.jpg) Dunphy in 2013 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Eamon Martin Dunphy | ||
| Date of birth | (1945-08-03)3 August 1945 (age 79) | ||
| Place of birth | Dublin, Ireland | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 195x–1962 | Stella Maris | ||
| 1962–1965 | Manchester United | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1965–1966 | York City | 22 | (3) |
| 1965–1974 | Millwall | 274 | (24) |
| 1973–1975 | Charlton Athletic | 42 | (3) |
| 1975–1977 | Reading | 77 | (3) |
| 1977–1978 | Shamrock Rovers | 33 | (2) |
| Total | 448 | (35) | |
| International career | |||
| 1965–1971 | Republic of Ireland | 23 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Eamon Martin Dunphy (born 3 August 1945) is an Irish media personality, journalist, broadcaster, author, sports pundit and former professionalfootballer. He grew up playing football for several youth teams includingStella Maris. Since retiring from the sport, he has become recognisable to Irish television audiences as a football analyst during coverage of thePremier League,UEFA Champions League and international football onRTÉ.
As well as his slot with RTÉ, Dunphy has worked for its rival television station,TV3 (for which he has presenteda chat show anda game show), and rival radio stationsToday FM andNewstalk. He was the original presenter ofThe Last Word on Today FM. Between 2004 and 2006, Dunphy presented the breakfast programme on Dublin's localNewstalk 106 radio station before it became a national broadcaster. Later he moved toRTÉ Radio 1, where he presented a weekly programme,Conversations with Eamon Dunphy until 2009. He then returned to Newstalk, now broadcasting nationwide, only to leave again in 2011.[1] Dunphy continues to write a column on football for theIrish Daily Star newspaper and does his podcast The Stand.
Dunphy grew up inDrumcondra, Dublin, in what he described as "a one-room tenement flat [with] no electricity, no hot water".[2][3] He attended Saint Patrick's National School, Drumcondra.[4] In 1958 he got a one year government scholarship toSandymount High School but he had to work as a messenger at tweed clothing shop Kevin and Howlin.[5]
A promising footballer, he left Dublin while still a teenager to joinManchester United as an apprentice. Dunphy did not break into the first team at United, and subsequently left to play forYork City,Millwall,Charlton Athletic,Reading andShamrock Rovers. It was at Millwall that Dunphy made the most impact; he was considered an intelligent and skilful player in the side's midfield.
Dunphy was a member of "The Class of '71", the Millwall side that failed by just one point to gain promotion to theFootball League First Division.
He accompaniedJohnny Giles back to Ireland to join Shamrock Rovers in 1977. Giles wanted to make the club Ireland's first full-time professional club, and hoped to make Rovers into a force in European football by developing talented young players at home who would otherwise go to clubs in England. Dunphy was originally intended to be in charge of youth development. However, despite anFAI Cup winners medal in 1978 (his only medal in senior football) and two appearances in theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup, Dunphy became disillusioned with the Irish game and dropped out of football altogether to concentrate on a career in journalism.
Dunphy played 23 times for theRepublic of Ireland and was Millwall's mostcapped international footballer with 22 caps, until surpassed by David Forde and Shane Ferguson.[6]
He made his Ireland début on 10 November 1965 in theplay-off at theParc des Princes in Paris for the1966 FIFA World Cup whichSpain won 1–0, thanks to aJosé Ufarte goal. He went on to become, in his own words, "a good player, not a great player".[7]
After retiring from the game, Dunphy first began writing on football for theSunday Tribune and then contributing regular columns on both football and current events for theSunday Independent. He currently writes a column on football for theIrish Daily Star. He coined the term "Official Ireland" to refer tothe establishment.
He has also worked forIreland on Sunday (nowThe Irish Mail on Sunday),The Sunday Press (now defunct), and theIrish Examiner.[2]
Since the 1980s, Dunphy has written a number of books. His first and most widely praised book isOnly a Game? The Diary of a Professional Footballer, which is an autobiographical account of his days playing for Millwall. Written in diary form, it recorded events from the dressing room of his 1973–74 season, which began well for him at Millwall but subsequently ended in disillusionment: after being substituted in a 27 October 1973 home loss to eventual league winnersMiddlesbrough, Dunphy did not play another game all season, the club finishing mid-table.[8]
In 1985, rock bandU2 and managerPaul McGuinness commissioned him to write the story of their origins, formation, early years and the time leading up to their highly successful albumThe Joshua Tree. His bookUnforgettable Fire - Past, Present, and Future - The Definitive Biography of U2 was published in 1988. It received some favourable reviews, but critics close to the band spoke of many inaccuracies. A verbal war erupted in the press during which Dunphy called lead singerBono a "pompous git".[9]
Dunphy has also written a biography of long-serving Manchester United managerMatt Busby and in 2002ghost wrote the autobiography of Republic of Ireland and Manchester United playerRoy Keane.
Since the mid-1980s, Dunphy has regularly appeared as an analyst during football coverage onRaidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). Since RTÉ acquired the rights to show English football, he has been a regular contributor toPremier Soccer Saturday. He also contributes to analysis ofUEFA Champions League games and, in international football, RTÉ's coverage ofFIFA World Cups,UEFA European Football Championships and qualifying matches involving theRepublic of Ireland national football team. He contributed toRTÉ Sport's coverage of the2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.[10][11] Dunphy's earnings from RTÉ for his football analysis (plus a radio show) include €328,051 in 2008 and €285,915 in 2007.[12]
In 2001, he became the first male host of the quiz showThe Weakest Link,[2] which aired onTV3, for just one series. In 2003, he was hired again by TV3 to host their new Friday night chat show, entitledThe Dunphy Show. Pitted head-to-head with RTÉ's long-running flagship programme,The Late Late Show, Dunphy's show lost what was a highly publicised "ratings war", and was cancelled before its original run was to conclude.[13]
He is the first presenter of a made-for-mobile television show on the3 mobile network in Ireland. His rants and "Spoofer of the Week" are watched by thousands of 3 Mobile customers. The shows were awarded "Best Entertainment Show" at Ireland's Digital Media Awards. Dunphy admits he never uses a mobile himself but enjoys filming for a mobile audience from his living room in Ranelagh.[citation needed]
In 2009, he made an emotive outburst onThe Late Late Show during a discussion regarding then-TaoiseachBertie Ahern's financial affairs.[14]
In July 2018, Dunphy announced that he was leaving RTÉ after 40 years with the broadcaster, and that he intended to focus on his podcastThe Stand with Eamon Dunphy.[15]
Dunphy has also had a prominent radio career with several stations, includingToday FM,Newstalk andRTÉ Radio 1.
He was the original host in 1997 of the popular current affairs showThe Last Word on Today FM.[16] In September 2004, he took overThe Breakfast Show slot on the Dublin radio stationNewstalk 106 fromDavid McWilliams. The show tried to court controversy and listeners in equal measure. He failed to attract the large listenership predicted, with only a few additional thousand tuning in. He announced in June 2006 his intention to leave Newstalk 106, citing an inability to sustain the demands of an early morning schedule. After his departure from Newstalk 106, he confirmed he was suffering from a viral illness. He later recovered.
In July 2006, RTÉ announced that Dunphy would present a new weekly programme as part of the new RTÉ Radio 1 autumn schedule.[17]
He rejoined Newstalk but left again in 2011 "due to interference from management and a push to put a more positive spin on the news". On his last show he accused his bossDenis O'Brien of "hating journalism". He quit afterSam Smyth was sacked from Today FM (also owned by O'Brien), and said management at Newstalk were trying to remove "dissenting voices" likeConstantin Gurdgiev from the airwaves.[1]
Dunphy was a dailyMass-goer until he was preparing for marriage to his first wife, Sandra fromSalford, when he was 21. He was Catholic and she was Protestant. The priest instructing them for marriage disapproved strongly of the mixed couple, saying that he should not marry her because she was "not a proper person". Dunphy's observance was already weakening but he quit his daily Mass-going at this point. He and Sandra had two children, a boy and a girl, and Dunphy is now a grandfather. His first marriage ended and he moved toCastletownshend in Cork for two years in the early 1990s. He lived with another partner, Inge, before meeting his second wife, RTÉ commissioning editor Jane Gogan, in theHorseshoe Bar in Dublin in 1992. They married at theUnitarian Church onSt Stephen's Green on 24 September 2009.[18][19]
In an interview withAn Phoblacht, Dunphy, who had previously written highly critical articles on theProvisional IRA andSinn Féin, stated that he is now a Sinn Féin supporter and declared he had voted for them in the2011 general election. He described their representatives as "incredibly hard-working and incredibly intelligent".[20]
He published his autobiography entitledThe Rocky Road in October 2013.[21]
Today, Dunphy generally resides at his home nearRanelagh in Dublin. He also owns a holiday home inDeauville, France.[2]
In May 2017, he said that he is aLiverpool supporter.[22]
In 1999 a High Court jury awarded £300,000 to politicianProinsias de Rossa over a 1992 article by Dunphy in theSunday Independent alleging that De Rossa was aware, while a member of the Workers' Party, of the Official IRA's alleged illegal activities, including bank robberies and forgery[23]
In 2002 Dunphy was banned from driving for a decade after being arrested for drunk driving and had eight previous convictions under the Road Traffic Act[24]
In 2020 one of theSunday Independent's most senior executives admitted that the paper went too far in the vindictive nastiness of its attacks onJohn Hume mounted by Dunphy in an incendiary back page piece[25]
The deceased satirist and actorDermot Morgan, known to international audiences asFather Ted, did a much-admired Eamon Dunphy impression on the satirical radio showScrap Saturday. Different sketches had him engaged in apparent inane and ridiculous arguments. They ranged from his criticism ofMother Teresa for "not being a real nun" to his attack on the week's weather. Dunphy left RTÉ's analysis team the day before the1986 FIFA World Cup Final, when he objected to Morgan's portrayal of him and Giles as monosyllabic.[26][27]
Dunphy'shyperbole wasparodied on RTÉ'sAprès Match show lampooning celebrities, footballers and broadcasters.
Oliver Callan also does impersonations of Dunphy, one of which Dunphy approved for a radio charity advertisement.[28]
Broadcaster Eamon Dunphy and Senator David Norris had given permission to the charity to have their voices mimicked by Callan for the adverts.
