It’s St Patrick’s Day (March 17th) which, of course, is the Irish national day, so on this week’s listening practice report [from 2016] we take a look at some of the best ever Irish football stars. You can listen to the report by clicking on the link above, and you can also read the transcript of the report (below). There are also explanations of key vocabulary (in bold) at the end of the post. You can also practice your listening here with a gap-fill quiz. If you have any suggestions or questions then you can contact us at admin@languagecaster.com.   Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'dMItdOtbQOVi0YMyFcKF5A',sig:'Hrru4BEsHyrz7lGWTb8ePQGP_tYMVWNz2ePxv2kRmr4=',w:'594px',h:'387px',items:'1223462090',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Learn English Through Football Language Podcast: Irish Football Stars Ireland has a long tradition of football – the Irish Football Association was founded in 1880 and its first ever international match was against England in 1882. There are two football federations in Ireland currently – the Irish Football Association, that’s the IFA, and they oversee football in Northern Ireland, while the Football Association of Ireland, the FAI, organises football in the Republic of Ireland. Both teams have played in the World Cup on three occasions. Northern Ireland qualified in 1958, 1982 and 1986, while the Republic played in 1990, 1994 and again in 2002. Now, down through the years there have been many wonderful Irish players such as former Northern Ireland captain Danny Blanchflower, Ireland’s 1990 World Cup central defender Paul McGrath, playmaker Liam Brady and Norman Whiteside who was a young superstar in the 1986 World Cup and so in this week’s practice listening report we have four more footballing greats who played for Irish teams. George Best Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'BeFzj1qBQttCNJCBca3_yA',sig:'oMnuzxNxZem1EDtOXmfXFHJsrx9MfYD4R50QJwDVz-U=',w:'446px',h:'594px',items:'1238041065',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Belfast-born George Best was a forward with Manchester United and he helped them win the European Cup in 1967 in thrilling style. Best played only 37 times for Northern Ireland and never played at a major championship with his international side but he was still regarded as one of the greatest ever players to have played the game. Indeed, when Best passed away in 2005, Diego Maradona said of the Manchester United winger, ‘He was flamboyant and exciting and able to inspire his team-mates. I actually think we were very similar players – dribblers who were able to create moments of magic’. High praise indeed. Roy Keane