With the passing of Dennis Cometti. I got to thinking of some of the great WA sports callers I have had the pleasure of listening to over my time.
The first voice I remember listening to was a fella called Jim Fitzmaurice.As I was living in the country when I first heard him, I assume he was calling footaball and cricket on the ABC.
Similar to Dennis, he had the Voice.I think he left WA and went to Tasmania.
Maybe one of the next I remember was Peter Waltham. He was another caller who had great knowledge of a large number of sports.Again, from memory he began calling cricket, test and Shield, on the ABC and also called the WAFL.A massive South Fremantle man.Finished his radio career as a breakfast announcer on Curtin 100.1.
Then there was the inimitable George Grljusich.Probably regarded as one of the great callers. He was renowned World wide.Was there a sport George didn’t call or didn’t have an in depth knowledge of! Cricket, football, trotting, basketball, soccer, boxing, and so on and so on.
Not the voice like Wally and Dennis, but had the voice and knowledge to get your attention.And also not afraid to call a spade a bloody shovel.
Wally Foreman, cool clam collected and very suave.Had the right sort of voice and knew his stuff. I am not sure if he was as knowledgble as Dennis and Peter, but a great caller.
Then there was the dulcet toned Brian Thirley. A great football caller. Brian also was part of the CH &7 World of sports or World of football.
And then there were, Frank Sparrow,Bob Miller,and a few more that made not only the TV world in sports in WA as there own, but also were great callers on radio.
I am sure that I have missed some, but I am sure most would agree, that those I mentioned were as good as any around Australia.
Some of the best WA callers in my time have been in no particular order-
Dennis Cometti
Frank Sparrow
Percy Johnson
George Grljusich
Keith Slater
Trevor Jenkins
Arthur Marshall
John Rogers
Wally Foreman
Bob Miller
Wayne Harvey
John K Watts
John K Watts doesn’t get the recognition he deserves for his outstanding contribution to football. He was a terrific game commentator. Amongst one of the funniest bastards ever.
Agree with all these, also Harvey Degan and John Rogers the 7 team for WAFL for many years, I remember they did the 1980 WAFL GF. Never rated Marshall much.
Wattsie was at the media forefront,when the WAFL was the hottest ticket in town,I also thought Frank Sparrow was the most colourful commentator,and who could forget his score updates,on the “Blue Army”scoreboard,and loved the passion of the mad Slav George Grljusich,who unashamedly used to get personal with umpires and players alike,when they got under his skin,Ah those were the days.
Like your list BH apart from John Rogers. He used to get on my nerves and my auntie. Another I’ll add is Polly Farmer. Used to love his special comments. Didn’t do it long enough sadly.
I still remember Jim Fitzmaurice from the old black and white tv days on the abc covering the Wafl. Apparently he passed away two or three years ago. There have been many fine sports callers over the years.
Just old enough to remember Oliver Drake-Brockman on the radio, and Neil Garland was good over the air also. Freddie Castledine I enjoyed for expert TV comments - but I am bias.
Raised in Victoria and educated at Xavier College in Melbourne, Tim Flynn began life in the media as a disc jockey in country radio stations and worked in radio in Hobart, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
He switched to television from 1968 through to 1974 in his role as GTV9’s promotions manager, first in publicity in Melbourne and later as special events manager for the network.
He loved Perth and was PR manager for the America’s Cup Syndicate “Kookaburra” when the challenge was staged off Fremantle.
In Perth he became a major presence, broadcasting sport on 6PM, 6KY and 6WF and hosting TVW7’s World of Football. It was here, on 6KY, that he first became a highly rated caller of his beloved AFL, a game he’d played in earlier years.
In the early '90s he moved to Sydney, joined News Radio shortly after its launch in 1994 and became the station’s Monday to Friday sports announcer.
But in June 2002, it was in a Perth hospital that Tim Flynn died at the age of 54.
For several years Tim had waged a valiant fight against cancer.
The condolence book, which for a time was available on the ABC Web site, was testament to his ability to bring the joy, humour and passion of sport to all listeners, not just sports fans.
