🎧 Skorts, Shorts and the Three Stripe Affair That Rocked Cork GAA – Part 1 | Undercover Irish Podcast

In this episode of Undercover Irish, we dive into the headlines of today—and the hidden stories of the past. The current controversy over skorts in Camogie has sparked debate across Ireland, but it’s far from the first time sportswear caused uproar in the GAA.

In Part 1 of Skorts, Shorts and the Three Stripe Affair, we rewind to the 1970s to explore how global sportswear giant Adidas made its first bold move into the Irish market—and how a clash of tradition, branding, and county pride would trigger chaos on and off the pitch.

Focusing on the now-infamous Cork vs. Kerry Munster battles, this episode sets the stage for one of the most unusual and dramatic episodes in GAA history. From style to sponsorship, what we wear on the field has always mattered more than you might think.

👉 Tune in to uncover the forgotten story of how a few stripes shook the GAA to its core.

Keywords: Cork GAA, Kerry GAA, Adidas Ireland, Three Stripe Affair, Camogie skort controversy, GAA history, Munster final, Irish sports history, 1970s Ireland, Undercover Irish podcast

Let Erin Remember is a powerful and poetic exploration of environmental and cultural injustice, using the haunting Irish song Let Erin Remember as a guide through the destruction and pollution of Lough Neagh—once a sacred and mythologically rich lake at the heart of Ireland. This podcast unpacks the ecological crisis facing Lough Neagh, contextualizing it as a symptom of deeper colonial legacies.

Through the lens of Irish history, myth, and song, we examine the lake’s ancient origins as Lough Neathach, tied to the Dagda of Irish mythology, and expose how colonial ownership and mismanagement have devastated this once-pristine body of water. We draw striking parallels to other colonially renamed and claimed landmarks—from Uluru in Aboriginal Australia to Lake Victoria in Africa and Mount Everest in the Himalayas—highlighting the global pattern of erasure and appropriation.

We delve into the work of Thomas Moore, whose collection of Irish melodies preserved the cultural soul of a nation, and argue that songs like Let Erin Remember act as cultural memory against colonial forgetting. The podcast also critiques the shallow coverage often seen in modern media, urging a deeper, historically grounded understanding of the crisis at Lough Neagh.

Rooted in myth, melody, and memory, this podcast is both an act of resistance and a call to restore the sacred—to the land, the language, and the water.

"The Irish Were Ahead of the Stoics and Mindfulness: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy in Gaeilge"

Episode Summary:
In this thought-provoking episode of Undercover Irish, we explore how the Irish language (Gaeilge) encodes emotional intelligence in ways that predate Stoicism, modern mindfulness, and even Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). Through the lens of linguistic relativism—the idea that language shapes the way we think—we delve into how Gaeilge frames emotions, resilience, and human experience in profoundly unique ways.

We begin with a global tour of language and thought:

• In Guugu Yimithirr (an Aboriginal Australian language), people navigate space using cardinal directions, not egocentric ones like “left” or “right”—a linguistic habit that literally rewires spatial awareness.

• In Aymara (South America), time flows differently—the past is seen as in front of you, while the future is behind, challenging the assumptions of linear time.

• In Mandarin Chinese, vertical metaphors influence how speakers understand time—months go “up” or “down” rather than forward or backward.

Then, we come home to Ireland. We unpack how Irish expressions of emotion and feeling differ from English—not just in vocabulary, but in worldview. While English often seeks clarity and classification, Gaeilge embraces ambiguity, connection to nature, and emotional nuance. Phrases like “Tá brón orm” ("Sorrow is on me") reflect a subtle, externalized way of processing emotion—more aligned with acceptance than control.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• What linguistic relativism is and why it matters

• How global languages show different ways of thinking and feeling

• Why Gaeilge may offer a more mindful, compassionate approach to emotional life

• How Irish culture embedded emotional intelligence into everyday speech

• What we can reclaim from our language in a world hungry for depth, presence, and meaning

Keywords: Irish language, Gaeilge, emotional intelligence, Stoicism, CBT, mindfulness, linguistic relativism, Guugu Yimithirr, Aymara language, Mandarin Chinese, language and thought, Irish culture, emotion in language, cognitive behavioral therapy in Irish, Irish History