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From Bohs to the GAA, how sports jerseys became big business

Rapid commercialisation and fan loyalty means replica jerseys and sportswear are now a billion euro business

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Is there too much noise in your life?

Dublin , Ireland - 18 September 2016; A general view of the action during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. (Photo By Cody Glenn/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

What's behind the behaviour of All-Ireland final crowds?

All-Ireland Final

27 April 2025; Jason Forde of Tipperary in action against Niall O'Leary of Cork during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 2 match between Cork and Tipperary at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Where are the hurling and football strongholds in Ireland?

Richard Morgan competiting at a rowing tournament in Boston in 2018. Photo: Concept2 https://www.concept2.co.uk/

How 92 year old Richard Morgan became a rowing world champion

Cattle on North King Street, Dublin city in 1952/1953.

The inside story of Dublin's blood and guts economy

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What's the story with this PRSI tax thing on my payslip?

EF Education - EasyPost team's Irish rider Ben Healy wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey (C) cycles with the pack of riders (peloton) during the 11th stage of the 112th edition of the Tour de France cycling race, 156.8 km starting and finishing in

How does cycling 3,338km in 21 days affect your body?

Xpeng X2 flying car

Are you ready to go for a spin in a flying car?

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 06: U.S. President Donald Trump looks up at the new flag on the south lawn of the White House on July 06, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump is returning from a 4th of July weekend in Bedminster. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty

How Trump's personality traits have led to tariff threats

emerald ash borer disease

How the emerald ash borer became the ash tree's new enemy

Cillian Murphy in Misterman Galway Arts Festival 2011

6 highlights from the Galway Arts Festival back pages

Dublin's Henry Steet

How the cost of living crisis has changed Ireland's streets

a woman sitting on a couch eating a cup of coffee and eating chocolate

Could tea, chocolate and apples help lower your blood pressure?

The colourful tale of the Elephant House on Dublin's O'Connell St

More Brainstorm

All Ireland Hurling Final

Dublin , Ireland - 18 September 2016; A general view of the action during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park in Dublin. (Photo By Cody Glenn/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

What's behind the behaviour of All-Ireland final crowds?

All-Ireland Final

Epic and often violent hurling tussles of the pre-famine era have been lost to popular memory

Violence, protest and melees: hurling in pre-famine Ireland

6 July 2025; Jason Forde of Tipperary celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final match between Kilkenny and Tipperary at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

The science of winning an All-Ireland final over 100 years ago

Stephen Dowling shapes a hurley with a bandsaw at The Star Hurleys in Jenkinstown, Co Kilkenny. Photo: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images

What will the hurley of the future look like?

"There is this notion that hurling is a country game, that it's of the soil. And yes, of course it is, but to imagine that the history of hurling has no urban side to it, is to create a history that is unsustainable and inaccurate."

The roots of hurling, the greatest game on earth

Dublin , Ireland - 28 July 2024; An Armagh supporter looks for tickets ahead of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Armagh and Galway at Croke Park in Dublin. (Photo By Daire Brennan/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

How do you get your hands on All Ireland final tickets?

It's extremely rare for hurlers to remove their helmets for the national anthem. Photo: Getty Images

'Face the flag': a history of the national anthem & Gaelic games

Health

A growing body of research suggests dogs can detect seizures before they occur by picking up on subtle changes in human scent. Photo: Dogs for the Disabled

Can dogs help to predict epileptic seizures?

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Why summertime is the right time to help children move better

A daily walk has many health benefits.

5 ways to make your daily walk more beneficial in 2025

Cheerful woman in sunglasses embraces the sunshine surrounded by snowy mountains on sunny day

Can you spot a fake smile from the real thing?

'Any water bottle is going to deteriorate over time.'

How filthy is your water bottle?

Your Money

An aerial view of a senior couple picking out various groceries at their local supermarket together.

Here are 50 things you're paying more for now than a year ago

a woman in a supermarket with a shopping trolley using her phone

How did Ireland become Europe's second most expensive country?

Ireland's unprecedented level of savings comes at a time of low bank returns, inflation erosion and a lack of compelling alternatives.

What are Irish people doing with their savings of €163 billion?

Woman going over her finances

Are you being ripped off by the 'loyalty penalty'?

Solar panel installation on residential house

How long will it take for my solar panels to pay for themselves?

Overhead view of young Asian woman managing personal banking and finance at home. Planning budget and calculating expenses while checking her bills with calculator. Managing taxes and financial bills. Home budgeting. Concept of finance and economy

6 policy changes to help consumers save money and cut costs

'We are enrolled, encouraged and urged to become financialised citizens today, investing in the pensions market to supplement the state pension.' Photo: Getty Images

A short history of the old age pension in Ireland

Audio

A funnel cloud over Longford in 2014 Pic: Louise Duggan via RTÉ Images of the Day

Tornadoes in Ireland? Yes, we get them and here's how many

"Life has taught us that keeping family pets can have an incredibly positive impact on our lives." Photo: Getty Images

The physical and emotional benefits of living with a dog

Eoghan Ó Gramhnaigh's casket in San Francisco in 1903

The man from Co Meath who had at least 10 funerals

It will take a lot more than elbow grease and warm weather to clean one of these.

How do you clean a wind turbine blade?

Parents will consistently say the same thing about their teens - 'I just don't understand them'. Photo: Tim Mossholder/Unsplash

Help, my child is now a teenager – what do I do?

More Audio

Editor's Choice

The hospitality crisis: what's happening to Irish restaurants?

The wild anti-colonial boys: Kneecap's irreverent use of language and symbols help redefine and remodel once feared ideas.

Why Kneecap have become poster boys for Irish anti-colonialism

The colourful tale of the Elephant House on Dublin's O'Connell St

Post of Fr Matthew Quay in Cork from 1903

All you need to know about the origins of Irish tourism

Loreto (IBVM) Sisters on elephant, Lucknow, India, 1903

Why did so many 19th century Irish women become nuns?

View of la Rochelle in 1627. 19th Century engraving. (Photo by: Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Inside the world of ducking & diving 18th century Irish merchants