[2] In order to make friends and facilitate learning the Japanese language, Gunning joined a local sports team called the Red Flags, not knowing that they were tied to a communist party.
[2] Gunning represented Ireland at three Sumo World Championships; 2007 in Thailand, 2008 in Estonia, and 2012 in Hong Kong, but in his words he was unable to translate his results seen in training into the tournaments, and so retired in 2012.
[3] At short notice, Gunning called up the rikishi he knew for exclusive comments and turned in a piece within 30 hours.
[1] He created it after years of finding what he felt were great sport stories but having no outlet to tell them as they did not fit with a daily newspaper for various reasons.
[2] Gunning acknowledges that by working in Japan he is not as free to say what he wants as he would be in other countries, but said "I try to push the envelope and ask important questions."
For example, he supports female participation in sumo and is outspoken on what he believes is the inevitable issue of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in the sport, the latter related to the injuries he experienced first hand while competing.