Oh My Goodness: Brenton Speed etched into lore

Not every caller can get this right. Brenton Speed did.

Riley McGree scores from a “scorpion’’ when playing for Newcastle in an A-League semi-final against Melbourne City last season. Picture: AAP

Brenton Speed departs Sydney at noon, swings his car onto the M1, drives north to the gritty and glorious old town of Newcastle, pulls into the deserted car park at McDonald Jones Stadium, walks into the empty broadcasting booth, pulls out his newspaper clippings and preview magazines and quietly starts flooding the memory bank with every piece of analysis and insight he will need to call an A-League blockbuster. He scribbles notes and stats and draws a map of the field with players’ positions on it. It’s another five hours before kick-off and there’s not another soul in sight.

He goes to the pitch-level tunnel to talk to coaches and officials and whoever else is hanging around from the Jets and Melbourne City. With the stands filling to capacity in the early evening, he walks back up the three flights of stairs and puts a microphone to his lips. A full house is in attendance. The Jets are down 1-0 when a ball floats towards Riley McGree. Speed is on his feet in the booth — he’s a stander, as they say in the business, meaning he never sits for a call. What comes next is the most incredible goal in A-League history; a goal that will be nominated for FIFA’s Puskas Award for worldwide goal of the year; and the sort of moment that tests a commentator’s true worth to his audience. Not every caller can get this right. Some talking heads are endured rather than enjoyed by the masses. McGree’s scorpion kick finds the back of the net and Speed says, “Oh my goodness!”

Sporting commentator Brenton Speed with Riley McGree.

Australia has been blessed with world-class sporting commentators. The top of the pile have been Bruce McAvaney, Ray Warren and the late Richie Benaud. Their words have been part of the viewing experience. Their economies of words aren’t too economical. Their boyish is complemented by the kind of knowledge you can only get from decades on the job. Their voices do not whine or squeal or grate. Their most renowned catchphrases become legendary. And they’re the most simple. Benaud? What a catch! McAvaney? That’s special! Warren? That’s not a try, that’s a miracle! Their words are repeated in backyards and pubs. We impersonate their voices.

Their remarks are not Shakespearean. Nor are they from Dr. Seuss. But something in the tone of the voice — the joy? — and the understated nature of the exclamation makes their input exactly right. In the split-second it takes McGree to score, Speed’s commentary is proved to be as good as it gets in world sport.

“I’ve prepared a few lines down the years but very few, and that wasn’t prepared,” he tells The Weekend Australian.

“That one was just spontaneous. It’s a line that probably comes out from a lot of commentators, oh my goodness, along their journey when they’re stunned. There were two oh-my-goodness’s. The first was that he’d tried the scorpion kick. The second was that it was going in. You follow the pictures. You follow what you’re seeing with your own eyes. It was just a natural reaction to a phenomenal goal. Riley McGree paid me some compliments for the commentary but you don’t get the commentary unless an athlete like him comes up with what he did.”

Speed’s call goes like this: “Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness. Have you seen a more freakish goal in A-League history? Riley McGree with a scorpion kick into the top corner! It’s one of the most amazing things we have ever seen.” Footage pans from McGree’s celebrations to emotionless Jets coach Ernie Merrick sitting on a bench with his arms crossed. Speed says, “Come on Ernie, on your feet! That goal is going to go around the world.”

And so it did. More than five million social media hits and views, all of them with Speed’s words in the background. “You’re never going to have a perfect 90 minutes of commentary in a game of football,” Speed says.

“But you can keep on trying. That little moment, a little ten-second period, seemed to come off. I was talking about something different right before it. The Jets didn’t look like scoring. All of a sudden Riley McGree pulls that out and you have to change tack and hopefully catch up. You can’t fake it. As a commentator, you’re an authentic sports fan. You’re going to be excited about a goal being scored. You’ve got to add to the pictures and rise to the moment with a simplicity that doesn’t get in the way of what the viewer is seeing. The response to it has been pretty heartwarming stuff.”

Speed is back on deck for this weekend’s opening round of the A-League. He’s calling tomorrow’s clash between the Brisbane Roar and Central Coast Mariners. A Fox Sports catchcry for the season? Oh My Goodness! When the king of football callers, England’s Martin Tyler, has praised the commentary of McGree’s goal, Speed has been moved to tears. It’s no fluke.

He doesn’t just rock up to games and start flapping his gums. I remember arriving ridiculously early for an NRL match this year. It was a good four hours before kick-off. Someone else was already there, sitting in the front-right corner of the ANZ Stadium press box, immersed in his note-taking, reading and preparations. It was Speed. Tens of thousands of silence and hours, over more than a decade, have come before his moment of absolute goodness.