Footy’s best special comments callers of yesteryear
BEHIND every great football commentary team is a great special comments caller who brings hard-won experience to the mic. Here are some of the best from yesteryear.
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DELIVERED well, special comments add depth and insight to a radio or television footy call, a way for the punters to gain an understanding of the machinations of our great game.
Often, special comments come from a highly experienced former player or coach, but not always. In this story, we examine some of the great special commenters and boundary riders who’ve given VFL/AFL football the benefit of their knowledge, colour and humour.
BOB SKILTON
With three Brownlow medals and a reputation as one of the game’s toughest ever players because of the battering he endured on the field at the hands of often much larger opponents.
The South Melbourne rover also played a couple of years as captain-coach of the Swans and backed that up with an unsuccessful stint as coach of Melbourne in the mid-1970s following his retirement from the game in 1971.
The only thing missing from Skilton’s resume was grand final experience. His ability to analyse the game made him an ideal special comments man with Seven’s footy-calling team for many years.
DIXIE MARSHALL
Perth’s Dixie Marshall came across the Nullarbor in the late ‘80s, just as the West Coast Eagles joined the VFL.
She is the daughter of Arthur Marshall, a former tennis player, East Fremantle WAFL footballer and Seven footy caller and, it seems, footy was in Dixie’s blood too.
Dixie Marshall began her TV career as a general reporter at Nine in Perth in 1984 before heading east to join HSV-7’s formidable football team.
As well as a great understanding of the game, Marshall came to Melbourne with extensive knowledge of WA players we Victorians did not know so well.
With Seven in Melbourne, she became a footy reporter, boundary rider and commentator – the first woman to do so in the blokey world of VFL footy.
Marshall returned to the west, and general reporting, in 1993.
TOMMY LAHIFF
Tommy Lahiff had a double act with legendary caller Harry Beitzel.
Lahiff was a rover who was associated with Brighton and Port Melbourne in the VFA and Essendon, South Melbourne and Hawthorn in the VFL in the 1930s and ‘40s.
He was named in the forward pocket in Port Melbourne’s team of the century.
He and Beitzel sparkled on air together, with Beitzel lead commentator and Lahiff reporting from the boundary or the dressing rooms.
Beitzel’s “Are you there, Tommy?” was often followed by Lahiff’s, “Can you hear me, Harry?”.
Lahiff and Beitzel were paired at 3KZ, then 3AW and 3AK, and later on western suburbs community station 3WRB (now Stereo 974).
ROBERT DIPIERDOMENICO
Boundary riding was a chance for this tough-as-nails Hawk to show off his larger-than-life personality, larrikin humour and occasional mangling of the language to great effect, up close to adoring fans.
At the same time, Dipper demonstrated his knowledge of the game from his 240 matches with Hawthorn, which included five day and five night premierships, the 1986 Brownlow Medal and a best-on-ground performance in Hawthorn’s 1978 grand final win over North Melbourne.
Dipper began as a boundary rider at Seven following his retirement in 1991, later appearing in the same role on 3AW at the height of Rex-mania.
He was a big drawcard for advertisers, too. He’s best known for his many ad campaigns for Dimmeys and Forges. Somewhat paradoxically, he also spruiked for Fasta Pasta and Jenny Craig.
RON BARASSI
Experience was the difference with Ron Barassi.
Barassi won seven premierships as a player with Melbourne and Carlton (his last as captain-coach at the Blues in 1968) and won a further three as a coach, including the first two flags North Melbourne won in the VFL in 1975 and 1977.
His stints as coach at Melbourne and Sydney in the 1980s and ‘90s didn’t yield grand finals but are credited with building a foundation for future success at both clubs.
In the ‘90s, once his duties with Sydney had ceased, Barassi used his fabulous footy brain as part of 3AW’s match day team and as a football and social commentator with Neil Mitchell’s morning program.
PETER ‘CRACKERS’ KEENAN
A big ruckman with a big personality, “Crackers Keenan had a volatile on-field reputation and was reported many times for various infractions over his 213-game career with Melbourne, North Melbourne and Essendon.
Quick with a joke and a bit of banter, Keenan was a popular special comments man on ABC Melbourne’s match coverage and appeared on Red Symons’ breakfast show to talk sport and impart a few racing tips.
SAM NEWMAN
There was a time, before he became a magnet for on-air controversy, when Sam Newman was one of the better special comments callers going around, combining his experience with a dry wit.
The Geelong ruckman, with 300 games behind him, retired in 1980 and joined the 3AW commentary team in 1981, as well as taking a seat on the World of Sport footy panel on Seven until the program was axed in 1987.
He stayed with 3AW until 1999, where he partnered Rex Hunt, but was a TV rival to the Bearded Burbler. While Rex was the biggest name in footy at Seven, Sam started his run at The Footy Show on Nine, dubbing Seven “Channel Rex” for many years.
Sam later also called for Triple M and commented on sports with MTR.
RAY ‘SLUG’ JORDON
Slug’s gravelly voice was a fixture on radio for years, although he was best known as a cricket commentator.
He was a first-class batsman-wicketkeeper who represented Victoria in the Sheffield Shield known for a flinty playing style with more than a little colourful language. There was no stump mic for Slug, where he often kept up close.
Jordon called cricket for 2UE and 3AW in the 1970s and ‘80s.
Between cricket seasons, he played with Coburg in the VFA, turning to footy coaching at under-19 and reserves level in the VFL for Richmond, Melbourne and North Melbourne, a role in which he was phenomenally successful, earning a string of junior premiership wins in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Ron Barassi made sure Slug was part of his teams when he tried to engineer a renaissance at Melbourne in the early 1980s.
He added his dry wit and rough-and-ready drawl in special comments for Seven’s coverage of the Army Reserve Cup reserves competition in the 1980s.
He earns his place in this list for one of the great understatements in football calling as he observed Collingwood’s John Bourke kick a rival, then flatten a field umpire during a match against the Swans in 1985.
“That’s unbelievable, he began. “I’d take the boy off, now. I think you’ve got to take the boy off,” he drawled.
When Bourke shoved his own runner as he jogged off the field, then struck a spectator too, Jordon wryly observed. “Ooooh, he’s give (sic) him one, too. He’s done well.”
Originally published as Footy’s best special comments callers of yesteryear
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