Indo Sport
Bits & Bobs | Emails 📩, The extortionate price of football jerseys and Italy’s Evan Obsession
23 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the focus of this week's Bits & Bobs episode?
This is an Irish independent podcast. Welcome, folks. Bits and Bobs on a Friday. And he has taken the month of January off. But Dan McDonald's in the office. Dan, good of you to come back post-Christmas. Happy New Year.
Thank you, Joe. I really appreciate your sincere greeting.
And Rory O'Connor, like myself, has been working away.
Rory, I took most of December off, in fairness, Joe. I can't claim the high moral ground, but yeah, good to see Dan.
I have been working, by the way, to be fair. You know, just doing some journalism. Not everything needs to be instant, Joe. Sometimes you can be planning long term, but I've got pieces. I've got some stuff coming the next week or two, you know.
good Indosport podcast at independent.ie is where you can send your emails if you want to come to our live show this very night next week next Friday go to the helix.ie and we'll be very much in Six Nations mode ahead of Thursday in Paris so the helix.ie last few tickets remaining we're really looking forward to it now so we will see you there yesterday we cruised past Humblebrag 10 million listens there you go think of all the guff you've been talking
God, yeah.
Think of all the guff I've been talking about.
Yeah. The Beckhams got you there? Is that the one that got over the line? Saipan movie and the Beckhams have probably got him over the line.
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Chapter 2: How is Evan Ferguson's performance impacting football discussions?
I think that's a form of be counting.
Sitting in the car on your own, that's a form of be counting. Mark continues his email. Sorry. Sit in your car for a few minutes, do some breath work before returning to family life. I couldn't help but think, was he coming from the Conor McKeown School of Thought? Oh, there we go. Three minutes? Why not 30? All jokes aside, really enjoyed the episode. Damien, hi, Indosport.
Long time, first time. I'm aghast at your recent Beckham fallout special recently. What has your sports show come to? Strangely, I listened to every minute and was totally engrossed, Damien. There you go, Dan. It was a controversial choice internally. Was it? Smart, really. But we did it.
Well, it's something that happened. Beckham is a massive figure in global sport. And he has opened himself up to the world with his documentaries. I think he can get away with it. I think he can get away with it.
Oh, sorry. It was a runaway train of a success story.
Oh, was it?
Ah, listen. Everyone there sitting on their phones privately. They could have had Gary Keegan. No. They went for Brooklyn Beckham that day. That's what the figure is.
I would take that personally over, say, you know, Saipan movie reviews. Like, the Beckham thing is something that's happening at the moment compared to, say...
which I listened to and I mean it's interesting but I mean this is at least something that's happened in real time involving someone oh no it is but it's involving someone who will appear in your world and people always just have the option to flick on of course Broadchurch though have you seen Saipan yet no talking to quite a few of the players from that squad I know too in truth asking them to come on the show and talk about it jeez they freaking hate it
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of high-priced football jerseys?
Interesting. I would never be able to get past that.
Would have had no journalistic merit.
I'd be never able to get past it. And the people, but it's interesting, even some of the, you mentioned talking to ex-players, even a couple of the lads I've spoken to who were there, like, you know, reporting are sort of in similar enough feelings towards the whole thing. Or certainly indifference towards... They didn't like the journalist's portrayal. Yeah, well, from what I gather, no.
The journalist's absolutely screwing the whole, you know, breaking confidences.
That's so ridiculous.
I just can't get... But then again, we all watch dramatised versions of shows that, you know, afterwards you look up and go, oh, really? That's what happened.
Christmas Day, it'll be the TV movie, 9.35, you'll be watching on Christmas Day, 2026, guaranteed. What's on this weekend? So the golf is on in Dubai. McElroy's had a bad rain today. Tennis Australian Open continues. URC, I guess where the highlight is. Connacht, Leinster, the clan stand. Yeah, comes alive. GA National Leagues, men and women.
So like a whole smattering, Dublin Kerry and the ladies is TG Carr Saturday. The men's Meath against Derry, interesting game. TG Carr Saturday, as is Dublin Bunny Goal, 5 o'clock. Hurling is on RT2, 7 o'clock. Tipperary Galway, etc. Kerry Roscommon on Sunday, 2 o'clock. Premier League continues. The standout game being 4.30, Arsenal-Manchester United on Sunday.
And then NFL, we have AFC-NFC Championship Games. The semi-finals, as I like to call it. Patriots on the verge of another return to the Super Bowl. Roy, there are a few concerned rugby fans emailing in.
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Chapter 4: How do the Irish rugby team preparations affect fans' expectations?
Feeling out there that it'll be on Andy Farrell's terms that he gets to choose whether it's him or not. I don't see how that's the case if the Six Nations doesn't go his way. I think he's on very solid ground now because of what all of these he's achieved. And I don't think there's any great will in the RFU to put him under pressure.
But say if they lose their both away games and slip up once at home, say to a Scotland on final day, I think that shifts the picture massively for this Ireland team and this Ireland management because they have been so conservative with their selection. They're still picking players who are out of form.
I was doing a piece on the squad, which kind of made some of the same points as our reader, our listener there.
I mean, you start listing out all the things that are wrong with the team in terms of their discipline, their kind of inability to get kind of going and attack, their confusion around the number 10 position, their increasingly leaky defense, their set piece woes, both the scrum and line out. The list of things they have to fix is very concerning.
And that's why I think not a lot of people are looking forward to Six Nations outside of the fact that they like the Six Nations as a tournament. I'd say this is the least optimistic Irish people have been about a Six Nations since 2021. And maybe he'll surprise us all because he has a great record as a coach and has done a great job and has turned things around before.
But right now I think he's in a tricky spot and he needs to find a solution and he needs at least one big win. Like he beats France and Paris, the mood music changes and we'll all flip. But right now you'd be worried about them going into this.
Hello all. Since the episode... where the origin of a sliding doors moment was discussed. I've noticed that possibly every episode since makes a reference to a sliding doors moment. Is this now a running joke between you guys or just a highly applicable reference to sports discussion?
My suspicions were raised further and led to this email when the reference was brought up in the Brooklyn Beckham episode by erstwhile Dave and a giggle followed. Yes, I couldn't stay away from the juicy gossip as highlighted on the episode. Keep up the good work, Kevin. Kevin, it's not a running joke, but
Since we mentioned it, it's incredible how often it's so useful a word and we're all a bit self-conscious about it now. Sliding doors is one of the great... It's used all the time.
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Chapter 5: What insights do the hosts share about Gary Keegan's interview?
You definitely were. I wasn't the broadcaster I am now.
You stopped yourself at experience and you were going to say something else. Definitely polished. It's okay. You've done it yourself. Well done. Well done. This isn't LinkedIn, Rudd. You know, this is a podcast. Come on, Rudd. You worked in a bank. Oh my God. That's a sliding doors moment. When I was selected for that management development program thing, you know, I just chose it in.
And did you just chuck in the bank because you were miserable?
No, it's because I wanted to be a journalist.
But you could have lived as a banker.
I wasn't very good at it. I kind of reached a point where I was like, I'm not going anywhere with this.
You were off in Delaware on a boat.
I did a year in Delaware. I was all in Delaware. I did a year in Delaware and I came back and I was in the marketing team and soon realized that this wasn't for me and I started freelancing and here I am. Here you are.
Did you go straight journalism?
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Chapter 6: What are the challenges faced by the Irish rugby squad?
you know, there's a digital footprint for everything that they've done. And it's, it's grim, you know, it's, it's, it's complete. The whole thing is grim. Like we, you know, it is like water cooler stuff, right. You know, and you can sort of like have a little bit of a, you know, the, the stuff, the Victoria Beckham wedding stuff is sort of funny, like all the memes and everything going around.
But like behind it, obviously there's just like, Oh God. Yeah. Like, there's been no sense of normality in some people's lives in any way. They've never had a sort of a, well, you define a normal upbringing and like any, have they ever done anything in their life that hasn't been calculated around their image?
Like from the start, it's terrible when you think, when you step back from it and look at it that way.
It's just very sad, isn't it?
Yeah.
Yeah. I think that explains the gravity of it as well. Very, very well.
It's not a, as he said, a reflexive fit of peak. We're done here. It's estrangement. And, you know, it's not, we're not estrangement. It's not, I'm not talking to my dad at the moment. It's a full on.
we're done you know but in our in in the the correspondence kind of like you know his is very private it's between his family it's kind of you know even the fact that he hasn't given his name which is you know completely respect whereas brooklyn breckham because he's been commodified from from the moment he was born if not before he has to do it like through a statement which is obviously i know you gave him great credit for writing it joe i'd be cynical about that i think you know he would have had handlers involved in writing it he may you know i wouldn't say there's a chance he sat down and
Certainly tonally, it didn't match up with what his kind of puts up on Instagram. I'm sure the sentiment is his, but I'd say that the wording and the way it was delivered and the kind of impact, it was designed for maximum impact. But that's the world he's always been in, that he has to do everything publicly.
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Chapter 7: How do celebrity culture and family dynamics intersect in sports?
If they don't take this stance, I trust the media will put this obvious contradiction to them.
Yeah, look, I think you find hypocrisy in everything, don't you? Yeah, kind of. There's no other way they can actually try and have an influence or draw attention to it. And this is a tangible thing where they can apply pressure, make a point.
And I'm sure there's other sponsors that will be shifting nervously of different sports or whatever, but they're the ones who are in the crossfire because they were named in that Albanese report, as you've spoken about in previous pods. And it's not going away.
Like reading Conor McKeown's piece this morning about the launch and how it was such a low-key event in comparison to previous low-key events. This is landing certainly on Allianz and on the GAA. They seem to be very nervous about it or they're definitely not promoting it as much as they would have done previously. They're conscious of it.
blowing back even though they've continued the sponsorship it's not business as usual and I think the protest has worked in that way we know it's not going to stop what's going on in Israel but what else can you do only try and find the battle you can fight if you feel that strongly about it and you can pick holes in anyone but I would admire them for taking a stand and they're making life very awkward for the GAA I would imagine
Yeah, I think, Simon, you have to take it as it's intended. I think with this issue in particular, I mean, even if you... Any protester, you can almost get to some point in their life where they're probably engaging with, particularly in the tech industry that people are using in their day-to-day lives, some area where you could say, oh, well, they haven't taken a stance on that.
Just take it on the terms in which it's done. The players themselves... don't want to have their face with Allianz branding, which is an implicit endorsement, which is why Allianz pay the money, why any sponsor pays the money. Do they need to go then and tell their county board to deny children funding for cones and footballs? I can see how they draw the line there. Like, this isn't maths.
It's not science. There's not an exact line or an exact equation you can march them up to and say, if you're going this far, you have to go that far. It's a field thing. You know, I mean, to your point, why aren't you calling for them to just not play the games whatsoever? Why is playing the games okay?
Like, you have to find some level of pragmatism in your life as well as, if you can, voicing some kind of disapproval. The launch, by the way, that Rory mentions, there were no current players speaking at the launch. So that is a break with previous National League launches.
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Chapter 8: What are the latest developments in the League of Ireland?
Like, if you're looking to find a kind of a shortcoming or a hypocrisy of some kind in them or in their lives, you will find it. Like, congratulations, but... The alternative is they do nothing for fear of you sending a kind of sarky enough email their way, you know. In news, I see Mark McCall wrote a step down 15 seasons as director of rugby at the end of this season with Saracens. Yeah.
13 caps for Ireland in the 90s. He was Ulster head coach 04 to 07 and then the Saracens dynasty begun. Six premierships, including one after they were relegated following the salary cap crisis scandal. That was a big thing. They got relegated. They came back. They won a premiership. And of course, the three European Cups in there as well, because for a time they were just the team in Europe.
He's going to join the board now, but he's stepping down as director of rugby. Kind of the forgotten man when we talk about like Irish coaches. People, the conversation happens, every coach you can think of is mentioned. And then someone goes, come here, Mark McCall, what he's done at Saracens. But no one seems to mean it.
Yeah, partly I think because he keeps a low profile despite the fact that he's achieved so much. So he doesn't, I guess, take much credit for it. He doesn't kind of bind the drum for his own cause. I'm not sure how interested he is in coming back to Ireland and being the Ireland coach. He certainly will be in that conversation.
I'd imagine that the fact that David Humphries, a former teammate of his, is now running the show. would probably make it a little bit more likely. He certainly achieved an awful lot. He understands high performance. He's done a great job. But he is underappreciated in Ireland. He was never a massive name, although he won those 13 caps and played in Six Nations.
It wasn't during a great era for Shruby. I think he was the captain of the 1999 Ulster team. won the European Cup but he got injured and wasn't able to lift the trophy or play in the final certainly so he has you know he's one of the most successful Irish rugby coaches of any generation his CV is impeccable and if he was a New Zealander with that sort of CV he probably would be getting touted as
as a future Ireland coach and maybe that's a little bit of a reflection on how we view things I'd say there's a bit of the fact that he's from Ulster and that definitely plays into the way we look at things and that's on us to some degree but at the same time I've gone over and covered Saracen's games against Irish opposition he doesn't court the Irish media maybe you could say nor could he but I think if you wanted that job there's things you could do there's ways you can kind of put yourself in the frame and even when it comes up the odd time it does come up or when you're talking about 27 even
Just before coming in, I just got onto some people in England and said, well, like, what do you think is like, is this on his radar? And I think he likes it over there. I think he, he plans to stay. I think as well as being on the board, he'll be a technical advisor to Brendan Venter, who's been a technical advisor to him. There's a bit of a Saracen's boot room culture.
You never know in four or five years, he could end up back in that job. So, but certainly if Andy Farrell isn't continuing after 2027, he has to be on the list, the short list of candidates. He's, he's earned that right, given all he's achieved.
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