Latest news with #Dunphy
The 42
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The 42
The official end of a golden era - Giles and Dunphy taught us the truths England refused to acknowledge
FAREWELL THEN TO John Giles, who last week called an end to a punditry career that began at the 1986 World Cup. That his announcement comes in the same year as Eamon Dunphy stepped back from his podcast The Stand is a poignant moment for those of us who believe university cultural studies should include modules on football punditry, for Giles, Dunphy and The RTÉ Panel can be said to have played a small role in the making of modern Ireland. For in their football punditry, The Panel were among the first to make us believe we could feel superior to the Brits. There's an irony that Giles stepped away from RTÉ in the summer of the Brexit referendum, as it was then the rest of Ireland caught up and realised our neighbours were afflicted with a potentially irredeemable eejitry. But The Panel viewer saw this stuff coming years earlier. Eamon Dunphy, for instance, pre-empted much of recent English political history on the eve of the 2006 World Cup when he read an over-wrought newspaper piece, tossed it aside and explained, 'The Telegraph is an irony-free zone: they believe God is English.' It will never, ever, be better than — Kevin Coleman (@kvn_clmn) June 14, 2024 To those in Ireland who looked at Brexit and were shocked to see such an absurd frenzy of English self-absorption and self-importance, we say. . . you evidently didn't follow England's Golden Generation at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. Where the BBC and ITV were continually puzzled by the hysterical failures of Becks, Lamps, JT, Rio, and Stevie G, us RTÉ Panel viewers not only foresaw and understood their underachievement, but weren't sure it was an underachievement at all. Advertisement This was because of the depth of Giles' knowledge, and his pigheaded stubbornness in insisting there was a distinction between a good player and a great player. And England, as The Panel viewer was taught, did not have nearly as many great players as they thought. It was Giles who delivered the definitive career comment on David Beckham, drawing an abrupt comparison with Marilyn Monroe. 'She wasn't the best actress, Bill, but she was the biggest star.' And it was Giles who was able to tell us that Gerrard and Lampard were good attackers but not proper midfield players, and could certainly not play together. It was Giles who was calling before anyone else for the regulating presence of Scholes of Manchester, and later Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick. England wasn't listening. In this analysis, Giles also identified the English streak of heroic-but-doomed individualism that sunk so many World Cups and which later led the reckless charge out of the EU. These were the lessons to which the rest of us were given early access. Where Dunphy's showbiz' shtick was to say the things the BBC wouldn't dare to say – hence the definitive comment of this era was Dunphy's response to a softball Garth Crooks interview with Sven-Goran Eriksson that 'it was the first time sex between two men had been broadcast on the BBC' – Giles said the things the Beeb wouldn't even think to say. The Panel was a kind of Hiberno-English of its own. This column's favourite explanation of how the Irish have wrestled and reshaped the oppressor's tongue comes from Tommy Tiernan, who once said, 'the English language to the Irish people is like a wall, and the word 'f**k' is our chisel.' And in a manner analogous to the national neglect of its own language, The Panel treated the League of Ireland as a separate, minority sport, but they took discussion of the English game and improved it with the unique inflections and insights (and occasionally inexactitude) of the relative outsider. We say 'relative' outsider, as this was only possible because Giles and Dunphy were creatures of English football. Dunphy's style of punditry was greatly influenced by those magnificent arguments among Don Revie, Brian Clough, Jack Charlton, Malcolm Allison, and Derek Dougan, while Giles could opine and rule on greatness as a pundit because he moved to England and saw greatness up close. Nonetheless, they returned home to teach us all with the truths England refused to acknowledge. This is not to herald The Panel's every utterance: their peak coincided with a ruinous complacency in Irish football, and that they lost the appetite to hold John Delaney's FAI to account is a mark that blackens with time. But theirs was a golden era, and Giles following Dunphy into retirement draws attention to the extent to which RTÉ appear determined to make sure it is a forgotten era. What has become of RTÉ's football coverage is a travesty: they have kept the rights to Ireland matches but allowed Virgin Media lead the conversation for years. This is hardly the fault of the individual pundits: tune into a game on RTÉ and you have no idea who will be presenting, who will be on the panel, and how many panellists there will be. Hell, after Ireland's friendly with Luxembourg last month, you can't be sure there'll be a panel at all. But then again, there is no emulating the glory days, as the Giles/Dunphy dynamic was irresistible. Giles' wisdom, knowledge and allergy to sentimentality elevated football to very important business, while Dunphy knew football was much too important to take seriously. Things will never be as good again.
Irish Independent
28-06-2025
- Irish Independent
'Rogue' who sold fake Electric Picnic tickets to unsuspecting victim avoids jail
Sean Carroll (31) with an address at Tara Hill Crescent, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, pleaded guilty in the District Court to theft contrary to section 4 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001. The court heard that on July 26, 2019, Carroll arranged through Facebook to meet a man on Henry Street in Dublin, where the injured party handed over €550 for tickets to the music festival Electric Picnic. These tickets turned out to be fake and the stolen money was never recovered. Carroll has 28 previous convictions, including those for theft and attempted robbery. Defence counsel for Carroll, Róisín Burnside BL, told the District Court Appeals Court that her client has undertaken treatment for drug addiction and is now free of drugs and alcohol. Judge Jonathan Dunphy noted that 'Henry Street seems to be full of people selling Longitude tickets'. He asked if the defendant understood how long the injured party would have had to save up for the tickets, only for the money to go to 'some rogue'. Judge Dunphy decided to increase the original sentence from six months to ten months, but fully suspended it for two years on the condition that Carroll keeps the peace and continues with his treatment. "If he comes back before me, I'll activate every second of that ten months," Judge Dunphy said.
The Journal
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Journal
Irish football legend John Giles brings near 40-year punditry career to an end
The 42 JOHN GILES HAS called an end to his near-40-year punditry career at the age of 84, today announcing his intention to step back from his weekly Thursday slot with Off the Ball. Giles has been providing punditry for Off the Ball since the show's inception in 2002, but has now made the decision to call it a day. 'John Giles, Senior Analyst, is a titan of Irish sport', said Ger Gilroy of Off the ball. 'His weekly explanation of football truth on Off The Ball helped deepen what the country knows about football. His ability to see through bullshit and his love of the game shone through in every contribution.' Having left the West Brom manager's job in 1985, Giles first moved into media by doing punditry for RTÉ for the 1986 World Cup, agreeing to the role at Eamon Dunphy's behest. Giles and Dunphy were later joined by Liam Brady, and the trio formed the iconic RTÉ panel, which consistently shaped the conversation around football in Ireland. Advertisement Giles was the appointed 'senior analyst', whose tactical insights and innovative use of technology was buttressed by wise insights into the character of footballers along with a very low tolerance for bullshit. Giles also established a kind of canon for the sport, making clear there was a difference between a great player and a merely good player. Giles stepped away from RTÉ after Euro 2016, with Dunphy retiring two years later. Brady then left RTÉ in 2023. Giles and Brady continued to make regular appearances on Dunphy's popular podcast series The Stand, from which Dunphy stepped back at the start of this year. Giles continued his work with Off the Ball up to the end of the recent English football season, but will not return when the new season kicks off in August. Off the Ball will bid farewell to Giles at a special event at the Sugar Club in Dublin on 14 August, for which ticket details will be announced in due course. Written by Gavin Cooney and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won't find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women's sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here .
The 42
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The 42
John Giles brings punditry career to an end by stepping back from Off the Ball
JOHN GILES HAS called an end to his near-40-year punditry career at the age of 84, today announcing his intention to step back from his weekly Thursday slot with Off the Ball. Giles has been providing punditry for Off the Ball since the show's inception in 2002, but has now made the decision to call it a day. Advertisement 'John Giles, Senior Analyst, is a titan of Irish sport', said Ger Gilroy of Off the ball. 'His weekly explanation of football truth on Off The Ball helped deepen what the country knows about football. His ability to see through bullshit and his love of the game shone through in every contribution.' Having left the West Brom manager's job in 1985, Giles first moved into media by doing punditry for RTÉ for the 1986 World Cup, agreeing to the role at Eamon Dunphy's behest. Giles and Dunphy were later joined by Liam Brady, and the trio formed the iconic RTÉ panel, which consistently shaped the conversation around football in Ireland. Giles was the appointed 'senior analyst', whose tactical insights and innovative use of technology was buttressed by wise insights into the character of footballers along with a very low tolerance for bullshit. Giles also established a kind of canon for the sport, making clear there was a difference between a great player and a merely good player. Giles stepped away from RTÉ after Euro 2016, with Dunphy retiring two years later. Brady then left RTÉ in 2023. Giles and Brady continued to make regular appearances on Dunphy's popular podcast series The Stand, from which Dunphy stepped back at the start of this year. Giles continued his work with Off the Ball up to the end of the recent English football season, but will not return when the new season kicks off in August. Off the Ball will bid farewell to Giles at a special event at the Sugar Club in Dublin on 14 August, for which ticket details will be announced in due course.
Irish Daily Mirror
24-06-2025
- Irish Daily Mirror
'Rogue' has sentence over fake Electric Picnic tickets overturned on appeal
A "rogue" who sold fake Electric Picnic tickets worth €550 on Dublin's Henry Street has had his custodial sentence replaced with a suspended term on appeal. Sean Carroll (31) with an address at Tara Hill Crescent, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, pleaded guilty in the District Court to theft contrary to section 4 of the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001. The court heard that on July 26, 2019, Carroll arranged through Facebook to meet a man on Henry Street in Dublin, where the injured party handed over €550 for tickets to the music festival Electric Picnic. These tickets turned out to be fake and the stolen money was never recovered. Carroll has 28 previous convictions, including those for theft and attempted robbery. Defence counsel for Carroll, Róisín Burnside BL, today told the District Court Appeals Court that her client has undertaken treatment for drug addiction and is now free of drugs and alcohol. Judge Jonathan Dunphy noted that "Henry Street seems to be full of people selling Longitude tickets". He asked if the defendant understood how long the injured party would have had to save up for the tickets, only for the money to go to "some rogue". The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week Judge Dunphy decided to increase the original sentence from six months to 10 months, but fully suspended it for two years on the condition that Carroll keeps the peace and continues with his treatment. "If he comes back before me, I'll activate every second of that 10 months," Judge Dunphy said.
