PODCAST · sports
For and Against
by Paul Roach
Arguing the toss over the big issues in sport off the field of play, For and Against takes sport seriously....sometimes! David Gill, Simon Johnson, Stephen Reilly and Paul Roach rip apart the controversies in sport and take a look under the bonnet to see what makes the sports 'industry' tick. From the commercial to the philosophical, from the sublime to the ridiculous, For and Against is your deep dive into how and why sport matters.
Episodes
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Episode 140
I know what you’re thinking. If For & Against can take a week off between episodes, then surely it’s okay for the AFL Finalists to do the same…well, think again! Because the team have something to say it. About that and about Sydney derby TV timeslots, the...
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Episode 140 - Footy Finals, Byes and Immortals
I know what you’re thinking. If For & Against can take a week off between episodes, then surely it’s okay for the AFL Finalists to do the same…well, think again! Because the team have something to say it. About that and about Sydney derby TV timeslots, the...
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Episode 139 – It’s Not Sport But We Like It – Special Edition
Every now and then, there’s something in the quasi-not-quite-sporting world that catches For & Against’s eye. So imagine our delight when a string of It’s Not Sport But We Like It stories emerged at once in our post-Olympics haze! There was only one solutions – a show dedicated to the passionate,...
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Episode 138 – Ah Paris, Oo la la and au revoir
Did we love the Olympics in the city of love…discuss, rant, rave, rate! That’s the mission of the For & Against team as we justify too many late nights, early mornings and frustrations using the official app! There’s also an acronym overload of NBA TV deals, AI overreach, EPL OS to work through....
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Episode 137 – Who wants to be on TOP of the Olympics
Toyota have announced they are leaving The Olympic Partner program after the Paris Olympics – sacre bleu! Quel happened? Well, For & Against is here to break it down. We also look at how the Olympics has flexed its muscles by re-routing the most famous finish in all of sport. Sports funding,...
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Episode 136 – It’s a Cricket Party in the USA
But did anyone in Australia know? And should a world cup ever be televised by one of these upstart new-fangled streaming services instead of our much loved traditional advertising-supported free-to-air TV channels? Well, you know who knows? The For & Against Team, of course! They’re also keen to...
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Episode 135 – Sport Is Good For You
Preaching to the converted, but science has finally confirmed what we always knew, Sport is good for the world – financially, socially and emotionally. And For & Against is here to take you through why! Add in the Holy Grail of selling cricket to the Yanks and MotoGP to Liberty Media, plus a...
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Episode 134 – Paris Here We Come
Sacre Bleu! Who you gonna call when athletes get prizemoney for winning gold and aspiring Australian Olympians get turfed for drinking a beer between qualifying rounds? For & Against, of course! And what do you wear to the opening ceremony at the fashion capital of the world? Well, you’ll have to...
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Episode 133 - Stadia Tragedia and the Crime of Inadequate Moose Gutting
For & Against goes deep into the existential crises facing Tasmanian and Brisbanian sports fans as politicians hold their once-promised stadiums to ransom! But can a stadium be anything other than a white elephant? The team investigate and are pretty clear about what they find. In the Shootout,...
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Episode 132 - AFL Drug Policy and Player "Protection"
What to do when a Federal politician suggests that a player sitting out for a side strain might actually be because they tested positive to recreational drugs in off field testing? Well, two things: 1) hold a press conference that yields a thousand headlines and opinions, and 2) listen to For &...
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Episode 131 - It's Not Sport But We Like It...Or Do We?
What does the WWE, eSports, Olympic Breakdancing and Pigeon Racing have in common? Well, they all make Roachy's blood boil for a start - that anyone thinks of them as sport! Is he right? There's only way to find out, as For & Against once again tackles the big issues. Seriously (sort of), that's...
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Episode 130 - The Enhanced For & Against
For & Against predicted this over a decade ago, now a gaggle of billionaires are making it true: an alternative to the Olympics where anything goes! And some of us are NOT happy!Will athletes be go faster, stronger, higher. Will viewers watch a supplement-supported world record! Will Roachy's…
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Episode 129 - The Hottest Summer Ever…or was it?
The For & Against team have seen a few summers of sport - perhaps too many, but still never enough. And every summer, we see challenges to the status quo: basketball on Christmas Day, shorter then longer then shorter BBL seasons, the eternal optimism that football will take over riding the wave…
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Episode 128 - Summer of Cricket, Tennis and Netflix
What would the 80s think of cricket in 2024? Well for one thing, they would think we would be discussing whether we should or shouldn’t play cricket on Australia Day. Or that it’s a surprise the Windies won a test. Or that the Poms would get upset about Alex Carey being picked in the Test Team of...
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Episode 127 - Netball’s Annus Horribilis Makes Rugby Feel Better
Just when Rugby thought all hope was lost, Netball and For & Against’s team are here to reminds us all that any sports administrator can have an annus horribilis. The team’s Wing Attack breaks down the pros and considerable cons of Amazon Prime winning the rights to the next few Cricket World…
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Episode 126 - The Matildas and Rahmbo Strike It Rich
Football Fair Pay, Fair Play and Rahm’s Giant Pay Day…it’s all about the money as For & Against dissect Australian Football’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which breaks new ground achieving pay parity for the Matildas and the Socceroos. They also rage against the VAR that penalises Everton...
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Episode 125 - Living La FIFA Loca!
FIFA are handing out World Cup hosting duties like they’re Oprah… “You get to host a game! You get to host a game! You get to host a game!” …and so it falls to your fearless For & Against team to hold the world’s biggest sporting machine to semi-serious account. Meanwhile, there’s a lot of fun…
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Episode 124 - The Failed State of the (Rugby) Union
Whoa, that sounds serious! Well yes, contrary to popular opinion, For & Against does take sport seriously…sometimes. And so, after their winter hiatus, the team put what passes for their game faces on to discuss the calamitous state of Rugby Union. In other segments, Roachy continues his...
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Episode 123 - Ashes to Ashes … Cricket That Is!
It’s the most traditional rivalry in the world: the Ashes! But can it survive in a world where tradition is for sale? You bet it can as Pat Cummins, Bazball and For & Against come to the rescue! Plus we ask if Esports has jumped the eShark, if Tasmania can jump its AFL stadium issues and whether...
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Episode 122 - It’s The Voice, Try to Understand it
As sports across the country line up to support the Voice, the team asks why. To understand should they or shouldn’t they, and why it matters, the team brings in no less than PR expert Lachlan Johnston. It’s a great conversation about how times are a-changing and the rise of player power. Then...
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Episode 121 - The Robots Are Coming - AI in Sport
ChatGPT would never create an episode like this...would it? If For & Against has proven anything over the years, it's that intelligence in sport is rare. So if you think artificial intelligence would be welcomed to a coach's strategy, a player's training, a commentator's analysis...well you'd be...
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Episode 120 - Action Action Action When Adelaide Comes Alive
Could Adelaide actually be the centre of the sporting universe? The Gather Round, LIV Golf and our special guest, Andrew McGarry, certainly suggest so. Or could it be Las Vegas, which is collecting sporting teams and events like they were Celine Dion or Frank Sinatra. And the NRL wants to go…
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Episode 119 - Head Injuries: the Knockout Blow for Sport As We Know It?
As litigation relating to concussion and CTE mounts, is some of the physical confrontation that is inherent in sport at risk of being regulated out? Also, the launch of Major League Cricket, crazy sporting related dinners, and Slamball....when basketball meets trampolining! Produced by DM…
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Episode 118 - Free Speech Just Ain’t That Free Anymore
Gary Linekar assists a BBC own goal in the Free Speech League, while locally, Pat Cummins gets a free kick. We’re assisted in our discussions by journalist Kevan Sangster. Also, the NRL and A-League bloat…sorry, float expansion plans, FIFA sees the light on Saudi sponsorship, and is Supercars...
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Episode 117 - Saudi Sportswashing Will Eat Itself
Saudi money is creating controversy in golf, football, F1 and more. But is the Saudi Arabian investment vehicle, PIF, government affiliated or not? Well, it depends on who’s asking - so to cut through the different answers going on around the globe, now it’s the For & Against team asking! Joined…
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Episode 116 - Women’s Cricket Makes History
The Women’s Indian Premier League takes women’s sport to unprecedented heights. Joined by award-winning journalist, lawyer and Indian sports afficianado, Ritam Mitra, the team breaks down the history-making TV deal and player auction which sees the game’s top female players earning more than half…
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Episode 115 – Cricket Legends of the Fall in TV Deals
At the start of the year, Cricket Australia surprised the sporting world by announcing an early resolution of their next TV rights deal. But did they go too early, take too little money and choose the wrong partner? Who better to take us through it than the For & Against team and special guest…
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Episode 114 – More Money, More Problems, More Mankad?
They’re out again, those lists about the highest paid sports people in the world! And who better to tease out the big winners and the big surprises than your For & Against team! In keeping with the theme, those multi-million dollar NFL contracts get put under the microscope for what is and isn’t...
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Episode 113 - TV Rights Just Ain’t What They Used to Be
Who needs enemies when you can get broadcast networks to pay you millions of dollars for the privilege…welcome to 2023! It’s the Australian summer, which can only mean one thing: cricket! Well, two things: cricket and a host of opportunities for the For & Against team to ask what Cricket…
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Episode 112 - The Carnival is Over
Carnivals actually! The World Cup is over. 2022 is over. And another year of For & Against is over. World football expert (and For & Against alum!) David Gill joins the team to dissect the world game’s showpiece in Qatar, and whether Australian football has once again wasted its greatest...
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Episode 111 - A VAR Decision 31 Years in the Making...and the return of the Cappuccino Kid!
Boxing gets a rare run, with an equally rare example of a sport delving into the archives and reversing a 30 year-old result, setting quite the precedent.....ESG finds its inevitable way into sport.....the Cappuccino Kid, Alex Watson, turns good guy and is trying to save Modern Pentathlon from...
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Episode 110 - The World Cup Runneth Over
The World Cup plunders on, providing more material than we know what to do with: armband bans, Infantino's multi-personality diatribe, the beer sales backflip, etc. etc. And was the early morning Socceroos opener the real reason no-one turned up to an Aust v Eng ODI? Red Card Yellow Card has a...
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Episode 109 - The World’s Most Marketable Athletes and How a Trip to the Singleton Show Created Australia’s Latest Champions
Show me the money! Or at least where a savvy advertiser should place it. The team work through the usual suspects and a few surprises on this year’s Most Marketable Athletes List. They can’t agree about the future of Pickle Ball or the Giteau Law, but they do agree that this show has one of the...
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Episode 108 - Virtue, Values, Value and Sport
The World Cup is about to kick off in Qatar and the team talk to journalist, Kevan Sangster, who helps us navigate player protests, FA remedy petitions and Denmark’s black kit. We also venture into the virtues of Netball sponsorship and the values of the Essendon football club and its one day…
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Episode 107 - 4.5 Billion Reasons Why AFL is a Religion
The ink is barely dry on the AFL’s new $4.5b contract and the team bring in Dr Hunter Fujak to put it under the microscope…and bring the hammer down on the NRL (who must be feeling very sorry for themselves). We also object to a Scottish legal ruling that sport is not a religion and discuss the...
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Episode 106 - More Than Just a Headache
In this show, the For & Against team get serious - if just for a short time - to discuss head injuries, concussion and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). And given that they can barely pronounce encepha… encephalo… CTE, they bring in Dr Alan Pearce, world-renowned neurophysiologist, to talk...
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Episode 105 - Super Bowlification and Cornhole-Gate!
Yes, we’re making up words, but only because words can’t describe the high drama and controversy that For & Against’s intrepid investigative team uncover in this show! The NRL is looking for bidders to host their Grand Final, Super Bowl-style. Will it catch on? Or is it just another piece of...
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Episode 104 - Is Test Cricket Dying Too?
First it was One Dayers, now it’s the jewel in the traditionalist’s crown, Test Cricket, whose life is on the line. South Africa might be the number one ranked team in the world, but does their lack of sponsors mark them as a canary in a coal mine? Fear not, because the For & Against team is all...
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Episode 103 - Don’t Waste Our Time!
He’s back! Sound the trumpets! Wave your flags! The walking encyclopaedia of all things football, David “Bear” Gill, is back from sabbatical to celebrate and reminisce over the 30th Anniversary of the introduction of the back pass rule! We also cover other great rule changes, Sam Kerr achieving...
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Episode 102 - All I Want For Xmas is a Game of Basketball
Is it sacrilegious to watch sport on Christmas Day? Or sacrilege not to? To figure it out, the team interview Sydney Kings Co-Owner, Paul Smith, who recently announced the NBL’s intention to break the taboo and own Christmas Day. Paul gives an off-the-cuff, sports business masterclass on…
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Episode 101 - IPL and MLS Big Deals!
After the team celebrated a century in our previous show, it’s time to get back down to business - specifically, the business of spending billions on cricket and football. The ever-insightful Ritam Mitra joins us to dissect the IPL’s latest jaw-dropping deal and what Apple might be thinking…
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Episode 100 - LIV Golf Lives!
Welcome to a very special edition of For & Against: our one hundredth show! 77 on ABC Grandstand and 23 on the Diamantina Network. And in a first for the team, we discuss whether we owe Greg Norman an apology. Speaking of sell-outs, the spontaneous sale of the Netball Grand Final venue gets...
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Episode 99 - The Dark Art of Coaching Across the Generations
We're joined by former Aussie cricketer and now coach Nathan Hauritz, to talk about bridging the generation gap in coaching (and his very recent appointment to Ireland). Still on cricket, is the giant awakening in the US? If the money is any guide, that's a yes. And to the disbelief of many, FIFA...
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Episode 98 - Play Equality at Wimbledon, Pay Equality in the US
Wimbledon takes a stand against Russia and the ATP/WTA return serve…where’s the moral high ground? Probably a lot closer to US soccer, where gender pay parity has arrived. And was the federal election coverage better than watching sport? As with sport, depends who you support… See...
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Episode 97 – The Netflix Effect takes on the Matildas and…Golf?
Where will it end? And do we want it to? In this episode, For & Against discuss the next sports looking to emulate the success of Netflix’s Drive to Survive. We also count the costs of Ash Barty’s retirement…to the cost of TV rights to next year’s Australian Open! And there’s an absolute classic...
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Episode 96 – Stadiums, CEOs and the End of Some Eras
For & Against gets tribal as Rugby League great, Brad Clyde, joins the team to debate whether Rugby League should break with tradition and move the Grand Final north of the border to Lang Park! The team also discuss the Wimbledon sanctions, the not-dead-yet Saudi golf league and the legacies of…
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Episode 95 - Will Live Sport Ever Be the Same Again?
Does live sport have a future? Will the crowds come back as COVID recedes? Join Paul, Simon and Stephen, as they discuss what sports need to do to get people buying tickets again. Or is the future of sport virtual, and coming soon to a metaverse near you? Find out on another great show of For &...
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Episode 94 - On Ash and 'Early' Retirements
Ash Barty's retirement shocked the world and blindsided sports-mad, hero-worshipping Australia. Join Paul, Simon and Stephen as they explore whether her actions are unprecedented or enlightened! The team also covers the march of private equity into sport and the consequences of Italy's failure to...
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Episode 93 - Who Says Sport and Politics Don't Mix
Who says sport and politics don’t mix? No-one on For & Against, that’s for sure. The team tackles Russian sporting sanctions, with a special interview with sporting economist and sanctions afficionado, Tim Harcourt, and discuss their impact on the hearts and minds of fans…and the budgets and...
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Episode 92 - The Fall of Tim Paine and the Rise of Crypto-in-Sport
The fall of Tim Paine, the rise of Crypto-in-Sport and how the Great White Shark plans to unite the world in peace and harmony...these topics and a whole lot more can only mean one thing...it's time for another great episode of For & Against! The team dissect whether Tim Paine fell on his sword…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Arguing the toss over the big issues in sport off the field of play, For and Against takes sport seriously....sometimes! David Gill, Simon Johnson, Stephen Reilly and Paul Roach rip apart the controversies in sport and take a look under the bonnet to see what makes the sports 'industry' tick. From the commercial to the philosophical, from the sublime to the ridiculous, For and Against is your deep dive into how and why sport matters.
HOSTED BY
Paul Roach
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does For and Against have?
For and Against currently has 65 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is For and Against about?
Arguing the toss over the big issues in sport off the field of play, For and Against takes sport seriously....sometimes! David Gill, Simon Johnson, Stephen Reilly and Paul Roach rip apart the controversies in sport and take a look under the bonnet to see what makes the sports 'industry' tick. From...
How often does For and Against release new episodes?
For and Against has 65 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to For and Against?
You can listen to For and Against on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts For and Against?
For and Against is created and hosted by Paul Roach.
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