The Second Captains Podcast

Welcome to our weekly Second Captains world service taster! Troy's move to Betis has lit up our lives in the last few days as we dream of press trips to Seville, watching him play in the Champions League, taking those Spanish smarts back to Ireland camp - It really is the perfect move. We also have the Premier League to look forward to, which looks more unpredictable than ever. We chatted to Rory Smith and Dion Fanning about the power vacuum in the league now that Pep is gone.We have more Premier League next week, the Katie fight is coming up fast and on Friday we have a great show about the power of protest. To hear all our shows go to secondcaptains.com/join - it's 5 euro a month, it only takes a couple of minutes to join, there's nothing sneaky or tricksy about it, there's no hidden fees or contracts, you can try it for a month and see how you go. We're independent, member led, Irish owned and we do 6 shows a week. Give it a whirl.

A week that will live long in the memory concluded yesterday with Ireland coming away from the Birmingham track and the Parisian pool with an incredible haul of nine medals.We reflect on Kate’s medal rampage and how she’s set for the Olympics, Corcoran’s perfect timing, Rhasidat’s fresh mindset and English’s glory with Cathal Dennehy and Sonia O'Sullivan.The River Liffey's Paul O'Flynn reminds us of someone and a hero of Giants Stadium salutes a rising track star.

The Community Shield has never lied to us yet, so what exactly should we make of Arsenal 3-0 Manchester City?  Gavin Cooney is with us to say goodbye to Man City, and to crown Arsenal as back-to-back champions.  Is Elliot Anderson worth 116 million quid, or is his now-teammate Erling Haaland correct?  Martin Odegaard looks like he's got his swagger back, and Declan Rice is back for another year in the salt-mines.  Plus there's Capitalist Gaels, the Jeff Bezos era looms at Liverpool, and Cup specialists St Pats completing Rovers' rough week.  Monday’s shows are free to all. To listen to all our programming throughout the rest of the week, join the Second Captains World Service. There’s no contracts, no hidden fees and shows can be listened to on all good podcast apps, on Spotify or through our website. It’s independent, commercial-free and member-led with feature interviews, breaking news, Ken’s Football Show, The Politics Podcast, and lots of added extras. You’ll also be supporting the development of our longer-form work, such as our international series’  ‘Where Is George Gibney?’ and Stakeknife.

Man United and Leeds selling out the home of the GAA, James McClean's Derry disaster, our lust for glory medal charge at the European swimming and athletics championships, the dog whisperer, trying to figure out who blew up the Nordstream Pipeline… it’s been another wild week of podcasting on the Second Captains World Service.To listen to all our programming throughout the rest of the week, join the Second Captains World Service. There’s no contracts, no hidden fees and shows can be listened to on all good podcast apps, on Spotify or through our website. It’s independent, commercial-free and member-led with feature interviews, breaking news, Ken’s Football Show, The Politics Podcast, and lots of added extras. You’ll also be supporting the development of our longer-form work, such as our international series’  ‘Where Is George Gibney?’ and Stakeknife.

The warring football confederations of the world have once again spent the weekend slinging statements at one another. But is Gianni Infantino’s position substantively any worse than it was this time last week?We look at some of the pre-publicity for the new Jose Mourinho Netflix documentary and wonder how we have come to such a pass that Mourinho can be considered ‘old school’.There’s also more on why Vini Jr would have been better off joining Arsenal, and a new clutch of billionaires wanting to buy a chunk of the Premier League.

Camogie is in it’s “Let It Flow” era, and it made for a hell of a game between Cork and Galway, two sides that keep meeting in finals and two sides that.... straight up don’t like each other.We chat to friend of the show Sinead O’Carroll of The Journal about Cork's narrow win, the beef between these two and the levels of physicality in the game now.Plus there's Branno's fruit theory, Galway in finals, Seamus Coleman's GAA career and Irish athletics fans are denied their McPhillips - English showdown.Monday’s shows are free to all. To listen to all our programming throughout the rest of the week, join the Second Captains World Service. There’s no contracts, no hidden fees and shows can be listened to on all good podcast apps, on Spotify or through our website. It’s independent, commercial-free and member-led with feature interviews, breaking news, Ken’s Football Show, The Politics Podcast, and lots of added extras. You’ll also be supporting the development of our longer-form work, such as our international series’  ‘Where Is George Gibney?’ and Stakeknife.

This week on the Pod the curious World of FIFA continued to unravel before our eyes. To help guide us through the labyrinth, experienced FIFA-ologist Sam Kunti joined us to chat Infantino and possible contenders for the throne.To listen to all our programming throughout the rest of the week, join the Second Captains World Service. There’s no contracts, no hidden fees and shows can be listened to on all good podcast apps, on Spotify or through our website. It’s independent, commercial-free and member-led with feature interviews, breaking news, Ken’s Football Show, The Politics Podcast, and lots of added extras. You’ll also be supporting the development of our longer-form work, such as our international series’  ‘Where Is George Gibney?’ and Stakeknife.

Galway are All-Ireland women’s football champions for 2026, ending a 22-year wait for their second title, but the result was in doubt right until the final whistle. And earlier in the weekend, 10,000 miles away, a collection of Ireland’s best gaelic footballers were taking on the best Australian AFLW players in a first international Aussie Rules match.Five-time All-Ireland winner Noelle Healy, and one of Ireland’s star players Vikki Wall are with us to discuss last-minute controversies, the lacklustre final at the end of a positive season, and representing your country in front of a packed-out, 75% Irish crowd in North Sydney.The Japanese Ambassador to Ireland also makes an appearance, and we discuss a big week for Irish clubs in Europe, with real football man™️ Kevin Brannigan.

You'd have thought Gianni Infantino’s rambling, incoherent, self congratulatory instagram post to all the losers and haters out there would have been the main FIFA story of the week, but he has trumped it by unveiling a plan to sell the World Cup to private investors. Ken explained why selling the soul of football to American businessmen is bad for everyone involved in the game.We also chatted to Tariq Panja of the NYT about how likely this is to happen and who can stop Infantino.Mayo's All Ireland triumph dominated the week. We had great chats with Andy Moran and Kobe McDonald, we got Paul Flynn and Dara O'Cinneide to explain how Mayo pulled this off, and Murph and Ken went to Castlebar for their homecoming, where Ken revealed how much he loves this side and why they remind him so much of Argentina.Tomorrow we have another football show for you; we talk about two of the fallen giants of European football, Italy and Germany, appointing Mancini and Klopp, two managers who have done a lot in the game but who's public images have taken a hit in recent times.Its a fiver a month, there's no ads, no hydration breaks, no sign up fee, no hidden costs and we're fully independent. To sign up go to secondcaptains.com/join.