THIS WEEK WE LAUNCH a new series run of Behind the Lines, our sportswriting podcast series exclusively for subscribers to The 42. 

The acclaimed show is hosted by The 42‘s Gavin Cooney, and features an hour-long interview with a sportswriter about their career and their favourite pieces of sportswriting. 

So along with swapping tales from their own career and offering insights into the lives of some of the most prominent and controversial sportspeople in history, our guests pick some of the pieces of writing that have shaped them. 

This week we launch a new series run of the show, with a new episode available to subscribers every second Thursday. 

The first guest of our new series is Professor of History at UCD, Paul Rouse. 

Across a sprawling, fascinating conversation, we discuss Paul’s new book, Sport in Modern Irish Life, and how he broke new ground to give sport the academic rigour and respect it warrants.

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Paul explains why the term ‘sportswashing’ does not adequately explain the involvement of nation states in modern sport, and we also discuss how the GAA adopted convenient but false stories in its early decades to align itself with political nationalism. Why did the GAA do this, what damage did it cause, and what is the legacy of this mythmaking today?

Paul also lays out the difficult questions the GAA must ask itself to make itself fit for purpose in modern-day Ireland and also defends the spectacle of modern-day Gaelic football. We also discuss what everyone got wrong about Saipan, and Paul runs us through his lecture series on Muhammad Ali before picking the sportsperson whose career and life could be used to explain the world today.

There is a 103-episode back catalogue available to subscribers now, featuring the likes of Wright Thompson, Paul Howard, David Walsh, Eimear Ryan, Tim Vickery, Stephen Jones, Simon Kuper, Diane K. Shah, Robert Lipsyte, Rick Reilly, and Malachy Clerkin. 

The podcast – and entire back catalogue – is available exclusively to subscribers to The 42, and you can sign up at this link. 

Written by The 42 Team and posted on the42.ie