When Muhammad Ali visited Ireland in 1972, the country was a different place.

Nobody believed the greatest sportsman the world has ever seen would fight in Dublin except the men who made it possible.

On Free State today Dave Hannigan tells talks about his book The Big Fight - When Ali Conquered Ireland. It is a tale of men with dreams from Kerry and Brooklyn who made it happen. It is also a story of how Ali responded to the unconditional love he encountered and how it changed him.

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As Dion celebrates a personal milestone, on Free State today Joe and Dion look at how to live without drink.

They consider how dark it can get for those on the other side and what helps people become free.

Joe reflects on those he has seen struggle with alcohol and those he has seen create a new and rewarding life for themselves.

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In the summer of 1976, the world was a different place.

In Ireland and Britain, it was a summer of a heatwave. But were there cultural and political changes brought about by the long hot summer of 1976? 

On Free State today John Williams, author of a new book Heatwave - the Summer of 1976, Britain at Boiling Point, is our guest. John tells us how that summer changed a country and how the heatwave brought people to the brink in ways nobody could have imagined.

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Have you locked yourself in a panic room? Have you got your tinned foods and toilet rolls in for when the Russians invade? If not, why are you so complacent? Why don’t you understand the threats Ireland faces in the modern world? On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at how Ireland is being told to be afraid.

Is there anything to fear or are the warnings designed to create opportunities for the defence industry? 

Their companies have names designed to disguise their true intentions. Are we being asked to surrender to them if not the Russians?

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After Sunday's All Ireland final proved yet again why David Clifford is Superman in shorts, Joe wonders can any team stop a new Golden Years style reign for the Kerry footballers? On Free State today he also looks back on Knockmore Juniors' win over the weekend and explains why the All Ireland final can never quite measure up to the winning feeling with your club.

Producer Cormac O'Malley drops into the hot seat while Dion is away on today's episode.

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As a young reporter Phoebe Greenwood worked as a war correspondent in Gaza. She inhabited the world of fixers where journalists stayed at the Al Deira hotel and Israeli government spokespeople provided statements that contradicted what reporters had witnessed.

Greenwood was there during the 2012 conflict and now she has written a novel, Vulture, which is described as a satire, but might as easily be described as the truth.

On Free State today she talks about how journalism has failed in Gaza, a failure brought about the desire for false balance.

She recalls her own time in Gaza and how the place she knew has gone, destroyed utterly in a genocide where once again much of the media have failed.

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How do you stop a genius? How does a genius thrive? 

David Clifford is the greatest Gaelic football who has ever lived but will that be enough on its own to bring Kerry an All-Ireland?

On Free State today, Joe explains the different type of genius that is Jimmy McGuinness. McGuinness has taken advantage of the new rules, the way he took hold of the old but can the spirit of Clifford be contained in Croke Park?

Joe and Dion also look at the princes who have taken the stage at Croke Park before. Dion looks at old Kerry lore and remembers the players he was told about by his Kerry father. He also reveals a family split that will become apparent on final day.

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Did Cork lose the All-Ireland hurling final at half time or was defeat guaranteed long before?

On Free State today, Joe and Dion look at what a sporting humiliation does to a team and if they can ever recover.

Joe identifies failings in the Cork management that led to the defeat on Sunday but it doesn’t end there. He looks at the strike action when Cork were marshalled by Donal Óg Cusack, the consequences of which are still being felt today. Only that can explain what happened in the second half.

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One of Ireland’s great writers Joseph O’Neill is today’s guest on Free State.

O’Neill’s novels Netherland and Godwin have reflected the centrality of sport in people’s lives. He talks about why sport matters so much and why in Ireland it matters even more than that. He reflects on his own upbringing and how he was raised in Holland before becoming a barrister and practising law in London. He has lived in New York for a generation and he reflect on how the media and the Democrats have enabled the rise of a dictator. And on All Ireland hurling final weekend, he shares the story of the time his father played hurling for Cork.

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The Fairground Park pool in St Louis Missouri was the largest pool in America when it was built in 1919. It had enough room for 10,000 swimmers. All of them white.

But when integration came to Missouri, rather than allow all races to swim, the Fairground Park pool closed. 

This phenomenon was explored by writer Heather McGhee and on Free State today, Joe and Dion examine the drained pool politics of unionism and the Orange order in Northern Ireland. 

When the North Down Cricket Club cross-community sports camp sports was blocked following an online backlash it was a perfect example of how narrow mindedness hurts everyone.

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