Show Notes
This week’s Behind The Lines is a special episode as part of The42’s Genius Week, in which we celebrate the genius of the late Hugh McIlvanney. We’re delighted to be joined by Gary Lineker to do so, who became a friend of McIlvanney’s, and delivered a eulogy at his funeral.
Gary also shares his memories of McIlvanney, and his opinions on what made him the best sportswriter of them all.
(We also learn a bit about Lineker’s fledgling sportswriting career before he got on with the business of being one of the greatest goalscorers in English football history.)
McIlvanney is the most-cited writer across our 29 episodes to date, and this episode also features contributions from Donald McRae, Alan English, Miguel Delaney and Danny Kelly.
Behind the Lines is available exclusively to members of the42. To sign up and gain access to a host of podcast series, special offers and exclusive newsletters, insights and stories, head over to members.the42.ie.
Get in touch with the show - email [email protected], or tweet @gcooney93.
More from The42 Podcasts
In the fourth and penultimate episode of The42’s exclusive podcast series ‘On the Right Wing’, Enda Coll explores the role that former football hooligans played in the establishment and rise of the right-wing group The English Defence League.
In the third episode of the series, Enda Coll explores the world of Italian football and why the league has historically had issues with fascist showcasing inside their grounds. To do so, he goes back in time with Simon - author of 'Football and Fascism: The National Game under Mussolini' - to understand how much Italy's fascist past impacts the modern-day league.
In a special edition of Behind the Lines, The Journal Editor, Sinead O'Carroll takes over hosting duties of the podcast. She's joined in studio by journalist and broadcaster Cliona Foley, by Irish Times sports writer Mary Hannigan and by The 42's Emma Duffy. They discuss their careers working in the sports media as women, the early days of covering women's sport and how it has developed, the struggles they still face fighting for proper coverage of women's sport and they look ahead to the excitement of the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
In the second episode of the series, Enda Coll explores the world of German football and its heterogeneous fan culture. Charting the rise of hooliganism in the country from the 1980's onwards, he looks at the clamping down on football by authorities after the World Cup in France in 1998, the rise of the Ultra scene, the role that some football hooligans played in the anti-lockdown protests during COVID and the Neo-Nazis in that group, who are training professionally in gyms.