“WE RECEIVED A delegation from Ireland at FIFA and they were naturally absolutely unhappy at what has happened.
“They know the match cannot be replayed and the decision of the referee is final. Naturally they have not asked for any sanctions to be given to any player or the referee, but they have asked, very humbly ‘Can’t we be team 33 at the World Cup?’
“They have asked for that, really.”
The words of FIFA boss Sepp Blatter may still sting, even five year’s later, but if anything good ever came out of them, it is Newstalk’s football podcast and radio show Team 33.
Hosted by the trio of Joe Coffey, Raf Diallo and Richard Chambers, the alternative football magazine show made its debut during this year’s World Cup and the trio now have a weekly radio show on Newstalk.
“The idea was Raf’s,” Chambers told TheScore.ie, “but we’ve known each other since college and we’ve always been chatting about football but the conversations inevitably always turned to slightly more obscure stuff like nostalgia, Football Manager, the singing careers for footballers once they retired, that sort of thing.
“So Raf came up with the idea about eight months before this year’s World Cup and we started doing the podcasts and Newstalk gave us a show out of it.”
Despite a successful debut during the tournament in Brazil, the trio thought that was that. However, Newstalk had other ideas.
“I didn’t think we’d be coming back but Ger Gilroy – Sports Editor at the station – thought we should come back and have another crack. So now we have a show that goes out on Tuesday at midnight and again on Friday at 11. The podcast also goes out weekly.
“We’re different than the Football Show on Off the Ball in that we’re more about the culture of football while they concentrate on the game itself and do it very well.
“So we don’t stray into that territory too often which is why, coming up over the next few weeks we”ll have a Football Manager special as well as doing some stuff on Subbuteo.
“The nostalgia element is also important so we’ll also be looking back at the weird season Middlesbrough had in 1996-97 where they reached two cup finals but still managed to get relegated.
“That’s not to say we can’t cover the tactical or analytical side of football if we have to. Raf has one of the best football analysis brains of anyone I know but, even when we’re doing the straight down the line stuff, we tend to go off on a tangent.”
Chambers, a news reporter with Newstalk, says that the shows are put together with the “football nerd” in mind, the kind of person who could tell you immediately who the most disappointing player they’ve ever managed in Football Manager is.
“It is designed with football nerds in mind but we do like to have a bit of craic as well, the kind you have on Twitter if you’re debating whether FIFA or PES is your favourite video game rather than the forced ‘banter’ you see on might see on a football show on TV.”
And being active on social media helps shape the programme and gives the trio ideas of what they should be discussing in each episode.
“We know from Twitter, etc, that there are a lot of people out there of a similar mindset to us and we are quite active in chatting with and listening to our listeners and readers and some segments we run are prompted by what they suggest, we’re open to all ideas like that.”
With all three having full-time jobs both with the station and elsewhere, putting together the Team 33 shows can be hectic but, Chambers says, they’d inevitably end up talking about these things anyway so they may as well record them.
“We’ve a great friendship so putting the show together feels more like having a chat, a shared hobby, whereas on Sky Sports or something like that you see this really forced effort for the presenters to be friends.
“I think being able to have a laugh is part of the culture on radio and it works much better in that format.”
And what does the future hold for the show?
“It is very early on. We’ve great support from everyone in Newstalk and Ger has been really encouraging.
“We’ll definitely be looking to do more stuff in terms of outside broadcasts and videos on the website to take the show to the listener as much as possible but I have to admit I love the set up at the moment.”
You can listen to Team 33 here.
