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# BTL

Last year
2023
The42's sportswriting podcast Behind the Lines returns - with Paul Rouse
The42's sportswriting podcast Behind the Lines returns - with Paul Rouse
All time
When George Hamilton wrote Irish newspaper columns under a fake name...and how it duped Ronnie Whelan
'He personifies the national struggle in so many ways' - How Paul McGrath embodies the Irish story
'It can be tough to keep girls in team sports as you don't get a lot of social capital for it'
'It’s going to be ugly and it’s going to be the next big fight' - The NBA's anti-vaxx problem
'The pay-outs could be so bad that it would re-model the game to a point it is almost unrecognisable'
'The executive vice-president walked onto the set and said, 'You guys have to kill Rory for saying that'
'Filled with murders, kidnappings, Bosnian warlords...' - Steve Bruce's bewildering murder-mystery novels
'Many Italians tend to see the referee as corrupt until proven otherwise'
Behind the Lines, Episode 83: John Foot
'The narrative in 1995 was that it was the victory that united a nation...it did no such thing'
'Football was and still remains the biggest expression of working class culture in the United Kingdom'
'We got the right result - Christian survived. He is one of between five and eight percent who survive'
Working with Gazza and teaching Italian to Robbie Keane - James Richardson on the glory years of Football Italia
'The only rational thing that you can have with it is a love/hate relationship, and that's what I have'
'Hope and expectation is always the thing that kills an England manager and he’s got to produce this time around'
'That may be the next iteration of football style - the complete breakdown of different styles'
'The tension between pragmatism and aesthetics on the pitch is always happening and I find it really interesting'
'My first time at Twickenham, I was literally shown the kitchen' - Rugby writer Kate Rowan details workplace ordeal
'Football provokes an emotional reaction in people that's so real we have to respect it'
'You have to take a line' - Stephen Jones on his 'uncompromising' opinions
'The idea you can’t prepare is complete rubbish' - Why penalty shootouts are no lottery
'He would have been bursting with delight over it, but his persona is that of a serious guy'
'I felt it was a generation of lads who really wanted to go to war, and really wanted to defend England'
'These horrific incidents seemed to keep them enmeshed with one another, in a taboo bond of manhood'
'One of the things I find disappointing is Keane hasn’t become the figure in football I thought he would be'
'Nowadays, footballers stop being normal people from the age of 11 or 12'
'Some of the fans went way beyond what was acceptable... Arsène was deeply hurt'
'He was saying, 'I'm a champion so vote for me, I've won 18 Club Championships! And I'm saying, 'You liar!'
'Klopp's arrival made me think of how we have always been prejudiced against Germany'
'One of the weapons Cavan did have is their captain and manager would bawl and cry as it would mean that much to them'
'He’s put me on the ropes, and just as I’m about to verbally swing back… 'Anyway son, it’s great to see you'
'I was called to say, 'We've had a solicitor's letter over your schools rugby match report'
'As he lay on a hospital bed with his leg in the cast, the letter arrived from Jack Charlton'
'Klopp wanted Julian Brandt...in the past there'd be friction about the manager not getting who he wanted'
'That's one of the problems - Maria Sharapova made her legacy as the highest-paid female athlete'
'I cannot even begin to put into words what he was like when he lost his temper, it was ludicrous'
'In some ways, he was somebody who was desperate to be loved by everybody'
Three years on, Wright Thompson reflects on infamous Dublin/McGregor piece