As sport evolves into a complex global industry, the legal frameworks supporting it have grown equally sophisticated. Emma Richmond, joint managing partner at Whitney Moore, and Aoife Farrelly, barrister and chair of the Sports Law Bar Association, are at the forefront of this shift.
In this episode of Sports Matters, they talks to Ian Kehoe about how grassroots clubs operate like SMEs, grappling with employment law, data protection, and regulatory compliance. Wearable tech and performance tracking have introduced new data privacy concerns, while volunteer-led organisations often lack the legal knowledge to manage risk effectively.
Richmond and Farrelly also highlight how governance structures—like the GAA’s Disputes Resolution Authority—serve as models for efficient, sport-specific adjudication. At the elite level, legal challenges span restrictive sponsorship contracts, IP rights, and disciplinary hearings with limited avenues for representation.
Sports Matters is sponsored by the law firm Whitney Moore.
Former Dublin football star Bernard Brogan has transitioned from the pitch into entrepreneurship, launching both Legacy Communications and PepTalk. Along the way, he realised that many of the lessons he learned in elite sport are transferable into the business arena. In this podcast, Brogan, who has won seven All Ireland titles and four All Star awards, identifies five things that business leaders can learn from the world of sport. Like in sport, he says that a crisis is an opportunity to innovate in business, while he also discusses why culture lives or dies with middle management. With most employees working from home, Brogan also talks about replacing the changing room/watercooler moments. A chartered accountant, Brogan also talks about his own entrepreneurial journey, revealing that PepTalk is currently in the midst of a funding round to help fuel an international expansion strategy.
Peter Oborne’s career in journalism spans forty years. At many stages, he has been in the orbit of Boris Johnson, particularly when Oborne was working at The Spectator and Johnson was, in Oborne’s words, its brilliant editor. He has charted Johnson’s rise and in his new book the Assault on Truth, Oborne deals with Johnson and his relationship with the truth, although in reality, it deals with his relationship with the media, specifically how the media were complicit in his rise and have failed to hold him to account.
Former Ireland international Niall Woods was forced to retire from rugby following a career-ending injury. He regrouped, transitioning into a career representing players. For eight years, he led Rugby Players Ireland (formerly IRUPA), and, then 10 years ago, he launched Navy Blue Sports, a sports agency that specialises in rugby and in female athletes. In this podcast with Ian Kehoe, Woods explains how a breakdown in relationship with the IRFU led to his exit from IRUPA and charts the battle to get his agency off the ground. He talks about the business of sourcing fresh talent, cutting contract and sponsorship deals and dealing with the negative stereotype of sports agents. With many rugby players still in limbo over their contracts, he talks about the impact of Covid on professional sport and what this means for contract talks. He argues that foreign-based players should be allowed to play for Ireland, outlines his ambition to grow the business in the UK, and explains why female sports is the next big growth area for brands and sponsors.
The nature of Irish politics ensures that many politicians, aware of how precarious their positions are, spend a long time working in their constituency. Some of this is necessary and a public service as TDs help constituents "navigate a dysfunctional system" But, in the worst cases, according to Holly Cairns, they are taking credit for things they haven't done. In this podcast, Cairns discusses her first year as a TD and the issues which energise her. Cairns is determined to fight for what she believes in even if it won't always necessarily transfer into votes.
Since launching in 2016, specialist business lender Capitalflow has advanced more than €550 million to Irish companies. And this is just the start, with its founder and CEO Ronan Horgan telling Ian Kehoe that he wants to “double or triple” the size of the business over the coming years.
In this podcast, Horgan explains how he got the non-bank lender off the ground, revealing the pitch that convinced Pollen Street Capital to back the venture. He also talks about the rise of non-bank lending, the future of financial services and the importance of competition in the lending market.
Horgan also talks about the impact of Covid-19 on his business and its customers and outlines his plan to expand Capitalflow through organic expansion into Europe and through mergers or acquisitions.
Devan Hughes co-founded the grocery delivery platform Buymie in 2015 and is now its chief executive. After launching in Cork in between lockdowns in the autumn, the fast-growing start-up is preparing to enter new cities in Ireland, the UK and beyond. Hughes tells Thomas Hubert about the European markets he is considering for expansion and the growing number of personal shoppers working with Buymie to perform deliveries – many coming from the devastated hospitality industry. He also defends the gig economy model and, having raised over €10 million, discusses how few venture capitalists are prepared to back consumer-facing businesses in Ireland.
Rick Perlstein’s work has concerned itself with the American right, in all its forms, and the tendency of those on the centre and the left to dismiss them.
His four volumes began with ‘Before The Storm’ detailing the rise of Barry Goldwater in the 1960s and concluded last year with the publication of ‘Reaganland-America’s Right Turn’. The historian has observed the journey of the Republican party and its outriders, while also noting how rashly they have been dismissed by Democrats and the media for the past 50 years.
In this interview with Dion Fanning, Perlstein discusses the clear eyed reality of President Joe Biden’s inauguration speech. Biden might have talked about unity but he didn’t flinch when confronting the insurrectionists.
Perlstein has devoted his life to studying the American right but he felt exhilarated watching Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday. “Democracy has prevailed,” Biden said. The next four years will tell us more about that, but this week was certainly better than the alternative.
When the economy went into lockdown last March, Kasia Gaborec-McEvoy was concerned Covid-19 could devastate My Name is Ted, the luxury leather accessories brand she established with her husband Brendan McEvoy four years ago. Instead, sales increased by 400% last year with consumers drawn to their high-end leather bags and wallets during 2020. In this podcast with Cáit Caden, Gaborec McEvoy, a law graduate, talks about the decision to leave a senior role at Ryanair to launch a luxury fashion brand in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, and explains how the company has built up a loyal clientele of lawyers, doctors and entrepreneurs. Gaborec-McEvoy also talks about sustainable fashion, landing a coveted spot on the Brown Thomas annual Create showcase and the various supports available for female entrepreneurs. Having pivoted My Name is Ted fully online as a result of the crisis. She also reveals that the company is now preparing to raise external funding to drive future expansion.
What do you do when you have already built one global company? For David Walsh, the answer was straightforward: do it again. Walsh made his name and his money with Netwatch, the phenomenally successfully security monitoring company that employed 550 people monitoring 300,000 sites around the world. Having stepped back from day-to-day management of the business a year ago, he has now launched HaloCare, a health security business that aims to keep elderly people living independently in their homes for longer. In this podcast with Ian Kehoe, Walsh talks about his ambition of building another major business in his adopted home in Carlow, and why he expedited the roll-out of the business as a result of Covid-19. He also talks about the importance of innovation and culture within any business, how regional towns provide a competitive advantage, and why the government should change the rules around CGT and personal guarantees to promote entrepreneurship.
With Ticketshop, Tommy Higgins was a pioneer of the Irish ticket selling industry and an original backer of Riverdance. When he sold his business to global giant Ticketmaster, he became boss of their European operations. In this podcast with Sam Smyth, he talks about the “torture” of the various competition probes into the industry, the economics of entertainment and the so-called black market in tickets. He also speaks about building his business from scratch, explains why Croke Park is underutilised as a venue, and reveals what acts are guaranteed to draw the biggest crowds. Now retired, he talks about his new role chairing Sligo Rovers.
