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The Socially Distant Sports Bar
264: Max Rushden (Pt 1)
Elis James (Elis & John, Oh What A Time), Mike Bubbins (Mammoth), and Steff Garrero return with another round of top-tier sporting nonsense, barely researched takes, and an absolutely brilliant special guest.
“Like a sports podcast, if the sport was optional.”
✨ This Week’s Special Guest – Max Rushden!
If you’ve enjoyed our guest episodes with Chesney Hawkes, Josh Widdicombe, or Sam Warburton, you’re in for a treat.
This week we welcome Max Rushden — broadcaster, podcaster, football obsessive, and all-round good guy.
Max is the long-running host of Guardian Football Weekly, where he teams up with our friend Barry Glendenning for football chat, laughs, and chaos.
He’s also recently launched a new podcast with comedian David O’Doherty called What Did You Do Yesterday?, where they interview fascinating guests about a completely ordinary day.
Max’s broadcasting career has spanned BBC Radio 5 Live, talkSPORT, Channel 4’s Jump Off, and iconic years hosting Sky’s Soccer AM.
Known for his wit, love of the underdog, and eye for the ridiculous, Max fits right in at the Distant Pod.
🎟️ We’re Going on Tour in 2026!
We’re hitting the road with a brand-new live show in 2026!
Tickets on general sale now – head to distantpod.com/live for all the details.
📍 Tour Dates:
- Fri 20 March 2026 – Cardiff, New Theatre
- Sat 21 March 2026 – Cardiff, New Theatre
- Tue 7 April 2026 – London, Hackney Empire
- Wed 8 April 2026 – London, Hackney Empire
- Fri 24 April 2026 – Carmarthen, Lyric Theatre
🎉 This Week’s Show – Don’t Miss It!
Max has brought some absolute gems to the show:
🥫 Baked Beans, Penalties – Max and Charlie Baker
🐎 Man Versus Beast
Yes, humans really raced animals on TV in 2003. No, we can’t quite believe it either.
⛸️ Steven Bradbury – Australian Speed Skating Gold, 2002
The greatest underdog gold medal of all time.
(Yes, Joe Marler wishes he picked it, but no, it wasn’t actually his choice. And yes, technically Steff picked it for a live stream, but… we’ve lost the tapes.)
📖 A Little Extra Gift from Max
Max also shared this brilliant nostalgic piece that perfectly fits the vibe of the pod:
🔗 Vonk, Zoeller, Tomba… The Joy of Sporting Names (The Guardian)
💡 Get More of the Pod Every Week
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🎉 Another week of sport, nostalgia, and nonsense — only on The Socially Distant Sports Bar!
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If you fancy supporting the pod that way, head here 👇
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788. Vivacious Vicar
01:12:15||Ep. 788Incredible scenes at The Socially Distant Sports Bar this week with Mike Bubbins, Elis James and Steff Garrero.Elis’ talk of his “vivacious vicar” has everyone reaching for the Cambridge Dictionary, Steff self-diagnoses a nasty case of “anti-trapezius syndrome”, and Mike reminisces about the days when he was quite literally a shadow of his former self.Eventually, some sport forces its way through the door.We discover that if you want to play American Football, it’s apparently much better to “be a dawg” than a cat. Mike explains exactly how he’d have brought down Jonah Lomu — which will presumably come as a relief to the international rugby players who spent years trying to work that out — and Josh Pugh delivers a magnificent football manager’s team talk featuring the immortal line:“We were allowed to fire live ammunition at each other.”ClipsMike: Be A Dawghttps://www.instagram.com/reel/DdAd9iNS5tx/?stkn=b3ZsM3ZuZDVwcDdwSteff: The Gaffa — Josh Pughhttps://www.instagram.com/reel/DWf6MoWRko1/?stkn=aG02cjA1anllOHVwElis: Jonah Lomu Being Falliblehttps://www.instagram.com/reel/DcbZC3bI9T4/?stkn=MTVhdjZvN2NtZDlxOAThree clips. One vivacious vicar. One entirely unverified muscular condition. And Mike Bubbins finally solving the Jonah Lomu problem roughly thirty years too late.Thanks for listening.787. Mike Wants Free Shirts: Pint Size
09:02||Ep. 787Welcome to Pint-Sized Distant Pod.We've been back through our archive of episodes and we've selected our favourite stories, anecdotes and funny bits.If you're new to the pod, then feel free to use these as a jump off point to find your way around our earlier episodes.This clip is taken from "Episode 289: Snoring"785. Raygun & Sammy Sex
49:01||Ep. 785It's another pick from the Netfllix "Untold" series for the "Documentary of the Week". It features Rachel Gunn "Raygun" and her appearance in the breakdancing competions at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Mike, Elis and Steff talk about her rise to the Olympic stage, how someone who described herself as a "dorky white woman who's an academic" ended up being globally humiliated after her performance at the Games. Steff Documentary: Raygun, Breaking Badly https://www.netflix.com/watch/82048542?trackId=284616272&tctx=NaN%2C1%2Cc5ae2730-71a4-43c2-b000-9cd65f7e67a9%2Cc5ae2730-71a4-43c2-b000-9cd65f7e67a9%7C%3DeyJwYWdlSWQiOiJlYzBlZjRhYS0zNGE4LTQ4NzUtYjZiNC01MGZlMzk0Y2NmOWMvMS8vdW50b2xkLzAvMCIsImxvY2FsU2VjdGlvbklkIjoiMiJ9%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C82048542%2CVideo%3A82048542%2CminiDpPlayButton Elis Book: Football in Sun and Shadow https://link.amazon/B0flqyW7r784. No Readmission
01:20:32||Ep. 784Welcome to another week in the world of Mike Bubbins, Elis James and Steff Garrero at the Socially Distant Sports Bar. If you've ever had a day that promised so much and turned into a living hell then you will sympathise with Elis' attempt to watch Swansea City at Southampton. It's straight out of a bad sitcom. Mike reveals why he thinks he has Phil Bennett's Barbarians blazer in his bar which leads to reminiscing about Kim Cattrall on the back of a motor bike, there is a connection....honestly. The lads chat about Katie Taylor boxing in front of a sell-out crowd at Croke Park, some rugby nostalgia from 1953 and they talk about the great Sean Fitzpatrick, one of the legenfs of rugby union.Mike:Sean and Ardiehttps://www.instagram.com/reel/DclpZm0NIkN/?stkn=MXFjb3k0enRkejVyNA==Steff: Katie Taylor https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/articles/c5yjr8pp0jwo https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc63ebVDiiV/?stkn=MXdwZXg2bXN2YXZseQ==https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc62YnfoWEO/?stkn=MWpqY2V2bWVpcmV4bw==https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc65DgVJPEt/?stkn=cXE3ZnpyZ3k4azM=Elis Cardiff beat New Zealand, 1953https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc1cKJYILtn/?stkn=NXhnNWxmcDl4a Wg=783. A Goose To The Face: Pint Size
11:57||Ep. 783Welcome to Pint-Sized Distant Pod.We've been back through our archive of episodes and we've selected our favourite stories, anecdotes and funny bits.If you're new to the pod, then feel free to use these as a jump off point to find your way around our earlier episodes.This clip is taken from "Episode 287: Fabio's Goose"781. Cowboy At The Little Tesco
30:23||Ep. 781Welcome back to this week’s Socially Distant Sports Bar with Elis James, Mike Bubbins and Steff Garrero.This week, Steff and Elis are attempting to have a perfectly sensible conversation about a sports documentary and a book.Unfortunately, Mike has decided to spend much of that conversation sending them an increasingly large number of photographs of himself dressed as a cowboy while very clearly not working as a cowboy.Cowboy at home. Cowboy out and about. Cowboy going about his normal business. Cowboy, potentially, at the Little Tesco.Between incoming photographs, we do actually manage to discuss some sport.DocumentaryMike: Untold — The Testimony of Vince YoungThe Netflix Untold series turns its attention to former college football superstar and NFL quarterback Vince Young, looking back at his extraordinary rise, the expectations placed upon him and what happened when one of the biggest names in American sport found himself struggling away from the field.https://www.netflix.com/title/82020375BookSteff: Cyclettes by Tree AbrahamSteff brings in Tree Abraham’s Cyclettes, a beautifully unusual book about a life spent cycling — part memoir, part visual diary and part exploration of the places, people and experiences we encounter when travelling around on two wheels.https://link.amazon/B0bPaGwN8Sport, cycling, fame, expectation and a quite unreasonable number of photographs of Mike Bubbins wearing a cowboy hat.Thanks for listening.780. The Rizla Stadium
01:21:32||Ep. 780The Rizla StadiumWelcome to this week’s Socially Distant Sports Bar with Elis James, Mike Bubbins and Steff Garrero.This week Mike reports back from a less-than-luxurious holiday rental in Liverpool, while Steff comes up with a potentially foolproof plan to solve the financial problems in Welsh rugby using nothing more than some enormous halogen lamps and the seemingly limitless supply of Welsh rain.We’re sure the WRU will be in touch.There’s also plenty of actual sport. Mike celebrates the great Billy Boston, Steff brings in Jonathan Agnew and Andy Zaltzman, and Elis heads back to 1990 for Wales v England.As ever, those are merely the starting points.ClipsMike: Billy Bostonhttps://www.instagram.com/reel/DcdYebStiy1/?igsi=ODAxNHRraHp6aGo2Steff: Aggers and Zaltzmanhttps://www.instagram.com/reel/DcrRgvwoWR-/?igsi=bTB6eXc4ZTUzZW5whttps://www.instagram.com/reel/Dcsm5sdO_oZ/?igsi=cWp3eDZ1cDN4MzJhElis: Wales v England 1990https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcS4CkQoN-0/?igsi=MXVnejY5MjlybmVhYQ==There’s more from Elis, Mike and Steff later this week, and Bonus Club subscribers can get the extra episode too.Thanks for listening.779. Sing: Pint Size
10:13||Ep. 779Welcome to Pint-Sized Distant Pod.We've been back through our archive of episodes and we've selected our favourite stories, anecdotes and funny bits.If you're new to the pod, then feel free to use these as a jump off point to find your way around our earlier episodes.This clip is taken from "Episode 252: Just Put A Towel Over My Head"777. Give Him A Passport
25:05||Ep. 777This week's second helping from the Socially Distant Sports Bar with Mike Bubbins, Elis James and Steff Garrero is another fascinating documentary choice. It's Steff's pick and tells the interesting and sometimes moving story of Bilal Fawaz, current British and Commonwealth Super Welterweight Champion. "Fight For Freedom" documents his inability to fight outide of Britain because he has never been able to hold a passport. Elis has picked the "Book of the Week" which is another one to add to your collection. It's "Domestique" by Charlie Wegelius. The book explores the life of a "domestique", a rider who sacrifices his own personal glory and ambitions to support the team leader and secure team victories.Steff Doc: Fighting For Freedom: Bilal Fawaz https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002zv7x/fighting-for-freedom-bilal-fawaz Elis Book: Domestique - Charlie Wegalias https://link.amazon/B0fRZs7TB