Eamon Dunphy
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Eamon Dunphy (born 3 August, 1945 in Dublin) is a radio and TV personality and former professional football player who had played for the Republic of Ireland and Manchester United. His previous clubs include Shamrock Rovers, York City, Millwall, Charlton Athletic and Reading. Dunphy played 23 times for The Republic of Ireland and remains Millwall's most capped international player.
Broadcasting Career
After retiring from football, Dunphy went into broadcasting, regularly appearing to analyse matches on RTÉ's football show, The Premiership. He has also had a prominent radio career, and was the original host of the popular current affairs show The Last Word on Today FM. Following the phenomenal success of their album 'The Joshua Tree', he was commissioned by the rock band U2 to write the band's history. His book 'Unforgettable Fire - the story of U2' was published in 1988, although the band were not happy with some of its content.
In 2002, Dunphy became the first male host of the quiz show The Weakest Link, which aired on TV3, for just one series. In 2003, Dunphy was hired again by TV3 to host their new Friday night chat show, entitled The Dunphy Show. Pitted head-to-head with RTÉ's The Late Late Show, Dunphy's show lost the highly publicised "ratings war", and was cancelled before its original run was to conclude.
He is also author of the book Only a Game?: Diary of a Professional Footballer, and ghostwrote the autobiography of Republic of Ireland and Manchester United footballer Roy Keane.
In September 2004, Dunphy took over the Breakfast show slot on the Dublin radio station NewsTalk 106 from David McWilliams.
Dunphy is also impersinated, to a tee, in Irish comedy show Après Match.
Controversy
He has repeatedly been the subject of controversy over his use of drugs, both legal and illegal, which he has admitted. This has resulted in him receiving a 20-year driving ban, starting in 2002, for drink driving. While publicly stating his support for Ireland's workplace smoking ban, he has been photographed smoking at his own workplace since its introduction.
In his criticism of the Roy Keane/Saipan issue he referred to Mick McCarthy as "a boil on the arse of humanity".
In November 2005 he was involved in further controversy as a result of a 15 minute outburst on live TV. In the broadcast he became increasingly angry at the criticism levelled at the former Republic of Ireland football captain Roy Keane by the other panellists. In the resulting outburst he called Niall Quinn a "creep", "an idiot" and a "showboat" while also slandering journalist Rod Liddle by saying he "left his wife for a young one". In scenes that became increasingly farcical he removed his microphone and appeared to be getting up to walk off the set. He was later quoted as saying:
- "I'll tell you what [Roy Keane] is, He's a gentleman, he's a class act, he's a rebel and he stands up to bullies".
He's most famous for his catchphrase "No No No No" and for going on about "Bully boy tactics"
Dunphy again courted controversy on 8 March 2006 when speaking on RTE television in the aftermath of Liverpool's exit from the Champions League at the hands of SL Benfica. In a characteristically harsh assesment of the Liverpool team, Dunphy said of their Spanish winger Luis Garcia:
- "They (Liverpool) should put Garcia where he belongs - in the dustbin."
In the same broadcast, when asked on his views of Chelsea's elimination from the same competition the previous night at the hands of FC Barcelona, Dunphy said of the Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho:
- "We'll all see through Mourinho. We'll find out he's just a Bengal dancer!"