Blocking a cross-community cricket camp. Unionists are draining the pool so no one can swim

The Fairground Park pool in St Louis Missouri was the largest pool in America when it was built in 1919. It had enough room for 10,000 swimmers. All of them white.But when integration came to Missouri, rather than allow all races to swim, the Fairground Park pool closed. This phenomenon was explored by writer Heather McGhee and on Free State today, Joe and Dion examine the drained pool politics of unionism and the Orange order in Northern Ireland. When the North Down Cricket Club cross-community sports camp sports was blocked following an online backlash it was a perfect example of how narrow mindedness hurts everyone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Om Podcasten

Free State is a podcast for the curious that stimulates, provokes, challenges and entertains, while never taking itself too seriously. Free State covers topics from sport to politics, love to loss, the human condition and how to fix the world, with guests from across the planet including Nigerian princes, former Prime Ministers, ex convicts, footballers, boxers and extraordinary people from every walk of life. Free State is presented by Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning. Brolly is a barrister, an original thinker with a fascinating backstory, who donated a kidney to a stranger and then led a crusade to transform organ donation on the island of Ireland, and Fanning is an award-winning interviewer and author. They are not motivational gurus or life coaches. They will never try to sell you a penis scented candle. They are two people from very different worlds, with one core belief uniting them - this is not a high performance podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.