DIVERTED

Follow Eoin on this not-so-smooth journey from the Deep South of the USA to the southern tip of Argentina, as he tries to recover from missing out on the Biggest Party In The History of The Universe (™).Each week, this podcast will travel to a new country, and we will bring you to a ritualistic fighting festival in rural Bolivia, to the basketball-crazy highlands of Guatemala and to the equine sport heartlands of Argentina’s gaucho country. We will become experts in Jai-Alai and Tejo, we will speak extensively with a survivor of the 1972 Andes plane crash, we will become fans of FC Palestino and hang out with lucha libre fighters. There are carnivals and psychedelics and broken bones, as we run from Andean karma but towards any presence of Maradona and Messi.Also: A weekly account of how a hitchhiking journey through Patagonia can go spectacularly wrong, but also lead this podcast to the family of a World Cup-winning footballer.Follow Eoin…https://www.instagram.com/eoinsheahan/https://x.com/EoinSheahanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@eoinsheahan

Coming to your OTB Daily feed this Tuesday (March 25th) at 10am - the first episode of Eoin Sheahan's Diverted. Before the first episode went live, Eoin chatted to OTB's Mick McCarthy about the 10-part series, which you can find each Tuesday in the OTB Daily feed, and in its own podcast feed. You can access that here to subscribe. Follow Eoin on this not-so-smooth journey from the Deep South of the USA to the southern tip of Argentina, as he tries to recover from missing out on the Biggest Party In The History of The Universe (™).Each week, this podcast will travel to a new country, and we will bring you to a ritualistic fighting festival in rural Bolivia, to the basketball-crazy highlands of Guatemala and to the equine sport heartlands of Argentina’s gaucho country. We will become experts in Jai-Alai and Tejo, we will speak extensively with a survivor of the 1972 Andes plane crash, we will become fans of FC Palestino and hang out with lucha libre fighters. There are carnivals and psychedelics and broken bones, as we run from Andean karma but towards any presence of Maradona and Messi.

In the first episode of this series, Eoin takes you to Colombia, where our first destination is the city of Medellin. Here, there are football ultras trying to make the world a better place, and there is a football club trying to get away from the historic association with Pablo Escobar.There is the national sport of Tejo, where drinking beer is encouraged and making things explode is the aim of the game.In Bogota, we hear about a national obsession with cycling, and how it’s intertwined - and not for the better - with the current politics of Colombia. There is better news on the women’s football front, however, as the national team gains positive headlines.There is also alcohol tasting, a bus that gets stuck in the highland mud and a dog-friendly MMA gym.Before all that, there’s part one of the Patagonian hitchhiking journey, as Eoin tries to get a lift out of the town of Bariloche.Follow Eoin…https://www.instagram.com/eoinsheahan/ https://x.com/EoinSheahan https://www.tiktok.com/@eoinsheahan

In the second episode of this series, we get invited to spend an afternoon at the plush environs of the Prince of Wales country club in Santiago, Chile. Here, some of the country’s national rugby players are putting kids through their paces and they themselves prepare for a first ever Rugby World Cup.A snoop around a flea market, then, tips me off about a storied football club, Club Deportivo Palestino. We meet the fans and those running the club, which is a representation of Palestinian identity in Chile.Finally, we meet Eddio Inostroza who was assistant to the enigmatic Mirko Josic, who came from Yugoslavia to lead the Colo-Colo club to their highest ever point as a club.Also, there is the story of Puskas in Chile, the Battle of Macul and the story behind Chile’s two World Rugby hall of famers.Before all that, there’s part two of the Patagonian hitchhiking journey, as Eoin tries to get himself to the town of Esquel.Follow Eoin…https://www.instagram.com/eoinsheahan/https://x.com/EoinSheahanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@eoinsheahanEmail: eoinsheahan1@gmail.com

In this episode, we go on a journey into the Bolivian highlands for a completely unique festival called “Tinku.” It takes place in a tiny town called Macha, which is not exactly a tourist hot spot. The aim of the game is to fight thy neighbour in order to spill blood and satisfy the Andean gods, which are all-powerful to the indigenous Aymara community.We drink with the locals, dance with the locals and some of us fight with the locals. It is a chaotic couple of days, and one of the world’s most unusual sporting traditions.Also, we visit La Paz and El Alto and talk about the fighting Cholitas, and we hop on a Mountain bike down Death Road.Before all that, there’s part four of the Patagonian hitchhiking journey, as Eoin is still trying to get himself to the town of Esquel.Follow Eoin…https://www.instagram.com/eoinsheahan/https://x.com/EoinSheahanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@eoinsheahanEmail: eoinsheahan1@gmail.com

In 1972, a plane carrying members of the Old Christians rugby team of Montevideo crashed in the Andes, leaving behind a slew of survivors. After 72 days trapped on the mountain, 16 survivors managed to make it home.In this episode, Eoin visits the home of one of the survivors, Antonio Vizintin, for an extended chat about those 72 days and, indeed, the reaction to the revelations that dead bodies were used for food on the mountain.We also speak with Jorg Thomsen, director of Museo Andes 1972, and Ana Ines Martinez Lamas, who lost her brother in the crash.There are also the sounds of Uruguayan Carnaval.Before all that, there’s part four of the Patagonian hitchhiking journey, as Eoin embarks on a risky journey East, from Esquel.Follow Eoin…https://www.instagram.com/eoinsheahan/https://x.com/EoinSheahanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@eoinsheahanEmail: eoinsheahan1@gmail.com

In this episode, we take you to Mexico City where Independence Day is in full swing. We use the information provided by the Irish Hooligan to go and spend the day with some lucha libre fighters in a “dangerous part” of Mexico.For Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), then, we go to San Cristobal de las Casas and we attend a rave in the woods, learn about the Zapatista movement and we meet the people trying to build a gym in order to provide positive environments for the children of the city.Finally, we go to San Jose del Pacifico and we go on a magic mushroom journey in one of the most beautiful settings in the world, in the company of a former Mayo hurler.Before all that, there is part five of Eoin’s hitchhiking journey, where he desperately tries to get out of Paso de Indios.Follow Eoin…https://www.instagram.com/eoinsheahan/https://x.com/EoinSheahanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@eoinsheahanEmail: eoinsheahan1@gmail.com

In this episode, Eoin brings you on a sporting tour through three countries in Central America.We begin in Costa Rica, where we watch their World Cup dreams dying a death, before an unlikely resuscitation allows an entire nation to dream, if only for a brief moment.We venture to Belize where a small town is looking to recapture past glories in the nation’s Premier League.And we go to Guatemala, where we take chicken buses up to the mountains to the small towns totally obsessed with basketball.Before all that, there’s part six of the Patagonian hitchhiking journey, as Eoin is finally asked to do some driving for himself.Follow Eoin…https://www.instagram.com/eoinsheahan/https://x.com/EoinSheahanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@eoinsheahanEmail: eoinsheahan1@gmail.com

In this episode, Eoin brings you on an injury-delayed tour of Peru. There is the story of mountain climbing in Arequipa and how the political turmoil of 2022/23 affected the nation, while there is also an analysis of the societal divisions in Peru as represented by football.We traipse up towards the Amazon river, taking in a massive John the Baptist celebration en route to a rickety boat along the river. Cocooned away from the world, the trip concludes with a mad chase to find phone coverage to see if Kerry have beaten Tyrone in the All-Ireland championship.Before all that, there’s part seven of the Patagonian hitchhiking journey, our most in-depth, most chaotic, most turbulent instalment yet.Follow Eoin… https://www.instagram.com/eoinsheahan/https://x.com/EoinSheahanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@eoinsheahanEmail: eoinsheahan1@gmail.com

In this episode, the hitchhiking narrative converges with our sports narrative. We tell the story of how getting stuck in a Patagonian shack led to the family of Alexis MacAllister, and how the Liverpool midfielder was basically created in a lab.We then go to the Hurlingham district of Buenos Aires and pay a visit to the Hurling Club, where Dickie MacAllister takes us through the fascinating history of Gaelic games in Argentina.Finally, we visit the small town of Intendente Alvear, where the national sport of “Pato” is king, and horses are the sports animals of choice.Before all that, there is part eight of Eoin’s hitchhiking journey, where he desperately tries to get out of Bajo Caracoles.Follow Eoin…https://www.instagram.com/eoinsheahanhttps://x.com/EoinSheahanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@eoinsheahanEmail: eoinsheahan1@gmail.com

In this episode, we go from South Beach to North Florida to take in a wild range of sporting peculiarities. We begin by visiting a jai-alai fronton in Miami, where players are trying to keep the Basque game alive in the basement of a casino. We swing by Domino Park, where Miami’s elders are hanging out, before checking in on a group of Inter Miami fans who believe that success is close - if they fire Phil Neville.We take the tri-rail up to Delray Beach to visit the Pillow Fight Championship and meet the fighters who have transitioned from MMA, jiu-jitsu and bare-knuckle fighting in order to swing a pillow.Finally, it’s the Greyhound bus to Gainesville. The Gators are playing at the Swamp, where the fans are in a chaotic yet philosophical mood, and everyone is ready to belt out a bit of Tom Petty.Before all that, there’s part nine of the Patagonian hitchhiking journey, as Eoin tries to save himself from Ramon’s disastrous u-turn attempt.Follow Eoin…https://www.instagram.com/eoinsheahan/https://x.com/EoinSheahanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@eoinsheahanEmail: eoinsheahan1@gmail.com

In the final episode of this series, we bring you inside the towns of Patagonia that have a distinct Welsh falvour. From tea houses to red dragons to an adoration for the game of rugby, we travel to Trelew and Gaiman. In Buenos Aires, we sit down with Marcela Mora y Araujo to take one last look back on the 2022 World Cup triumph, and what it's done for a country that is economically on its knees. She also reveals her own story of FOMO, except it was missing out on her own nation's World Cup win, which soothes the pain of this particular story of missing out.We go to a Boca Juniors game, and we also travel to Rosario to go to a Newell's Old Boys game. It's a club that both Messi and Maradona have played for, but neither is as revered in the stadium as one Marcelo Bielsa.Before all that, there’s part ten of the Patagonian hitchhiking journey, as Eoin tries to get himself to his destination of Ushuaia.Follow Eoin…https://www.instagram.com/eoinsheahan/https://x.com/EoinSheahanhttps://www.tiktok.com/@eoinsheahanEmail: eoinsheahan1@gmail.com