Back To The Studio

PREFACE

My first sports commentary on ABC Radio in Queensland was of a Rugby League match in Toowoomba in 1971. It was a game between Toowoomba and Ipswich in the Bulimba Cup, a triangular tournament that also included Brisbane, and I was terrified.

Ready for anything. Peter Meares, budding ABC commentator, departs on his first international trip, the Edmonton Commonwealth Games, 1978

The problem was that I had just come up to Brisbane to join the Sports Department from Sydney, via Hobart. The main reason I got the job was because I had said that I had called Rugby League, which was stretching the truth a bit. Actually, all I had done was record my commentary on Easts (now Sydney City Roosters) games, sitting on the hill at the old Sydney Sports Ground.

On the way up the range to Toowoomba, my co-commentator Cyril Connell, sensing that I was a complete novice, gave me some invaluable advice. ‘Go to the dressing-rooms and have a look at the players. There are lots of things that you can use to identify them apart from their numbers. Then write down their surnames and numbers on a manila folder and concentrate on the players who are most involved in the play, like the halves, the hooker and the full-back. Don’t worry about the other names — it doesn’t matter if you get them wrong — you’re only on radio.’

So I dutifully knocked on the door of the Toowoomba dressing-room and a slim, dark-haired youngster answered. His name was Wayne Bennett. Little did I know then how many times our paths would cross over the next 35 years!

After checking out both teams I settled down behind a card table on the sideline, our makeshift commentary box, alongside six other tables. In the early 1970s, League was the only game in town in Queensland, and almost every radio station covered it. I began to call the match and, after a while, forgot my nerves. Bearing Cyril’s advice in mind, I concentrated on the star players and, if I was struggling for a name, I only had to listen to the other callers and I would have it.

Toowoomba were attacking and I was getting really animated: ‘Rose gets it away to Cowley and here’s Bennett, chiming into the line from full-back. He’s flying for the corner, but a great covering tackle from Johnny White takes him into touch …’ WHOOSH!

I had been elbowed in the ribs by my scorer, Brian, a burly former Ipswich prop. On air ‘live’ I couldn’t say anything, but I glared at him meaningfully. A few minutes later, when we crossed back to Eagle Farm for the next race description, I asked what on earth he was doing.

‘Just keep your mind on the job.’

Before I had the chance to ask what he meant, we were back on air. Now it was the turn of Ipswich and they were hammering away at the Toowoomba line, looking for the first try of the game. I lifted my tempo, screaming out my commentary when — WHOOSH — another elbow, knocked the breath out of me. When we went to the next race I really turned on Brian: ‘What the hell are you doing? This is my livelihood you know — if I stuff this up, I’m on the next plane back to Hobart. What’s the problem?’

He said nothing, but simply turned my manila folder upside down and said: ‘Toowoomba are in blue — Ipswich are in green!’

Fortunately there hadn’t been a score, so disaster had been averted. Cyril had been too much of a gentleman to correct me. When I fronted the boss on Monday, he asked how my first call went. ‘Great — when’s the next game?’

Sports commentary on radio in Australia began in 1924 with our national sport, cricket. Bill Smallicombe, from commercial station 5CL, broadcast the Third Test between Australia and England at the Adelaide Oval. It was an incredible feat, as it was a timeless Test and lasted seven days. Bill described every ball, all by himself. As few had radio receivers, Bill’s commentary was broadcast on loudspeakers all around the city of Adelaide. It was a huge success.

Everyone remembers the name of the first man to climb Everest and the first men to fly a plane, but who remembers Bill? Sports commentators are the forgotten men and women of sport, yet they provide a service which has become an integral part of the fabric of Australian life.

Football came next — the 1925 VFL Australian Rules semi-final between Geelong and Melbourne from the Melbourne Cricket Ground on a commercial station, 3AR. A.N. Bishop and former Geelong player Wally ‘Jumbo’ Sharland were the commentators. The station also gave race results and reports on progress in the Melbourne to Warrnambool cycle classic.

Two weeks later, the ABC began broadcasting football on station 3LO, with coverage by Mel Morris and Rod McGregor of the Grand Final between Geelong and Collingwood (which the Cats won by ten points).

In July 1932, Prime Minister Joseph Lyons inaugurated the national Australian Broadcasting Commission network, with twelve stations across the country. Among the first programs was ‘Racing Notes with W.A. Ferry’, which included commentary on the race meeting at Randwick, juxtaposed with ‘Morning Devotions’, British Wireless News and ‘The Children’s Session with Bobby Bluegum’. They were humble beginnings.

Sport was a national obsession and the ABC realised it. Under general manager, Sir Charles Moses, a former first grade Rugby player, cricket broadcasts became a regular part of programming in the 1930s. Former Test players Monty Noble and Vic Richardson were the first regular commentators and were soon joined by Hal Hooker and a young Alan McGilvray.

Before the advent of television in 1956, radio sports commentary was extremely popular and there were regular ‘live’ descriptions of football, cricket, tennis and racing. I can still recall listening to the ABC call of the epic 1953 Davis Cup Challenge Round, in which the young Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall upset the experienced Americans, Vic Seixas and Tony Trabert. I was listening to my transistor radio at the council swimming pool in my home town of Forbes, and soon I had a crowd of about twenty people gathered around me, also listening to Doug Heywood and Alf Chave. From that moment I wanted to be a sports commentator.

I played a lot of sport as a boy and, when I went to Sydney University, played in the First XI cricket team. I had visions of becoming a Test star and wanted to try my luck in the Lancashire League. However, my father insisted I further my education, so I enrolled in arts/law. I played every sport I could and had a wonderful time — perhaps too good a time. The demands of law proved to be beyond me and I failed first year, so I lost my Commonwealth Scholarship. Dad was going broke on the land and I had vowed to support myself after school, so I picked up a job as a groundsman at Sydney University Oval. It dovetailed nicely with my sport and studies. By day I would prepare the pitch on which I would bowl the following weekend and by night I finished off my arts degree.

One day I was picking up rubbish on the banks of the oval amongst the papers I noticed an ad for a specialist trainee in the Sports Department of the ABC, but I wasn’t sure what the application process was, so I tore it out and stuffed it in my wallet. A few days later I was at a friend’s place for dinner, celebrating my BA, but wondering what I would do with my life. Copious amounts of wine were consumed, so I was holding forth on the selection of the Australian cricket team on the upcoming 1968 Ashes tour. When my hosts cleared the table I was left with a charming fellow who asked what I intended to do with my degree. When I mumbled something about joining Qantas as a trainee pilot, he said: ‘You would be much better suited to something involving sport, and we’ve got a job in our Sports Department. I’m sure they would be interested in you.’

I dug into my wallet and produced the crumpled ad, saying: ‘Oh, you mean this job?’

‘Ah, you are interested,’ he said, ‘that’s great. I’m Arthur Wyndham, and I’m program manager for 2BL. I’ll have a word with Bernie Kerr, the Head of Sport, and we’ll see what we can do.’

A week later I was working at the ABC. Such is the fickle finger of fate or perhaps it was just luck, but it’s been my passion for over 40 years now. As someone famous once said: ‘Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.’

The business of becoming a broadcaster was not as easy as I had imagined, though. In those days, my central western NSW accent was considered too broad for the ABC. I was born at Forbes in the wheat belt of NSW, 250 kilometres west of Sydney, and had the typical ‘bushie’ accent of farmers in the area. So, once a week, I would have a session with Gordon Scott, one of the ‘old school’ British-style broadcasters who worked with me on my lazy speech patterns. For example, a cricket script might read: ‘The cricket score from the SCG — NSW 2 for 223 in their first innings.’ When I read it aloud Gordon said my words came out as ‘criget’, ‘undred’ and ‘twenny’, so I had to practise, practise, practise. I would do scores of practice tapes and try to get one of the senior commentators to listen to them — commentators such as Bert Oliver or the late John O’Reilly — who sadly passed away while this book was being published. ‘Nugget’ May used to say: ‘When you’ve done a thousand come back and see me.’

In those days all trainees went through the same system, so they developed a certain ABC style. That’s why Drew Morphett, Gordon Bray, Tim Lane, Jim Maxwell, Dennis Cometti, Alan Marks, Roger Wills, Peter Gee and the late Wally Foreman all sounded the same. We all learned from the greatest of them all, Norman ‘Nugget’ May.

‘Nugget’ began with the ABC just after television was introduced to Australia in 1956. He was the first full-time TV sports commentator, so he made the rules. Those rules were handed down to trainees who, in turn, passed them on and they still apply today. I still have my ‘Training Course Reference Papers’ which include, on yellowing, roneoed sheets, ‘Television Commentary Techniques’ as written by Norman May. Among the highlighted headings are Enthusiasm, Pitch of Excitement, Anticipation and Talking to Picture, the integral aspects of the art.

At my audition for the position as a specialist trainee with the Sports Department, Norman stopped me mid-way through reading a sports news script, asking: ‘Why are you speaking like that?’

‘Because all you ABC blokes speak with a plum in your mouth,’ I replied. ‘I was trying to sound like James Dibble.’ (He was a prominent ABC newsreader of the time, with impeccable diction.)

‘Not in sport you don’t. Just imagine we meet in the pub after you’ve been to the match and I haven’t. You’re telling me all about it, clearly, concisely and enthusiastically — and above all, in your own natural voice. Remember, radio is an intimate medium and you’re normally talking to an audience of just one person, not a town hall gathering.’ It was the best advice I ever had in broadcasting.

At that training course we were lucky to have some wonderful mentors — apart from Norman May, there was Jim Fitzmaurice, a marvellous commentator from Perth, who encouraged us to widen our vocabulary, and Paul Murphy, a savvy current affairs reporter, who taught us the art of interviewing. I can still recall the two basic edicts Paul passed on. First, never ask a question to which you don’t know the answer (or, in other words, do your research). And second, the interview is about him, not you, so keep your questions brief.

It’s interesting to note some of the names of training course members way back in 1969: Andrew Olle, Michael Bailey, Bob Maynard and John Sexton. Andrew became one of the country’s outstanding current affairs reporters, Michael is still one of Australia’s most experienced weathermen, Bob is a leading broadcaster with ABC Classic FM and John is one of Australia’s foremost film producers.

Scores of future household names passed through that ABC Training School. Another TV training course I attended included people like Gordon Bray, Drew Morphett, Geoff McMullen (‘Sixty Minutes’), Alan Humphries (TV weatherman) and Jim Maxwell. And what fun we had!

After lectures finished we usually gathered at a favourite watering-hole in William Street, the Gladstone Hotel, near the Training School in Kings Cross. There we rubbed shoulders with sports personalities like former Wallabies Cyril Towers, Trevor Allan and Ken Catchpole, Rugby League star Dick Thornett, actors Rod Mullinar and Tony Bonner, and ABC legends Alan McGilvray, race-caller Geoff Mahoney, Margaret Throsby and radio producer Alan Marks. There were trivia contests, lively debates and much merriment, with trainees like myself regularly dispatched to the nearby TAB to place bets.

In those days the ABC had the telecast rights to most major sports, including Olympic Games, Davis Cup tennis, Rugby League, Rugby Union and cricket, so we rookies were fortunate enough to call a variety of major sporting events. On weekdays we would present a fifteen-minute radio sports round-up each evening called ‘Sporting Highlights’, as well as the occasional film story for News. Before the days of ENG or video cameras everything was shot on film, so it had to be in the lab by 2.00 pm in order to edit and present it on air at 7.00 pm. Every weekend we would cover sport, either at a TV OB (outside broadcast) or on radio ‘live’ from the ground. One was supposed to be familiar with the sport, so if you didn’t know the rules, you learned them. Then you always sat next to an expert, a former international or famous player, who would preview and review the action. We never gave our opinions — those were reserved for the expert analysts. We simply stuck to describing the action, which meant knowing the players instantly by sight, and giving the score.

When I moved to Hobart in 1970 after two years as a trainee in Sydney I got my big break. Although I had very little experience in broadcasting, limited to the occasional studio program on radio, in Tasmania I was involved in three television shows in my first week. On a current affairs show called ‘Lineup’ I did voxpops (spot interviews) with the public, asking questions on topical issues, such as daylight saving. Then there was a rock show called ‘Scene’ with Ric Patterson, where I interviewed dancing couples on their thoughts about the music on the show. And finally, I was thrust into the hot seat for a show on Australian Rules, called ‘On the Ball’. This was the toughest gig, as I had never played or even watched much Aussie Rules. Nevertheless, with the sympathetic support of the panel, local footy legends Vern Rae, ‘Nunky’ Ayers and Peter Marquis, I managed to get away with it. In fact, after a couple of weeks, my boss Don Closs even threw me onto the Monday night footy show, ‘Who Won and Why?’ It was simply a matter of asking the same naïve questions a viewer at home might ask and never trying to sound like an expert.

My first TV interview was with world squash champion Geoff Hunt. I wore my brand new three-piece suit and had a list of questions ready. I had just taken up playing squash so I was genuinely interested, but I grew more and more nervous when my make-up and hair were done. It grew worse, until I simply lost my voice. I was terrified so, as a last resort, ran up and down the park outside the studios. It worked, but when I did the interview, perched on a stool next to Hunt, I kept going far too long. I had been told ‘ten minutes’ by the director, but had no idea how long I was going and had never seen a floor manager’s signals before — so I just kept going and going. We had got to the stage of discussing what Geoff ate for breakfast when the floor manager just yelled: ‘That’s enough. Wind it up.’ I had gone nearly twenty minutes and was bawled out by the director but at least I had broken the ice. Interviewing was later to become my forte.

My first TV OB was of an international table tennis tournament, Australia vs. Sweden, from the Moonah Bowl. Fortunately, I had played the game with my brother at home on the farm and had at least some understanding of the game. Bearing in mind the lessons learned from ‘Nugget’ May and Paul Murphy, I said very little and got by. In my mind’s eye, I can still see the smash of Swedish power-player Kjell ‘The Hammer’ Johansson. The next weekend we covered Regatta Day, a yachting spectacular on the River Derwent. I had never been on a yacht and had absolutely no idea of the skills and rules involved. The telecast went for most of the afternoon and I said barely more than ‘Hello and welcome …’ and ‘… so it’s goodbye from Hobart.’ Again, nobody seemed to mind. You learned by your mistakes, and there were plenty of them. At the Tasmanian Athletics Championships, I was given the job of trackside interviews and was thrilled to be the first to congratulate Mexico Olympic gold medallist, Ralph Doubell, on his win in the 800 metres. I rushed up as he crossed the line then, a little overawed, blurted out the first thing that came into my head: ‘How do you feel?’ Gasping for breath, he croaked: ‘How do you think I feel — I’m buggered.’ And, with that, he walked away.

These are just a few personal memories from a rewarding career in what I regard as the best job in the world. Fancy being paid to do what you love!

Privilege of the job — chatting with old warhorses — Bill Brown and Alec Bedser, Caloundra, 2007

This is the second edition of this book. The first was published in 2008, and several new names have been added – for example, Kelli Underwood, the only female fulltime sports caller, and Quentin Hull, the only commentator I know who calls all four codes of football.

Sports commentators are a special breed. It’s a lifetime obsession, which means that you are never off the job. You have to eat, sleep and breathe sport in order to keep abreast of it. There are wonderful rewards — travel, meeting great people, the excitement of being in the best seats at major events and, above all, the satisfaction of communicating the action to the world — and hopefully, getting it right. There’s also a downside, being away from your family every weekend and on almost every public holiday.

In this book I have set out to take the reader behind the scenes with Australia’s most famous sports commentators. We love our sport and love to debate the merits, not only of players, but also of the callers. This book is not limited to just one sport; it takes in the whole gamut of sports commentators, on radio and television, both male and female. However, there are two exceptions: horse-racing and motor sport. These are two sports in which, for some unknown reason, I have no deep interest, so I have left them out.

My thanks to all the commentators for their time and for sharing their thoughts with me. We have one thing in common — we all love sport and love talking about it.

Peter Meares

ONE

The Pioneers

‘Jones…inside to Jackson…ohhh bless us all,

he’s dropped it! With the line open! How could

you drop a pass like that?’

Frank Hyde

‘Now it’s Ray bright on to bowl, short and square,

with a beard. Not a full beard like Ned Kelly,

more like a scribble on an underground poster’

John Arlott

In such a massive country as Australia, with such diverse and far-flung communities, sport created a common bond in the early days of settlement. What’s more, Australians excelled at it and the fledgling nation gained international status through the deeds of its sportsmen and women. The first touring team of any kind from Australia was the 1868 Aboriginal cricket team led by Charles Lawrence. They were as popular in England for their spear and boomerang throwing as for their cricket, but they still managed to win fourteen and draw nineteen matches out of 47.

In 1878 Dave Gregory led the second touring side to England and in 1882 came the famous mock obituary in The Times after Australia’s epic seven-run victory, stating that the body of English cricket would be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. It was the birth of a sports legend.

In 1896 Edwin Flack became the first Australian to win an Olympic gold medal when he won, not only the 800 metres, but also the 1500 at the inaugural Athens Games. In 1912 Fanny Durack became the first Australian woman to win a gold medal, when she won the 100 metres freestyle at the Stockholm Olympics. Australia is one of only three nations to have competed at every modern Olympic Games.

By the turn of the century, Australia was fast becoming known around the world as a country of athletic champions. In 1899 the Rev. Matthew Mullineux led the first British Rugby team on a tour to Australia and they were soundly beaten 13–3 in the first-ever Test match in Sydney.

On the first Kangaroos Rugby League tour in 1908, James Giltinan’s team drew the First Test 22–all with Great Britain and their 46-match tour drew huge crowds, eager to see these brilliant antipodean footballers, especially their star, Dally Messenger, who could kick a goal from the 75-yard line.

A rich history was unfolding and newspapers of the day devoted plenty of space to this national obsession. So it was natural that, when radio broadcasting began, sport would form an integral part of programming.

When the ABC was founded in 1932 one of the first events management decided to cover on radio was the Ashes Test cricket series between Australia and England. As it turned out, this was an acrimonious and controversial series because of the ‘bodyline’ tactics employed by Douglas Jardine and his team. Len Watt and Monty Noble called the action and their broadcasts proved immensely popular. When they started, they had no idea of what was required, so they just followed their instincts. Years later, reflecting on those early broadcasts, Len said: ‘We were told we were on the air, so I started out by talking about the wind and other weather conditions and how I thought it might affect the play. In my headphones someone said Good — that’s what we want, so we kept going. We just described what we saw and, fortunately, it was pretty exciting.’

Thus ball-by-ball broadcasting was born and, 79 years later, little has changed.

The Ashes series in England in 1938 saw the introduction of the ‘synthetic’ broadcasts. As overseas short-wave transmissions were not reliable enough for ‘live’ broadcasts back to Australia, the ABC decided to do a fake commentary from telegrams.

With the aid of sound effects, the commentators would use their imagination and cricket knowledge to paint a verbal picture, based on the information received from each telegram. Charles Moses, who later became the general manager of the ABC, was the creative genius behind the concept and headed the commentary team.

Charles Moses, the creative genius behind ‘synthetic’ broadcasts

For the 1938 Ashes series, Alan McGilvray joined the commentary team, alongside former Australian captain, Vic Richardson, Monty Noble and Hal Hooker. A cable would be received, relaying all the information regarding weather, crowd and field placings. Another would carry details of the bowler’s delivery and the batsman’s shot. So you had something like this:

‘Farnes bowls to Bradman. It’s overpitched and Bradman drives. Compton, at cover, dives but can’t cut it off, he’s beaten by the pace of the ball, and it’s racing away for four. APPLAUSE. Four more to Bradman, taking his score to 101, a century in just 130 minutes, a glorious innings and Australia is now in a very strong position, 1 for 237, thanks to this great knock by Bradman.’

Alan McGilvray, the doyen of cricket commentators

Even though these broadcasts went to air in the middle of the night, they were a great success. In fact, a lot of people thought it came directly from the ground and not a studio in Market Street, Sydney. Moreover, 1938 produced a record year for the sale of radio licences, double the year before — radio was well and truly off and running.

When England toured Australia, a BBC broadcaster was introduced to the commentary. In 1946–47 that man was former England captain, Arthur Gilligan, who teamed beautifully with his Australian counterpart, Vic Richardson. The catchcry from Vic was ‘What do you think, Arthur?’ NSW captain, Alan McGilvray, had retired from playing cricket to take up commentary in 1935 and, after the war, was a regular member of the team. The three travelled around Australia covering the Tests and became close friends. This rapport came through on air and warmed the listeners to them.

In the 1950s, Johnny Moyes and Lindsay Hassett became regulars. Moyes, a journalist and author, had played for South Australia and Victoria and had a distinctive, nasal voice. Perhaps his attitude to cricket and life could be illustrated by one club innings for Gordon — he scored 218 runs in 83 minutes! Hassett, a whimsical little man who smoked a pipe, had a shrewd analytical cricket brain and a generous nature, which came through on air.

Two of the author’s heroes in the 1950s, Johnnie Moyes and Ray Lindwall

Another famous voice of that era was that of Michael Charlton. Not a cricketer of note, Charlton nevertheless had an urbane, almost English voice and a marvellous vocabulary. He was a professional broadcaster of the highest order and his calls of the 1960 series against the West Indies were memorable.

Brian Johnston, the man with a smile in his voice

John Arlott’s lyrical, poetic commentary was delivered in his trademark Hampshire burr

When Australia toured England, for 40 years after the war, McGilvray went with them. Any baby-boomer with a love of cricket will recall listening to descriptions of Ashes