covers the background to the increase in Funding over this current cycle towards the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, what the money is used for, and lots more.

This is the story of how great athletes become so.

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In today's 58th episode of the podcast, we return to the Business of Football in this week of the start of the 2024 SSE Airtricity League of Ireland Season

I’m joined by Mark Scanlon the Director of the League of Ireland at the FAI and we have a wide-ranging conversation about the growing popularity of the League, investing in grounds, the quality of the players we are seeing coming through, and staying longer, and among other things, the world of football broa...

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In today's 57th episode of the podcast, we are talking all things Superbowl, live from Las Vegas with Conor Brophy of Teneo and the Irish NFL Show.

We talk about the big game itself and the juggernaut that is the NFL.

Along the way, we touch on TV numbers, Sponsorship, U2, Taylor Swift, the billionaire socialism that keeps the sport fresh and gambling, well, when in Vegas...

Find out more about what we do da...

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In today's 56th episode of the podcast, we start a new Sponsorship Series talking to the decision-makers at the highest levels of Irish and international sport. 

 We start with Anneliese Mesilati who manages the North American sponsorship portfolio of UBS.

Working with Lewis Hamilton is one of the perks of Anneliese’s job but there are plenty more.  

We get an international perspective on stadium naming rights, community engagement, measurement and so much more, as well as discovering her path towards sponsorship from a start...

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In today's 55th episode of the podcast we dive into the Business of Football with Tony Doyle of Wexford FC.

We are on the cusp of the start of the 2024 SSE Airtricity League of Ireland season and this is the first in a series of interviews looking at where the League is and where it is going.

Our Sport for Business football coverage is in partnership with Sky, where you will find the best of sport every day and ni...

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In today's 54th episode of the podcast we turn our attention firmly to the future, and a focus on how innovation can make it better in the world of sport

Technology is driving change at a faster rate than we can comfortably stay on top of so we all need a helping hand.  That is what TU Dublin and Technology Ireland Digital Skillnet are offering by way of an exciting new one-year part-time postgraduate course for all those working in sport, or wanting to.

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In today's Podcast, we are focusing on the importance of volunteering.

It’s something on which the sporting world in Ireland turns, worth billions if you add up the hours of work that people willingly give, but there is a crisis.  

One in Four volunteers did not come back after the pandemic.

To find out more and figure out ways to get it back on track, Sport Ireland have developed and released a new Volunteer policy.

So we went out to the S...

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Today's Podcast comes in our Women in Sport Series and tells the remarkable story of how the University of Nebraska Volleyball programme set about creating a world record attendance at one of their games.

92,003 supporters packed into the Nebraska Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska to watch the team and enjoy an experience that they will remember forever.

Great sport has the power to do that and great women's sport perhaps even more so.  

The Women in Sport coverage of Women in Sport, including thi...

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In today's Podcast we are focusing on tennis and the staging of Ireland’s important Davis Cup tie against Austria on the first weekend of February.

We were joined at the Fitzwilliam Club in Dublin by Tennis Ireland CEO Kevin Quinn, player Osgar O h’Oisin, and Vice Captain David O’Hare for a chat about the context of this first home tie in nine years, how they are preparing for a sold-out venue at the University of Limerick and more

Fi...

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In today's Podcast, we are back in the world of insight.

John Trainor is the founder of Onside Sponsorship and recognised across the industry as being the Father of detailed insight on what makes sponsorship work.

The Annual Who Won Sponsorship Series returned this week and it was a great gathering from across the sector.

After the lights dimmed and the conversation was stilled we sat down with John for a special recording where we...

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In today's Podcast, we are bringing you the second in a short series of Women in Sport interviews recorded live at the Irish Film Institute at our tenth annual Women in Sport Conference.

It was a great morning and we kicked things off after the all-important networking coffee with Nora Stapleton who is responsible at Sport Ireland for the policy that relates to all of the Women in Sport programmes that are inspired, supported and funded through the organisation.

On...

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In today's Podcast, we are bringing you the first of a short series of Women in Sport interviews recorded live at the Irish Film Institute at our tenth annual Women in Sport Conference.

Our Women in Sport partners are Lidl who have been great champions of Ladies Football at every level over the past six years and long into the future as well.

It was a great morning and one of the stars was a woman who has been a...

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In today's Podcast, we are getting nerdy with the latest in our popular insight series.

I’m joined by Louise Burke, the Participation director at Sport Ireland who earlier in November launched Get Ireland Active, an online facility where we can all check on local sports facilities, clubs, and activities in our local area or when we are visiting a new place.

This feels like something which should always have been there and we touch on that.  Now that it is...

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In today's Podcast, we are focusing again on the Business of Rugby 

This series is in partnership with our good friends at Bank of Ireland, proud sponsors of Irish Rugby, and where they encourage us to never stop competing. 

We are doubling down with guests in this episode, our 51st, with Niall Woods, founder, and Jordi Murphy, newly retired from the pitch and now a Player Agent at Navy Blue Sports.

We are talking abou...