‘I have come to sell a product called soccer.’ The former FIFA president Joao Havelange announced himself in 1974 with these words. They have been the model for the expansionist, grasping FIFA that has existed to this day.

But maybe what matters was not the product but everything but the product?

On Free State today we look at why the World Cup matters and why it might be everything that Donald Trump’s America is not.

From David Clifford and Kerry to Messi and Argentina, sport is what it is because of the communities that are brought together.

Could it be that as America experiences the World Cup, they see that the world is a better place than their leaders want them to believe?

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There are no atheists in the foxholes and in the darkness of the night there is nobody who won’t find consolation in the World Cup.

On Free State today Joe talks about his own World Cup journey. Joe and Dion look at why the tournament captivates and what it tells us about communities as opposed to the leaders of those communities.

At a time when Elon Musk had become the world’s first trillionaire, we look at the hatred he is trying to foment. 

And we look at the story of Palestine Action and what it tells us the authoritarian direction of the world today.

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How have Donegal got themselves in this mess? Has Jim McGuinness’s obsession with Kerry blinded him to the other threats.

On Free State today, Joe examines why some counties accumulate All Irelands and others fail, while Dion surprises him with his knowledge of Roscommon’s football history.

Joe and Dion also look at how the Belfast Riots happened. 

For months the PSNI were warned that houses were being identified and that people were stockpiling food for fear their homes would be attacked but according to reports nothing was done.‘My daughter was crying, saying she doesn’t want to die,’ one father said of the terror his family endured during the riots.

Why has this happened and what is the hypocrisy at the heart of loyalism that allows this hate to prosper?

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Belfast has burned this week. The horrific knife attack on Monday night shocked everyone. But nobody was surprised by what came next. In Belfast, In Glasgow and around Britain, people came out on the street. Some were there to protest, others were there to intimidate. In Belfast, the intimidation took over.

On Free State today, Joe and Dion consider the riots in Belfast and whether there is a difference there than in other places. Joe looks at the inherent supremacy in the loyalist mindset and why it has made that community more susceptible to the hysteria driven by social media.

As people take to the streets in Dublin and elsewhere, can any politician challenge the power of the technology and the propaganda advancing this cause?

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The FAI have decided to move Ireland’s game against Israel to a neutral venue. But is this a pragmatic move or another attempt to avoid making a principled decision?

On Free State today Joe and Dion talk to Sinead Gibney of the Social Democrats about why this is a cop out. 

Would there be consequences for Ireland if they refused to play the game or would it lead to others following?

Sinead Gibney explains why this is a moral issue and even if Ireland were removed as hosts of the Euros in two years, they should refuse to play. The decision to move the game doesn’t address the moral core of the problem.

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John Kampfner doesn’t believe there is a better way, he believes there is only one way for western democracies to survive.

On Free State today he talks about what democracies have to do to survive. They - we - are drinking in the last chance saloon he says. He explains why there has to be a reckoning and why so many politicians do not have the capability to change.

He speaks about his new book Braver New World which we have discussed on the podcast and where in the world countries are doing things differently. If the rest of us don’t do the same, there will be trouble ahead.

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Have you been watching Love Island? As part of his deep research for the podcast, Dion has and on today’s Free State he shares his concerns about Fitzy and the world he has walked in to.

Joe encouraged Dion to watch it but hasn’t done so himself but he marvels at the Love Island universe and what it contains.

Yet it is the universe of the late great Frank McGuigan that holds his attention. Joe recalls a player of preternatural gifts whose genius drew people to him and whose vulnerability ensured they always willed him on.

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Aziz Abu Sarah’s older brother Tayseer was like a father to him. Azis was ten years old when his brother died after he had been tortured and beaten in an Israeli jail. Aziz says his brother’s death sent him to his own prison where all he wanted was revenge.

Maoz Inon’s parents were killed by Hamas on October 7th. A couple of days later, he and his family released a message. “For the death of our parents on October 7,  

my family is seeking no revenge. What we are seeking is peace and equality.”

On Free State today Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon talk to us about their extraordinary friendship and their determination to find a way to peace in the Middle East.

They speak about their attempt to understand each other as Israelis and Palestinians and why there must be justice and equality as well as peace.

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