After The Whistle

Click To Subscribe : | SoundCloud | RSS

Join Cyril, Donald and Moos as they meet weekly to discuss events on and off the field after the game is done, pore over the latest sport headlines and, argue about the finer aspects of the game.

March 13

Ep. 05 | Debating The Value Of Individual Awards In Team Sports And We Take A Step In An Arsenal Fan’s Shoe

We start the show with a quick recap of the last episode (0:18) and lunge right into this week’s main topic, should individual awards in team sports be scrapped (0:29)? We give our individual reasons for why we voted for individual awards to either stay or go (1:53) and begin our discussion. There is a clash of ideologies in the studio as a line is drawn between the self-proclaimed pragmatists and the lone idealist (11:10) in the studio.

The final votes are tallied (35:06) and we continue onto our final discussion of the episode, Alex Sanchez. With rumours making the rounds about his discontent at Arsenal, we speculate at what point we, the ATW team, placing ourselves in Arsenal fans shoes for a couple of minutes (37:00), be OK with Sanchez forcing a move. As a fan would you still expect a player to stay even after agreeing with the reasons they want out? We do our best to answer this question. The team gives their closing comments regarding Sanchez as we wrap up (46:31) and we end the episode with a promise we fully intend to keep (48:45).

March 6

Ep. 04 | African Players : The Perception. The ATW Team Discusses What’s True? What’s Not? We Ask Why And How This Is Still A Thing.

The ATW team catches up (0:12) before launching this week’s major discussion — the perception of the African athlete. We widen our scope to include athletes of African descent and Black athletes as well (1:02). Moos answers the question; should some of the positive descriptors used be embraced (2:58)? And Donald reminds us that sports is a reflection of society (11:56). We discuss how these generally held opinions are affecting the next generation (15:10). Are we losing out on potential talent because they don’t meet the criteria set for black players?

With great power, come great responsibility and the media in relation to sport is one of the major stakeholders. We dig into why the media disproportionately reports negative stories regarding black players and the effect it has on the players (18:49). We talk NBA for a while, and ask why black players & coaches in a predominantly black league (23:03) face challenges breaking into management positions (25:50). We elicit some advice from the late Biggie Smalls (32:54) as Donald redirects the discussion back to football and asks if African footballers opt to play as ‘water carriers’ simply because these are the opportunities available to them (34:33) and their only chance at success in their careers.

We wrap up this episode discussing F.C. Barcelona’s decision to open a football academy in Nigeria (40:34). Who knows? Maybe this could lead to a change in the narrative of Africans just seen as big, strong & energetic players as the academy will be looking to develop all the skill set needed to succeed in football.

February 27

Ep. 03 | We Talk NBA Trade Deadline & Playoffs Predictions, Celebrate The Return Of Champions League Football & Dilly-Ding, Dilly Gone — No More Ranieri

We discuss a forgotten striker’s performance in the return of Champions League football (1:25) and review one of the more exciting knock-out ties in recent history. Donald questions if the Lakers got the best value for Lou Williams (6:18), launching the ATW’s review of the trade deadline — where the team looks at which teams have added pieces to improve their playoff chances. Moos laments at the rest of the league leaving the road clear for the Cavs to pick up Deron Williams (14:38) and offers a tempting bet.

It’s playoffs prediction time the the team duly responds by getting out their crystal balls as they review a stacked Western Conference and tip the Wizards as a potential banana skin for the Cavs(22:19).

Switching gears to Football, we discuss Leicester City firing the coach that brought them the impossible dream(30:17) and ask if players exerting too much influence in the boardroom(33:50)? We ask if the Foxes were doomed after starting the season with a N’golo-shaped hole(35:43) and end this episode reminding listeners that results are king and that’s the difference between being fired and staying on.

February 20

Ep. 02 | The Stratification Of Fans, Advice For Fans In Relationships With Clubs They Support And Wenger Being Wenger.

The ATW team reacts to the intro stats of the week (0:57)
What exactly is a fan and who determines where you fall along the spectrum where at one extreme end one is referred to as a true/super fan and at the other end, you are regarded as a lowly casual (5:57). We get some relationship advice from Moos (11:22) and discuss how we treat others with a different relationship status to us.

As foreign fans, the ATW team discusses if our inability to regularly go to a live game should counts against us as fans (17:56) and figure out why basketball appears to be more welcoming to foreign fans than football (20:01).

Anyone else feel annoyed by ‘new’ fans who skip all the difficult, barren years and jump right into the success years (24:49)? We also review the week’s headlines (28:34) and end the episode wondering how Wenger keeps getting it wrong.

February 20

Ep. 01 | AFCON Postmortem, Avram Grant’s Replacement & Foreign Born Players Wanting To Play For African National Teams.

Welcome to our maiden episode!! We jump right in and discuss the just ended AFCON tournament(0:44) and follow that up by discussing players with dual nationalities who decide to play for African nations (4:26). Is it fair to question their patriotism? Should Africans be fussing over being treated as a plan B for players who want to have an international career seeing as they can improve the national team?

Donald proposed a rule change to FIFA’s Eligibility rules (17:33) and we go a bit more into the issue of commitment (19:49). Are African born players really that MUCH more committed?

With Avram Grant resigning as the national team coach, we use this as an opportunity to have an in-house build-a-coach workshop (22:33). The ATW team identifies the Black Star’s major weaknesses and The ATW has a build-a-coach workshop and also identify major weaknesses of the Ghana Black Stars.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Resource Links
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
FIFA Eligibility Rules

February 20

Ep. 0.5 | Meet The ATW Team!

A short introduction to After The Whistle by the ATW team.