Eamon Dunphy’s broadcasting career with RTE has come to an end after the 72-year-old declined a contract extension with the national broadcaster.
Dunphy announced on Wednesday that he has decided to leave the station to run off with a podcast as he looks to concentrate on his show The Stand as well as his column with The Irish Daily Star.
(1/2) Two years ago, I decided not to renew my contract with RTÉ Sport. At the time, they prevailed upon me to stay and, in fact, offered me a rise, a small one, to do so. However, before the World Cup I told them this time, I would be leaving.
— Dunphy_Official (@Dunphy_Official) July 25, 2018
(2/2) I intend to focus on my podcast The Stand which is flourishing and has had over 2.3 million listens since we started. That’s where my energy will now be devoted.
In my 40 years with RTÉ, I made many good friends and I wish them the very best for the future.
— Dunphy_Official (@Dunphy_Official) July 25, 2018
Dunphy has had a number of standout moments throughout his career on television. There was the time he wound up Alan Hunter on RTE Primetime after Roy Keane’s decision to return to the Irish national team.
“Where did you get these two guys from?”
There was the time he called Cristiano Ronaldo, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner and five-time Champions League winner, a cod and a disgrace to the game.
There was the time he called Champions League winner Steven Gerrard a ‘nothing player’. There was his four-year crusade to see Wes Hoolahan start in the Republic of Ireland national team, a guaranteed talking point on any RTE panel he covered during Ireland games.
And then there was Rod Liddle. It was a cheap shot, Dunphy admitted as much himself, but it’s still the standout moment of his broadcasting career.
I’ll tell you who wrote it
Dunphy joined former Ireland internationals Liam Brady and John Giles on RTE to discuss Roy Keane’s departure from Manchester United.
Dunphy had called Keane a class act, a credit to his country and a family man before yelling at the late Bill O’Herlihy that he was not going to sit there and listen to the presenter call Keane a ‘thug’.
O’Herlihy immediately distanced himself from the accusation and highlighted that he was simply quoting the term from a piece written by Sunday Times columnist Rod Liddle.
Liddle wrote: “In fact, if this was a decent world, he (Keane) wouldn’t get the chance to sign for another club because he’d still be banged up and certainly banned from the game for life.”
O’Herlihy couldn’t recall the author of the piece labeling Keane a thug but Dunphy certainly could. Cue the five most famous words of Dunphy’s broadcasting career: ‘I’ll tell you who wrote it’
