My Early Exposure
I discovered this Podcast through iTunes, going through a list of football podcasts to add to my repertoire. It’s a news-oriented Pod (unsurprisingly), but delivered with wit, charm, and the occasional sidebar. I don’t recall what my first episodes covered, but I do know it appealed to me instantly, and I’ve yet to find any serious fault with it.
The Hosts
This show is part of The Guardian‘s collection of podcasts, hosted by James Richardson and including a revolving cast of characters. Richardson keeps things light, crisp, and entertaining, smoothing through the world of football news and following the rabbit holes as they come. With a few small exceptions, Richardson is good about knowing when a sidebar has outstayed its welcome, maneuvering back to the world of sport, but you learn all sorts of interesting things not related to football as the crew wanders along.
Content
As I said, this is news-oriented. Think The Goalmouth, but unpacking and meandering, rather than sharp snaps of news. There’s a nice mix of essentials and curiosities, and there’s discussion of the upcoming and just-past matches in reasonable detail, attempting to touch on everything major, at the least. It’s not exhaustive, but it is often extensive. The information is delivered with humor and sometimes more adult/explicit humor. I wouldn’t label it the most child-friendly of shows, but it’s not like I’d duct-tape a child’s ears if it were on. (DISCLAIMER: I would never put duct tape on the ears of a child. Just saying.)
Regularity
With a few exceptions (extra episodes), this runs twice weekly. The main show is a Monday posting, covering any weekend action and previewing mid-week action. The EXTRA episode is Thursday billing, covering mid-week action and previewing the weekend to come. News of import and interest is fitted in on the episode after the event in question. With hour-long episodes, the listener gets a nice dose without feeling overwhelmed. The episodes are well-placed for purpose, although it loses out to daily pods when big events happen in between episodes – especially right after recording or posting a podcast.
Support Structure
While it’s impossible to say just how much is paid by the parent organization, some of the costs are definitely covered by advertising, such as Squarespace and a shave club. The episode always begins with an advert for Squarespace, and is interspersed with other adverts. They’re short adverts, professionally recorded, and slipped in unobtrusively, so it’s not too bad, but they aren’t especially entertaining, and they don’t have much variation.
Rating: 3.5/5
Are you a Football Weekly listener? Anything I missed you want to add? Anything you disagree with?
Also, if you have a podcast you want me to review, go ahead and let me know in the comments! I might be on my list (I’ll bump it forward), or I may not have listened yet, but I’m always looking for more football podcasts to try.
Cheers,
C
charlottewritesfootball 