Ronan O’Gara joins JOE team for exciting new Facebook show

The biggest Irish rugby signing since Brad Thorn.

No, wait. It's bigger. Ireland, Munster and Lions legend Ronan O'Gara has joined JOE. The Racing Metro coach and outspoken pundit will appear on SportsJOE's rugby podcast The Hard Yards, as well as our brand new Facebook show, SportsJOE Live.   SportsJOE Live kicks off this Wednesday night at 9.30pm on both JOE and SportsJOE's Facebook pages and via Periscope on @JOEdotie and @SportsJOEdotie's Twitter pages. O'Gara will be one of a host of big name contributors to SportsJOE Live - Ireland's first ever weekly, multi-camera, live show designed for social distribution.

SportsJOE Live will also feature retired Republic of Ireland schemer Andy Reid, Ulster and Ireland wrecking ball Stephen Ferris, Cork camogie star Ashling Thompson, Kerry legend Paul Galvin, and SportsJOE's own Dion Fanning.

Filmed in Maximum Media’s new purpose built studios and sponsored by Screwfix.ie, the show will be presented by The GAA Hour host Colm ‘Wooly’ Parkinson and Australian born comedian Damien Clarke. SportsJOE Live is the first socially distributed broadcast show of its kind in Ireland.

With no weekly sports show being broadcast on linear TV in Ireland currently, the show aims to be the largest live sporting show in the Irish market.

Announcing the launch of SportsJOE Live, Maximum Media Broadcast Director Paddy McKenna paid tribute to the talent that will make the show a success.

“I’m delighted with the cast we’ve assembled for SportsJOE live. In his time with JOE, Wooly has developed into an outstanding broadcaster, Dion Fanning is the best sports writer in Ireland, and in Damien Clarke and Conor Moore we have two brilliantly unpredictable comic talents and that's before we even get to the panellists.

"The final component is our viewers who are crucial to the unique format of the show - both in the comments and interactions on social media, and in the live studio audience. Anything can happen, which is exactly what we all want.”

SportsJOE Live will be shared across both SportsJOE and JOE’s social channels, with a combined reach of over 1.5 million. It is one of a number of new shows to be launched this year across its channels, which include Her and HerFamily.

Most recently, SportsJOE premiered its new rugby podcast, The Hard Yards, and its first foray into business media, with its new podcast,The Capital B. All shows are produced at Maximum Studios.