It’s a real Christmas cracker that we have for our listeners in this week’s show.

N&V Football Correspondent Billy Carr joins is to look back at Argentina’s win in a classic World Cup Final, as well as seeing how our predictions played out over the last month.

With the temperatures in the UK being so low, it’s apt that we discuss some record breaking times in the Antarctic Ice Marathon, with the men’s winner- Irishman Sean Tobin – taking first place in 2 hours 53 minutes.

Leg spinner Rehan Ahmed became the youngest England Men’s Test Cricketer, taking seven wickets and putting England on the verge of a whitewash series win in Pakistan, and we also look back at England’s women winning both their 50-over and 20-over series in the West Indies.

In rugby we discuss the announcement of Steve Borthwick as England’s new coach, as well as asking why Wasps and Worcester appear to have been treated very differently by the RFU in their ongoing efforts to keep the clubs playing whilst facing big financial challenges.

We wish all of our listeners a very Happy Christmas and we’ll be back with all again from 5th January!

After a week off, we’re back with Episode 81. With the World Cup into its final week, we look back over some of the highs & lows of the knockout stages, and see how Tony, Andy & Billy’s predictions have fared.

We discuss the fantastic Test Cricket series between Pakistan and England. This is the first series between the 2 sides in Pakistan for 17 years – whilst England have won the series with a game to spare, both games have ended in tense and close finales.

Picking up on a previous topic, we cover the fiasco of a 100-mile ultramarathon being mis-measured by 218 metres, possibly costing Camille Herron her World Record 8 months after the race, and in rugby we look at the changes in leadership in both Twickenham and Cardiff, with Warren Gatland replacing Wayne Pivac as Coach of Wales, and Eddie Jones being sacked as England coach 9 months before the World Cup begins.

Our Guest is friend of the show and fitness expert, Sarah Kirkham. Sarah joins us to talk about how her “medal a month” challenge has gone, what her highlights were, and her plans for future challenges in 2023. Sarah also shares some great points on how people can stay on top of their fitness goals during the celebrations of the festive season.

A fantastic return!

In this week’s Null & Void Podcast we bring you our reflections on the 2nd batch of Football World Cup pool games in Qatar, and what teams need to do to make the knockout stages.

We also look at the thrilling finale to the World Triathlon Series in Abu Dhabi, with Frenchman Leo Bergere just edging out Britain’s Alex Yee in the final standings.

With England and Wales both enduring woeful weekends in their Rugby Union internationals, we ponder the implications for coaches Wayne Pivac and Eddie Jones, whilst in more positive news we look forward to England’s first Cricket Test Match in Pakistan for 15 years and the announcement of the Vitality Roses warm up series in preparations for next year’s Netball World Cup in South Africa.

Given the disappointing performances of England’s football and rugby teams over the weekend, we wrap up by sharing our thoughts on fans who boo their team, wondering what benefits it actually offers and suggesting that they may like to get a grip!

We're taking a week off after this week, but we promise we'll be back on the 15th December to bring you more great sports stories!

We kick off Episode 79 with the news that Cristiano Ronaldo has left Manchester United after his explosive interview. We then move on to talk about the first 3 days of the Qatar World Cup, with England starting with a convincing 6-2 win over Iran, Wales drawing with USA and Saudi Arabia causing a shock with a 2-1 win over Tony & Andy’s tip to win the cup, Argentina.

In Rugby League Andy talks about the men’s and women’s World Cup finals at Old Trafford. Australia dominated both games to make it a World Cup double – with Andy stating the performances made up for an untoasted toastie! Kevin Sinfield finished his amazing feat of running 7 ultramarathons in 7 days at half-time in the men’s final, having raised over £1.6 million for MND charities. And we celebrate England’s Wheelchair Rugby League team winning the World Cup, beating France in a fiercely contested final.

We wrap up with a review of the ATP Tennis Finals, with Novak Djokovic matching Roger Federer’s number of ATP titles, and netting a cool £3.9 million for his win in Turin, as well as looking back at the weekend’s Rugby Union internationals, with Ireland continuing their great autumn with a close win over Australia, England stealing a late draw with New Zealand and Georgia adding fuel to their claims for a 6 Nations place with an historic win over Wales!

Episode 78 is another episode of nail-biting World Cup updates!

We celebrate England’s T20 Cricket win over Pakistan to become the first men’s team to hold the 50 over and T20 titles at the same time. Andy talks about his trips to Elland Road and the Emirate for the Rugby League World Cup Semi-Finals. Both close games, with England losing to Samoa in extra-time.

It was also disappointment for England fans in the Women’s Rugby Union World Cup Final as the Red Roses’ 30 gam winning streak was ended by hosts New Zealand in front of a record crowd.

With the Qatar football World Cup getting under way on Sunday, our Football Correspondent Billy Carr joins us to share his thoughts on the potential winners and dark horses, what England and Wales’ chances are, and who are the key players to watch out for.

All in all, a World Champion Episode!

In Episode 77 we start with the T20 Cricket World Cup and England’s narrow win over Sri Lanka putting them into the Semi-Finals at the expense of hosts Australia.

Andy reflects on his visit to Twickenham to see an abject performance by England in losing their Rugby Union test to Argentina, whilst in the Women’s World Cup the Red Roses booked their place in the final against hosts New Zealand. We also discuss the Rugby League World Cup, with England beating Papa New Guinea to secure a place in the semi-finals, as well as the “Great Wigan Pie Shortage of 2022”.

In football we tell FIFA to get a grip as controversy continues to dog the build up to Qatar’s World Cup. We also discuss the weekend’s Premier League results, including a win for new Aston Villa boss Unai Emery, and Tony talks about finding a new way of venting his anger with his new punchbag that looks like Jurgen Klopp!

This week we start with a look back at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships from St George, Utah – with a good showing for the British Women. We follow this with an update on the T20 Cricket World Cup, where England kept their slim chances alive with a win over New Zealand.

Staying in the Antipodes we cover the knock-out stages of the Women’s Rugby World Cup, looking back at the quarter finals and looking forward to England v Canada and New Zealand v France in the semi-finals, before bringing the rugby chat closer to home and discussing Harlequins’ trademark last play Premiership win over local rivals London Irish.

We discuss the brave move by the Australian football team in releasing a video that is critical of key issues with Qatar 2022 and wonder if other teams will follow suit.

Our guest this week is recent co-host Paddy Mullarkey, who joins us on the other side of the microphone to talk about Arsenal’s fantastic start to the season, and what he thinks has culturally changed at the club this season to have them topping the table.

We welcome Tony back from his travels down under, before Andy updates on his visits to Coventry & Bolton for the Rugby League World Cup and runs through how things are shaping up with the final round of group games left.

With the T20 Cricket World Cup under way, we discuss the early games, including South Africa again ending up in a bizarre rain affected result in their draw with Zimbabwe.

Looking forwards, we discuss the upcoming quarter finals in the Women’s Rugby Union World Cup, with Wales set to play hosts New Zealand and England set to play old foes Australia.

In Athletics we tell the organisers of the Great Scottish Run to “Get a Grip” after Eilish McColgan’s 10,000m record was knocked out of the books due to the course being measured short, whilst Andy laments a 14thconsecutive unsuccessful application for a ballot place in the London Marathon.

Building on some of the great contributions by recent guests, we discuss mental health in sports, as well as some of the benefits many people find that sport has for their mental health.

In the guest co-host seat this week is our Football Correspondent Billy Carr. He helps me review England’s hard fought win over France in the Women’s World Cup and we recognise the amazing achievement of captain Sarah Hunter equalling the record caps for England with her 137th appearance.

We look back at the weekend’s Premier League football and ask how more can be done to protect referees from the appalling abuse by players and managers, as well as neither Tony nor I getting bragging rights after Manchester United and Newcastle played out a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford.

The Rugby League World Cup kicked off in Newcastle, with Andy (way, way) up in the stands. Despite some PA problems off the pitch, England performed on it, with a 60-6 win over Samoa, whilst Ireland opened with a win over Jamaica and Scotland were beaten by Italy.

Billy reviews two big upsets in Cricket’s T20 World Cup, with Scotland beating West Indies and Namibia turning over Sri Lanka, whilst our “Roving Australian Sports Reporter” goes into a bit of the background of Australian Cricket.

Another great episode!

This week we have a focus on the different World Cup events taking place across the globe. England’s Red Roses opened the Women’s Rugby Union World Cup in New Zealand with an emphatic win over Fiji, whilst the Rugby League World Cup (Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair events) kicks off in Newcastle this coming weekend.

England’s men continued their build up to cricket’s T20 World Cup with a series win over Australia, and Ireland’s women beat Scotland in a play-off to qualify for next year’s football World Cup Down Under.

In the midst of all this it was a double blow for domestic men’s rugby, with Wasps following Worcester into administration, and whilst Max Verstappen secured the 2022 Formula 1 Driver’s Championship with a win in Japan – questions now hang over whether he’ll be able to keep his 2021 title after Red Bull were found guilty of breaching the budget cap rules last season.

This week was World Mental Health Awareness Day, so Clinical Hypnotherapist & Psychotherapist and Peak Performance Coach Andy McMenemy joins us, from his holiday in Cyprus, to chat about ways that sports & exercise can help manage mental wellbeing, as well as offering some great techniques that listeners can quickly & easily incorporate into their day to help manage their stress levels.

Another amazing show!