Keith Bailie

Why it’s the Premier League’s duty to call time on the traditional Saturday 3pm kick-off Even for an Irish League zealot like myself, it’s hard not to be seduced by the allure of the Premier League.

This week's BelTel column...

Why it’s the Premier League’s duty to call time on the traditional Saturday 3pm kick-off

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

How splitting Premiership’s opening weekend across Saturday and Sunday helped Irish League enjoy the limelight The first weekend of the Sports Direct Premiership campaign had a little bit of everything.

My BelTel column

📺 It's not popular with everyone but spreading fixtures across the weekend gave Irish League more media coverage

👕 Badly buttered bread or retro masterpiece? Irish League clubs embrace kit culture

⚽️ Is heading the ball a problem?

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/footba...

BelTel Football’s Season Preview: ‘Coleraine must challenge Linfield for the title’ Can cash-rich Coleraine wrestle the Gibson Cup away from Windsor Park, or will David Healy guide Linfield to their 58th League title?

BelTel Football’s Season Preview is out now

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Don’t sound death knell for Larne just yet… why reports of Invermen’s dramatic demise have been greatly exaggerated With dramatic shoot-out wins in Latvia and Kosovo, Larne’s epic Conference League run is turning into one great act of defiance.

This week's BelTel column

🔴 Reports of Larne's demise may have been greatly exaggerated

🔵 My tip to win this season's Playr-Fit Championship

🐙 Why this year's PIL will be like an episode of Squid Games

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The great tale from Bilbao that mustn’t be forgotten after death of ex-NI ace Willie Irvine The glorious tales of 1958, 1982, 1986 and 2016 are etched into the minds of all Northern Ireland supporters.

My Tuesday BelTel column

⚽️ The forgotten story of Bilbao 63 when Northern Ireland and the Irvine brothers stunned a mighty Spanish side

🏆 Championship will be dull with no relegation

🏏 Joe Root's run chase of a lifetime

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

Why big-money takeover is a blessing… and a curse for Cliftonville ahead of new season The term mixed bag was invented for the performances of Irish League clubs in Europe last week.

This week's BelTel column

🇨🇦 Reds must remain patient as takeover hampers summer transfer business

⛳️ Get the paint out. Scheffler deserves a mural of his own after sublime Portrush display

🇺🇦 Usyk will never get the Kyiv homecoming he deserves

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Why Irish League pyramid’s revamp is long overdue… even if it won’t be all smooth sailing at first Whenever I try to explain how club football in Northern Ireland works beneath the Irish League, eyes glaze over in front of me.

This week's BelTel column

⚽️ A 16-team NIFL Championship would be good fun, but it's pointless if it's just a temporary measure

🎾 Emma Raducanu desperately needs a good Wimbledon after difficult time

🏏 Refined version of Bazball a joy to watch

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/footba...

The Irish League’s two most divisive debates aren’t going away anytime soon Do you think we should have summer football in the Irish League? What about Sunday football?

My Tuesday BelTel column

☀️ A tweak to the season is best way forward

⚽️ Sunday should not be treated differently to Friday in football's rulebook

🎙Mark Robson highlights horrors that must not be forgotten

🇺🇸 Trump makes Club World Cup even weirder

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Funding for sport isn’t a waste of money... it’s an investment in our future and people It’s often said that sport was a beacon of light during Northern Ireland’s darkest days.

My BelTel column for this week

🎯 NI Football Fund a healthy vehicle for investing in working class areas that feel left behind

⛳️ Saturday's press conference wasn't Rory McIlroy's finest monent

⚽️ Club World Cup feels like a Gianni Infantino ego trip

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

The two big question marks hanging over Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland squad as World Cup qualifiers approach Picking any football team’s best XI is a fool’s errand. Injuries, suspensions and circumstances mean managers rarely have the luxury of selecting from a full squad.

This week's BelTel column

⚽️ Michael O'Neill has a tactical blueprint for the World Cup Qualifiers. A look at his likely Best XI

🏟 UK Gov should contribute to NI Football Fund after Euro 2028 mishaps

🎾 I fear for the gummy bears of Mykonos

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There’s an ugly truth behind PSG’s footballing beauty… and we need to talk about it “Chuck all your medals and all your caps and all your pots and all your pans into the biggest f*****g dustbin you can find, because you’ve never won any of them fairly. You’ve done it all by bloody ch...

Today's BelTel column

💰 You can't ignore the ugly truth behind PSG's beautiful football

⚽️ Bosnia game is most important match of Tanya Oxtoby's reign so far. It's a must-not-lose

🏐 It makes no sense to bin exciting All-Ireland group stage

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

How the tension and jeopardy of EFL Promotion Play-Offs provide the blueprint for a much-needed rejig closer to home It was a weekend of mixed emotions under the Wembley arches for Northern Ireland internationals.

This week's BelTel column

⚽️ The EFL Play-Offs are brilliant. The NIFL Championship needs it's own version

🟥 Andy Ryan saga proves an overhaul is required to fix disciplinary process

🎾 Tennis majors not quite the same without big four

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

Why Northern Ireland’s Justin Devenny and Crystal Palace have put some Premier League big boys to shame I could spend all day watching footage of Crystal Palace fans celebrating their remarkable FA Cup Final victory.

Today's BelTel column

🦅 From Airdrie to Wembley: Justin Devenny is a symbol of Crystal Palace's recruitment success

🤑 You can't blame the new generation of full-time Irish League players for cashing in

⛳️ Stale PGA Championship should go global

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What the Clones Ulster Final brawlers could learn from camogie’s dignified skorts protests Sometimes athletes must stand up for what they believe in, and that’s exactly what the camogie stars of Cork and Waterford did when they refused to contest last weekend’s Munster Final in skorts.

This week's BelTel column

👗 Why are still trying to tell female athletes what to wear?

🏟 Pitch brawls aren't macho, they're embarrassing

🏉 Challenge Cup will hurt Ulster's bank account but will help players

🥊 Time for the Apache's homecoming

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

How Dungannon Swifts went from king of the burgers to proud Irish Cup champions It’s not every day the tranquil surroundings of Shaw’s Bridge is disturbed by a raucous rendition of ‘Championes, Championes’…but that’s exactly what happened when the Dungannon Swifts’ team bus rocke...

This week's BelTel column

💙 'Nice burgers' : No one can patronise Dungannon Swifts again

🏟 I fear crowd restrictions for big cup finals could return

💚 Peter McParland was the star of NI's greatest team

🌈 Be kind when discussing trans issues

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/colu...

The Inver Brawl was no Battle of Santiago… it wasn’t even the worst on-pitch fight involving a Larne team After weeks of build-up, one of sport’s most rancorous and fractious rivalries lived up to the hype.

Today's BelTel column

🎙Perhaps I shouldn’t joke about an incident that has been fairly described as ‘unsavoury' ...but the Inver Brawl was ludicrous

🥊 There's no need for a Benn-Eubank rematch

🏟 End of an era at Fortwilliam Park

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/footba...

Why Newry City’s fall from grace should be a stark warning for all in the Irish League Torture and resurrection. Easter weekend was a time of contrasting fortunes in the Playr-Fit Championship.

Today's BelTel column

⚽️ The fall, rise and fall again of Newry City is a cautionary tale for all Irish League clubs

🐣 Bring back Easter football!

🏈 Mike Lowry incident a reminder of what rugby players put themselves through

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

‘I’m really concerned for next generation of Irish League goalkeepers’: Michael Dougherty Is the football nation that gave the world Pat Jennings falling behind when it comes to producing top class goalkeepers?

‘I’m really concerned for next generation of Irish League goalkeepers’: Michael Dougherty

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Grand Slam hero Rory McIlroy has surely surpassed George Best as Northern Ireland’s finest-ever sporting export Bottler. Choker. Weak. Over the course of four gripping days in Georgia, Rory McIlroy ripped up all the labels that had been fixed to him for the last 11 years. Stroke by stroke, he proved every criti...

Grand Slam hero Rory McIlroy has surely surpassed George Best as Northern Ireland’s finest-ever sporting export

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

Is Rory McIlroy’s Masters immortality the greatest night in NI sporting history? On Sunday night at Augusta National, Rory McIlroy defeated Justin Rose in a heart-stopping playoff to win the Masters for the first time in his career.

A wee podcast we recorded this morning.

Is Rory McIlroy’s Masters immortality the greatest night in NI sporting history?

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/podcasts/the...

Why the football season has had all the flavour and appeal of a round of dry toast If the 2024-25 football season was a Netflix drama, we all would have switched off after the third episode.

My Tuesday BelTel column

⚽️ Is this the most boring season ever? Irish League goals-per-game rate has dropped from 3.1 last year to 2.5 this

🏆 Women's World Cup will be massive. We can't miss out again

🏒 Belfast Giants proved many wrong, including me

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

I have major grounds for concern in the Irish League and this came to the fore again during Cup Semi-Finals weekend Well, there goes that dream.

My Tuesday BelTel column

🏟 The cavalcade of buses; fans in red & blue ambling up the Lisburn Road; the sound of Davy Lee’s echoing across Windsor Footbridge. That’s the magic of the Cup right there

⚽️ Why seventh matters

🏟 National League is undermined

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

After vile abuse at Taylors Avenue, how David Healy and Linfield silenced doubters on relentless march to Gibson Cup glory With the notable exception of Jamie Vardy’s infamous house party, winning a League title while sitting on your sofa is always a bit of anticlimax.

Belfast Telegraph column

🏆Linfield could be crowned champions tonight. David Healy has proved his critics - external and internal - wrong in emphatic fashion

🏉 International sport belongs on free-to-air tv

⚽️ Kings of Lyon belong in Brodie Hall of Fame

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

Why the BetMcLean Cup Final was a showcase of the good and bad sides of Irish League football Sunday’s BetMcLean Cup Final showed how far Irish League football has come in a short space of time. It also showed that with growth, comes growing pains.

This week's BelTel column

🏆Cup Final showed how far Irish League football has come. It also showed that with growth, comes growing pains

🥊 Michael Conlan will need to show more against undefeated Spaniard

🏉 France provide reality check for Ireland

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

‘We won't be texting each other good luck before this final’: Cliftonville and Glentoran bosses face off before BetMcLean Cup decider The Belfast Telegraph’s Chief Sports Writer Steven Beacom took two well know football managers out for lunch, ahead of Sunday’s BetMcLean Cup Final.

‘We won't be texting each other good luck before this final’: Cliftonville and Glentoran bosses face off before BetMcLean Cup decider

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/podcasts/bel...

How local rivals and Irish Cup Semi-Finalists were both saved from extinction by their fans Gladiators back on tele, Oasis set for a sold-out tour, Jurassic Park slated for a summer cinema release.

My BelTel column

⚽️ Time to party like it's 1993. Both Ards and Bangor
were saved by their fans. They deserve their time in the sun

🟥 There is no excuse for abusing a referee

🥊 Crocker would be mad to offer Donovan a rematch this summer

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

‘Scoring that goal was just surreal. It was an amazing feeling’: Glentoran’s Irish Cup hero Michael Halliday Glentoran hero Michael Halliday is the special guest on this week’s BelTel Football.

‘Scoring that goal was just surreal. It was an amazing feeling’: Glentoran’s Irish Cup hero Michael Halliday

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/podcasts/bel...

Cliftonville must tread carefully with outside investment or risk losing what makes club so special It’s no surprise that an outside investor is keen to grab a slice of the Reds.

My BelTel column

💰For some Reds fans, Cliftonville being controlled by an outside investor is a complete anathema to everything the club stands for

⚽️ It's a must-win for Northern Ireland tonight

🏉 Some Ireland fans have lost the run of themselves

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/column...

Gutted

‘The Prague police tried to handcuff David Healy to a radiator’: Irish League legend Glenn Ferguson Linfield hero Glenn Ferguson is this week’s special guest on BelTel Football.

We had great fun talking about the 'Prague Five' scandal with Glenn, but there's loads more in here on his incredible career.

We also discuss Andy Ryan's overturned red, what we can learn from the League of Ireland and NI women's Nations League campaign

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/podcasts/bel...