The Sunday Paper Review UNLOCKED | Queen Katie’s Croke Park Coronation | OTB

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1:05On Off the Wall. All right, very welcome along. It is the Sunday Paper Review here on Off the Ball Show and how it was you for the next hour or just over an hour or so on this, the 6th of September. 2026. We're going to come through the biggest stories on Best Sports Friday and Cross the Back Pages over the next while we have Gavin Kasey, Senior Sports Friday on Broadcaster with the 42nd studio. Morning, Gavin. Morning, Shane. Paul O'Hare, football journalist is in with us as well. Morning, Paul. Good to see you. Keepin' well. There's plenty to get into, Lads and I know Gavin, you had a late night and not as much sleep as maybe some of the rest of us. So we'll get into all that in just a second, but I'll just bring people up with speed on the back and front-page headlines in the papers today because there are of course plenty of headlines and plenty of coverage on Keri Taylor on the front pages of the Newspapers this morning as well. I'll try and get that into shot. The front page of the song, Fairy Tale of Crow Park. Keri's bout of this world, box legend is Undisputed World Champ, the Queen of Ring Thrills, 82,000 fans. Keri Taylor's Fairy Tale box and career ended with one final win last night and on the back page.

2:09Thank you and good fight. Keri signs off in style. Undisputed Champ. Keri Taylor bowed out with one last win and told Crow Park we brought boxing back, coverage then of Manchester City's one-no-win against Carpentry yesterday and a preview ahead of Arsenal versus Chelsea, which is one of our two live games on Off the Ball on Newstalk this afternoon. We have Everton versus Manchester United as well. Before that, the Irish Sunday Mirror has front-page coverage as well. Keri's croak fair well, the greatest dream end to career of Ireland's most iconic sports star and other lovely few images of her and some other coverage inside the main section of the paper there for Keri Taylor as well. And on the back page, legend finishes up a winner, the greatest and its undisputed and a lovely photo of Keri laying her gloves in the centre of the ring to mark the end of her career yesterday. By, by, Karak says United's big spending days are overt, Michael Karak has insisted that Manchester United do not have to spend big to compete for the biggest trophies. There are so much transfer window of 163 million pounds was less than newly promoted Ipswich Town.

3:11It's the back page on the Sunday Mirror. If the Sunday people goes within the back page, well, no Keri coverage here, maybe two years for some of these papers possibly. Holland lamps him. Early in the lands, big blow to Frank, early in highland scored his 300th club goal of his career and you 125 million pounds signing Enzo Fernandez played his part. Emory's drought of order, Holenelaston Villa Nile yesterday, the Zerbys load of blankers, not even Forest Nile, Spurs Nile was a result yesterday. You have a budget card that Michael Karak story again and meek and our Ted are reckoning, Arsenal can go all the way to primarily glory this season again if Bacayo Sack is desires anything to go by. And if that Arsenal chassis game later on today, there is a sports piece in the Sunday business post as well. G A club streamer to tackle rugby opportunity, clubber had treble digit growth across revenue and subscribers and has entered the UK market. So revenue flying according to the firm's founder and chief executive, Jimmy Doyle founded in 2020, the double and based company primarily streaming club G A fixtures and some of the numbers 2000 GM matches, clubber will broadcast this year 15 Keri boards are in media rights deals with clubber and there are 13 staff at the firm, which it says leans heavily on AI.

4:21So some detail there is also a sports piece in the Sunday times business section high rollers back Irish cricket, a family trust connected to Greg Burr and Australian data center magnet has invested 1.3 million euro in the Balfast wolves, a cricket franchise competing in the European T20 league. They're interesting sporting business story at the front page of the Irish meadow Sunday actually has a lovely mansion, an exclusive man United captains heartfelt video to M9 crash victim. This is of course the young boy, a man United fan, yummy who is in that horrific crash on the M9. A number of weeks ago and Bruno Fernandez, a sentiment, a lovely message, yummy apparently a Manchester United fans that's inside the paper on the Irish meadow Sunday. You also have a course Keri Taylor on the back page and epic glove story, a Doring Nation watches on it all as Katie signs off with one final win. The sports section of the Sunday times thanks for the memories Taylor bows out as three time on disputed champion on spectacular night at Crow Park and a photograph of Katie saluting her fat Doring fans, the sports section of the Sunday independence and other brilliant photograph from Stephen McCarthy.

5:27The last dance Queen Katie hangs up her gloves is the front page headline there and of course the front page of the Sunday Independent goes with Katie Taylor as well a lovely photograph. The glorious finale Katie's night to remember in Croker again that photograph from Stephen McCarthy of sports. That's your headlines. Gavin you were there last night what was your takeaway just an iconic night and the perfect end to a glittering career. Yeah what do you need me for? Tell you what my takeaway having looked at some of the front and back pages there is that Stephen McCarthy was on fire. From the words for one of the best in the business. No it was a night really befitting the athlete and vice versa it was it was mega it was memorable. It was hair raising and it was potentially once in a lifetime which is what Katie Taylor is as a sports person and. The only credit is a little bit disappointing for some of the Irish guys on it and you're kind of thinking who's going to take us back there or is this going to be. The event to which we elude you know the way that previous generations were some from the current generation I should say to that day in 1972 with Muhammad Ali and and I'll blue Lewis.

6:37I guess floor pillion the end was sort of I'll blue Lewis you know in the sense that she was very much the the B side here and and a bit of an afterthought and that's no disrespect to her. She wasn't like plot from obscurity here she's actually a good fighter that fighter that Katie Taylor beat I mean she deserved her ranking it's just that the division at the moment is a little bit weak because shantelle camera moved up to well to wait. Michaela mayor moved up to well to wait they fought each other a couple of weeks ago so. I was like the next best option and yes probably a little bit of a safe option but like mandatory challenger for one of the belts one of the top contenders for the one belt that was vacant. I mean do people even care about the sort of belt nonsense like the point is Taylor is on this beauty champion for a third time but just to explain that a little bit to people who might wonder how that works like. She after beach after she beat Amanda Serrano in New York last July as in July 2025 she was ostensibly retired like that was it for her on less quote park crept up again and became feasible and I don't think anybody anybody really expected that to be the case so.

7:39She vacated her wbc belt at the time because she was inactive she was going to take some time away recently married spend time with the family at the wbc can kind of make you direct their. Champion in recess or some nonsense like that so basically the belt was up for grabs one way of woman called sandy Royan who then decided to start a family of her own was was or is pregnant I'm not sure if she's had the kid so she vacated the title so then it was up for grabs for Katie to take it back essentially when croke park camera that's why she's a three time on disputed champion. Because she put all the pieces back together again essentially but the night itself. I'll take it with me honestly I think I said that before probably about Katie Taylor fights you know Madison Square Garden the first time around against Amanda Serrano for example but this felt sort of singular in the sense that. Very very you get to attend a sporting event at croke park in the dark for starters and just the light show the fireworks the general sense of like. Feb royal festive celebratory atmosphere the number of people just wearing county J.A.

8:43Jersey's or club J.A. Jersey's even during the day around the hotel croke park hotel it felt almost like you were going to a championship match. And it was that sort of a mood I think that people were in it was amazing amazing thing to experience in very plain terms it was one of the coolest things that I've ever attended you know it was just a. A fantastic way for her to sign off a fantastic celebration of what she has contributed to our society not only I was sport I don't know that they're clearly are not 83 thousand boxing fans in this country it's a very neat sport we don't have. A fight attending public here I mean probably okay different economic times for sure but the alifa it is is an example of that or case in point so like. How many days of those people were there just to. Bit farewell or pay homage to somebody who's. Brought medals and belts and an uber will drink it's through double an airport over the years and made their day on several occasions and that's what it was about it was about

9:43the way of her off and I wrote in my preview piece just just a finish on like the kind of occasion that you know tears would be inevitable and I meant for Taylor as well. And like she was battling tears all week and it was actually a battle that she was losing quite often during her media engagements during the press conference in house interviews TV interviews etc and she was probably the only you know hers with the only dry eyes in the end afterwards and it sort of shows that the composure that she had on the night when it mattered like she she bust the room you know she grabbed the microphone off Jamie Ward from this zone and said let me just take a look around here and she was in charge and she kept it together and yeah she's to my mind the greatest female fighter who has ever lived and. I don't see anybody active at the moment who can challenge that. What's your take Paul like might not might be a three thousand bucks and fans as Gavin says but there's certainly a three thousand candy share their fans yeah hundred percent and I certainly feel a little bit inadequate here in terms of being a

10:43self a surfer and watching it on TV like I was the same I was a TV TV man like I'm not been there like I wouldn't normally cover boxing and I initially I was kind of intrigued you know there was so much debate and sort of you know and the debate is both in the beginning about what she sell out and how foolish we were to to to doubt that at any stage in terms of how quickly it did sell out but I just noticed the line in Maliki Clarke and coverage of it last night on the Irish Times website because I was intrigued just just watching it as a TV spectacle and you know numerous countless sort of shots of the crowd and just to see in what sort of punctures were there a Maliki just has a line here he says this crowd was all Ireland you had families and couples and gangs of girls and bands of boys all drawn here like Pilgrims you Saturday night girlos in Saturday night hair tottering down Jones's road fellas and you pro tracksuits dudes and chinos with jumpers not at around their shoulders travelers and poshals grannies and grandkids car heads rugby heads soccer heads all feights all known I saw all feights and on all here for Katie which I just

11:46thought was a nice line as somebody who doesn't sort of cover a box and I think I've actually covered more of Katie Taylor's Ireland's international football games and I've ever been out of press conference around like that you know which might be a collector's I'm in a tone right but I was kind of intrigued by that sort of side of it the mechanics of as Gavin says you know we don't have 83,000 box and fans in the country but in terms of just the full house and the show that they put on and watching it as a TV spectacle that's that was kind of what drew me into it you know the interesting thing were the most impressive thing I think to me as somebody who does cover boxing and who's followed it even long since before I was a journalist like is that you can count on one hand the number of boxers male or female who would sell 83,000 tickets in the world at the moment two of them are Tyson for a Anthony Joshua who may need each other at this juncture of their respective careers in order to ship that many tickets because they're faded talents at this point and I'm not sure if I do them would fill Wembee against anybody other than the other if that makes sense.

12:49Alexander Rusek is Ukrainian who can't fight in his home country for obvious reasons. I'm sure in in key if he'd be able to sell that many is a national icon over there much in the same vein as stated is here and the other would be so can yellow out the Mexican superstar same thing you know a bit of a national institution and like you know four of those guys are men like and you know not to put two find a point on it because Katie Taylor is almost existed sort of outside of that like that realm of like being being involved like distinctly in women sport like we've always considered her in this country just a generational sport star right like and that's where in many ways like she has been a trail player. Is there in that like we probably haven't looked at it through the lens of it being women's or men sport is just Katie Taylor like she sort of exists in her own paradigm but you know for somebody to sell 83,000 tickets in a sport that was effectively an underground after thought only 10 years ago women's professional boxing.

13:52It's the crowning moment of like the most extraordinary rise the most extraordinary contribution to her sport again she transformed amateur boxing for women she dragged it to the limpa the Olympics almost single handedly she's completely transformed the professional game for women as well to the point that actually I wonder sometimes as she created almost a little bit of an inflated re-bubble in the sense that I don't see too many women out there who are going to make the money that she has made over the last 10 years like we're talking tens of millions of your of this point and Amanda Serano as well they sort of worth it the young I guess that have driven this as well as Clareza she is in the States I would say Taylor by fire is the spearhead of all of it. But she's essentially with the help of Eddie her own with the help of Brian Peters created an industry you know and she's walking away from it you know a lot richer with her health and very few boxers again male or female ever get to have the send off that she had last night quite often it's maybe a bit of a damn squib of a fight or almost a fight that you don't really remember as part of the tapestry of a boxer's career you know the final one might be

15:01you know what it was a little bit of an underwhelming performance of one on points but I just think it's not there anymore I'm going to walk away. What Taylor did was she interval one last thread into the tapestry of her career and like to get to do that on your on the final night and knowing your head that you're about to walk away when you're having a wake up at four o'clock five o'clock in the morning now she has a bad right calf so she can barely run anyway but you get my point like it must have been difficult times to firstly to sleep knowing that you're going to have 83,000 people there that are going to be a lot more difficult to walk away from. If you're with her money to watch you and equally when you're 40 years old and you do have a family know to wake up in those mornings and go to the gym as much as she loves training she'd probably prefer to do it at two o'clock in the afternoon and it kept her going and for yeah what a way to sign off I mean I think an occasion that sort of when you're sitting down with a cup of tea in 20 years time and really in the years comes on it's like 2026 that was that was Katie Taylor a croprack wasn't it you leave it on you know you want to relive that and we were chatting outside and this is this is me.

16:01Again coming at this from somebody who doesn't who doesn't cover the sport and Gavin who's as good an authority on it as you can get like that is it right you like you know you can't like I was watching the fight last night my dad it was time for the weekend and the first thing he said to me at the end of it he just turns around to me he goes will she be back you know with you know boxers come out of retirement all the time for different things but surely you can't go through what she's been through last night and the show and everything and the meaning behind it. All just sort of you know in the years time. Commission you know slap that down. Does need it as well. Yeah. What like what would actually get her out of bed this time around like in terms of what what kind of a challenge or what sort of a conquest would energizer at this point so some people might suggest our trilogy fight with Chantelle Cameron. Like Katie doesn't actually like Chantelle Cameron I would say on a human level which is rare for like she's become very good friends would Amanda Sarrano for example was she and Cameron have never really patch things up and I would say she wouldn't even want to give

17:04Cameron the satisfaction of thinking about her not to mind fighting her not to mind earning her a big payday that Taylor herself would feel she wouldn't deserve because Cameron actually find her quite a pleasant person in limited dealings and gets a bit of our time because probably she became a you know a bit of a villain in that Taylor thing from an Irish perspective but she doesn't bring really much to the table commercially like it would be again a KT Taylor driven event and again having done the croak park thing that was one of the slowest moving Irish sporting sagas that I can remember from 2022 onwards it was from that first fight with Sarrano at MSG when the idea was floated and they tried and they failed and they tried and they failed and talks broke down and Eddie her and Peter McKenna you know to sort of much of business man were at larger heads and you know like for it to finally get over the line a credit to both her own McKenna Peterake and Brian Peters for actually doing it because again it was a monumental occasion but how do you talk that like you what do you do you go wear a go fight on the moon I don't know like it's that's it you know that's a front and brain maybe to your point Paul it's for me that is it and I

18:13actually got the sense at in July of last year in New York speaking to her that that was it she was starting to think you know my time is up it was getting more difficult for it to do again she would have been thirty nine back then the metabolism slows down as well we can all probably attest to this point and like again almost that sort of sense of like having to do another training camp on your body isn't quite as responsive as it used to be it needs to be then something worthwhile to do that and I would say last night you know laying the gloves down in the ring just a sense of satisfaction the sense of sort of contentment in her speaking to her afterwards you know like so there was a post-flight press conference and I guess I can you know I just had like a quiet chat with her myself afterwards and just off the record and I'm not like given away any state secrets here I can probably sort of divulge it in the sense that she's retired now but I was just saying like listen thanks for everything it's been amazing to cover your career for the last nine ten years she's taking me around the world and I'm sorry I'm not choking up that was a tough she's taking me around the world but like I've seen cities in America that I never thought it's you know because

19:20the lady Taylor was fighting there for example and just having that quite chat with her like there was something very final about it you know one thing I say about it as well like because I've spent the last two weeks on podcasts and writing things or on radio shows and a question that is invariably asked is like like why do people actually like her so much like why does she resonate with people so much and I realize that's not your in that chat like I think it's mostly because she's sound you know it's such an obvious thing but like she's a pretty she's just a sound person like we're chatting away and she's like I live in Barcelona since December and she's like you know firstly she said like oh thanks so much for the articles which I know she doesn't mean she never read them you know what it's a nice thing to say but then she's like and her's Barcelona has your Spanish coming along and it's like there's like 50 people queueing up to talk to her but she's just nice you know what I mean I was like Katie it's going great thanks a million I'll leave you you know I'll leave you but yeah maybe that's maybe that is for a few ultimately is she's a nice person who did phenomenal things even the contentment just you know with the with for example the walk on music

20:21like you know people are paying for zombie or something really motivate and she comes out to her honestly her faith is very important to her and she comes out to this song clearly means a lot to her and she's you know she's mouth along with the words beforehand so she's content in doing things her own way I guess as well and has become that way very much so in the last couple of years even the comfort which she speaks of media settings now compared to the way she used to be she used to be terrified of press conferences of having you know 15 microphones pointed in her direction I think part of it was like fear that she may say something that would be misconstrued part of it is probably that some of the questions are garbage and she doesn't you know she doesn't have time for it I think always as well like just that idea of like she just have one of fight and one of us will be like so what's next is it's a rano is a camera in and she's just sick of us probably whereas in the last couple of years I think she's stopped caring about that like and she doesn't actually care even if something she says he's picked up the wrong way she's like what do I carry on yeah I've gone 40 years old I'm out of here anyway so how did she deal you know with the stuff in the last week in terms of all the the narrative around the

21:25fight and the venue and the retirement and everyone how did she just compartmentalize all that and just focus on actual fight I have no idea and I was a little bit concerned because the the weight of the occasion seemed like what was almost palpable during those pre-fighting agents during the week the fight week sort of press conference workouts etc I was sort of thinking back to the first fight with champ tail camera and actually where it was her first fight professional fight in Dublin in Ireland at all and you recall she was a little bit flat at the start of that fight it cost her dearly in the end and she had this protracted ringwalk she was quite emotional to walk into the ring and I guess I was getting some flashbacks to that and by the way like her team here's a testament to Flora Pili as an opponent like they took her seriously because we had a media roundtable scheduled wikiti for Tuesday which was pulled because they felt she'd done it 50 interviews that were a little bit emotionally draining for her I came back up the road from quark and Wednesday because it was rescheduled for then pulled again

22:30so they were just they were obviously like she's done it off and we're not going to we're not going to you know on a very fundamental anatomical level of crying is actually tiring so they're just like we're not going down that road we're just going to protect and have insulator from all of this and I think to be fair to to Moss Rowan like he would have made the point actually on second captains the other day that she is she is for whatever reason very good at compartmentalizing but I was thinking back to that camera and thing wondering like is she though now part of it she like again the calf issue was very much flaring up before that fight that was a contributing factor to her loss and and maybe that flatness as well but I don't know maybe it's just she's she's been there and done it so many times as I said at the top like she was kind of the calmest person in the building last night before and afterwards and god like to walk out to your dream becoming manifest you know the the the cosmetics of it the aesthetics of it you know like everything that you've built up in your head to see that before you

23:33to hear it to have a fight and to do it as well as she did like it is I mean that's why she's in the top point one percent of athletes on the planet as well yeah I enjoy listening back to the press conference this morning and even her talk about the flurry the last 10 second flurry you know where she's like did you enjoy that and someone asked her who would play her in the movie and Sir Sharonan I think was the answer Sir Sharonan but she'd have to work on her neck most it was saying because her neck is too skinny I believe it was the director now to be fair I don't think she was having a gold Sir Sharonan's neck because she started she started sort of gesturing forward to roll neck and I think she said something a lot of the legs of I have a fat neck it's quite a muscular neck but yeah so um but that even that right it was Kevin Bernhardt think from the Sony we're asked her that question that's the kind of question where two years ago she'd be like I don't know one like turn to Eddie her turn to Brian yeah is a you give the quip you know where's these days she just throws it out there Sir Sharonan she's more relaxed yeah exactly yeah so much coverage laser in the paper is like the fairness of the fight and so there should be I always enjoy economy killing right in the

24:34Sony independent page six and seven as well these every punch in the airy Coliseum on Saturday night drew either a bloodthirsty roar or shot gasp from the crowd ravenous to see the last act of a champion that was edgy the concourses in croak park did usually wreak of burgers and frying onions instead of the sweet set of marijuana wafting through a rena sablainka wouldn't have stood a chance that's obviously after the tennis player give out a bit the smell of marijuana from the US open over the during the week but there's just so much I take this wherever you want lads because the coverage is well I think I think just as a whole in terms of the coverage like when you're covering some a sporting event at night and Gavin Gavin will announce as well like I cover football so you know I would have been all around Europe covering Ireland games at night and you know you're operating in a very small window in terms of your your word counts and your your page demands whether you're writing for sort of the more traditional sort of old school newspapers are for online as everybody is now and so you know that in itself the art of of of such a late fight and being able to do it justice because it's not just a fight

25:36it's an occasion and it's not just like going to a football match and you're reporting the match it's there's so much more to it the fight I'm not saying the fight was sort of irrelevant to of course it wasn't and but everything else that just went with it and I think your job as a journalist going to something like this is you want to be able to do it justice in terms of your work and sometimes when you're operating up to a tight deadline like that I don't know what Gavin thinks but sometimes when you have a gun to your head and you're you're so pressed by a deadline you don't have all day to sit there and think about what I'm going to say and how I'm going to say it and write three or four paragraphs and delete it all and come back and redo it again you know you don't have that sort of luxury of time that sometimes you do just have that gun to your head and you just start writing stuff and writing stuff there's obviously a degree of your probably in Crow park earlier in the day and there's a bit of a build up to cage you saw there will be a little bit of pre-prepared stuff that you may put in sort of you know in terms of you know the wider picture of her career and the moment in terms of retiring but just reading through the coverage and Gavin's coverage last night and the lads and the papers today like

26:40you want to as a journalist I don't imagine covering something like that you know you want to give it your best shot you want you want to do it justice in terms of covering the event and I think the coverage in the paper today is excellent from all manner of writers and Gavin as well last night and we touched on the photographs you know Stephen Macarity sports file and other photographers as well yeah like that that front page picture on the on the front of the Sunday independence of Katie just holding the gloves up I don't know if that was just before she laid them down in the middle of the ring yeah that's an absolutely outstanding photo like it really is and Stephen's Stephen's brilliant I know I'm on the football beat but that's just an iconic photo but yeah just just having that sort of ability to just from a journalistic point of view of doing the occasion justice and and nailing your own job on the night you know just there's an awful lot to like about what's in the papers today yeah I think as well like as somebody who writes about boxing and I write a little bit about rugby or whatever I'm asked to write about essentially like Jack of all trades master of SFA you know to you know I obviously I've got to

27:48know like the people who would be on the boxing beat know in place of what used to be the boxing correspondent for papers and it's it's the likes of column keys okay Mick Fowley has written about boxing extensively but it's a lot of typically for whatever reason G.A. journalist I would say for the most part but like I have massive admiration for for guys who are able to write about it so well when it wouldn't necessarily be their primary interests yeah I know it I was going to say like when it doesn't confluently to them which is I don't want to insult anybody I just mean that like I know from from my own experience of being asked to write about a sport that I sort of don't really care that much about or might only dip in an out of back and feel like a bit of a slug at times right and you're talking about the deadline Paul like where so you've the additional pressure of having to sort of piece together an article about a sport that your that isn't your sort of seven day a week sport on a tight deadline on a tight turnaround and you know really everybody that I've

28:49read this morning didn't unbelievable job to the point that like I don't know it makes me feel a little bit less special is somebody who writes about boxing you know but even call them like you know just looking at it in front of me here like he says a night really had to be seen to be believed and experienced croak breakfast transformed into a shrine of the respect and admiration a country in a sport has for KD Taylor washing away all doubts that she wouldn't have the pulling pair of the pack out the place the physical manifestation of the admiration in which he's held pulsing through the famous stands and pitch where up to 10,000 temporary seats were fixed how or how did we ever doubt her capacity to see it become real to think that to think that a night of this magnitude might not have happened over fears that numbers wouldn't crunch or the wrong in verticamas crowd might show up and there are valid points as well like I mean over the last four years I suppose whenever this idea has been floated you'd be on with with yourself Shane or or on a podcast or other radio stations or even conversations with friends and it'd be like everybody sort of had an opinion for some reason as to whether or not she'd sell it

29:50out and it tended to be one extreme with the other yeah quite a lot of friends among who'd be like more so GA fans and boxing fans are like no chance like there's no point in doing it like she probably wouldn't sell 45,000 tickets I'm like where are you getting these projections by the way there's nothing from which we can base that on like there's there's no blueprint or precedent here for this and equally like if I was making the case that I think she can sell it out sure I'm talking through my hat as well you know there's nothing for me to base it on I used to say like look I've been in Philadelphia in Boston in Madison Square Garden a couple of times where I've seen her ship you know between eight and twelve or thirteen thousand tickets five thousand kilometers away from home air go surely she could sell upwards a 70 in Dublin right but again like that's it's tenuous and I was reaching and like I even as somebody who would have been more optimistic than others that she would eventually get there I would have felt it was going to take this monumental promotional heave and bear in mind by the way the music lacks last night you know worth mention Westland fantastic cherry-flavored Mary Walbres and Liverpool FA cupsuit yeah this

30:55yeah this boys boy and Rochino and Eiffus Scott did an phenomenal job of Ronneveen and Grace which I don't think Grace was actually scheduled I think there was a you know a pretty prolonged gap in the running order suddenly and I think they were trotted back out there like do something for us you know and it was absolutely a spine tingling but sorry when the fight was announced before the tickets were on sale the proposition was made that there would be major musical acts and like this was sort of put into the eater and you know Ed Sheeran was certainly rumored to be playing he knows Katie quite well and it was I think the idea was like let's try and draw the masses to this because we may struggle to sell those last twenty five thirty thousand tickets then the tickets went on sale well pre-sale and that was a nick like they flew and then general sale everybody knew at that point they were going to go within the space of minutes yeah so they didn't even have to announce the musical acts until two days before the fight you know they even the stakeholders involved in this who were relatively confident that could they could get it there were caught off guard by how quickly the tickets went were they were caught off guard by the public demand and if you look at

31:59the all-time attendance rankings if you like in women's sport like it's mostly football workup finals there are a couple of US collegiate team sport events like one particular volleyball event where there was a massive initiative to get people into a state in my camera but what year it was and they're in the sort of low hundreds or or maybe mid-90 thousand sort of range of attendance if croak pack was bigger okay let's say there would be right off there as well you know like it's certainly the biggest that I could find anywhere on the internet for biggest attendance for an individual female athlete and yeah it's funny like I'm as column points out it's like why did why did we doubt her like at what point will we learn well it's too late now but at what point should we have learned that to doubt the woman is folly this Sunday paper review on Off the Wall this is a free off the ball podcast for access to the best in sporting analysis from the lakes of brain o' trisco and he done Kevin Killaban Deon fanning Tommy Waj there are no

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