Nothing stopping women cracking male-dominated commentary boxes of the NRL, AFL, says Ray Warren
RAY Warren says there is nothing stopping women cracking the male-dominated commentary boxes of the NRL and AFL. But “The Voice” has one reservation.
Women's sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Women's sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE voice of rugby league, Ray “Rabbs” Warren, doesn’t have a problem with a woman one day calling the game.
The veteran caller supported the idea of a female in the rugby league heading into the commentary box.
“One day it is going to happen,” said Warren, who is in his 50th year of calling the game.
“Women have already called AFL, cricket and horse racing.
“There’s no reason why it can’t happen in rugby league.”
“If a girl came along and she was very, very good, I can’t see why not … some of these women are so knowledgeable on the game.”
Fox Sports CEO Patrick Delany echoed the sentiments of Warren and would not rule out appointing a woman to the job of rugby league or an AFL caller.
“We’d never say never but it’s going to take the right person, the right opportunity and the right moment in time to make sure it moves our coverage forward in a way that our audiences will appreciate and enjoy”.
Warren highlighted the skill and rise of both Erin Molan and Yvonne Sampson on Channel Nine’s match day coverage as sideline reporters and hosts.
Warren wouldn’t have a problem with the sound of a women’s voice calling the game — but did ponder a “dove tailing” voice observing the “brutal” game of league.
“It’s likely this young lady if she is invited to call the football is capable, most capable, but I do wonder about the dove tailing of the voice,” Warren said.
“I would see that to be the first hurdle … it’s not ballet dancing is it? But then again I have heard some raspy old voices like mine trying to describe the ice skating at the Olympics once or twice…”
“Rugby league, the game is brutal, but then again Ronda Rousey is in a very brutal sport, our Jillaroos are a very good team — I can’t see why someone out of that mould could jump into the commentary show us what she can do.”
However the ABC’s Debbie Spillane, who was the first woman to work as a rugby league sideline reporter making her debut on the 1984 grand final for the ABC TV, can’t see a woman taking a place in the rugby league commentary box anytime soon.
“I can’t see anywhere in the next ten years, who is going to do it?” Spillane said. “They are not going to parachute in from another planet … although they will be treated as if they have.”
She did however think that Channel Nine’s Yvonne Sampson, already a sideline reporter and host, had the skillset to be a rugby league commentator.
“Yvonne Sampson is the one I would give most chance of doing it,” Spillane said, who’s 32 year sports media career and has seen her call A-League on radio.
“I think Yvonne’s got the knowledge, the vocabulary, the voice and she has the respect of the viewers and players, those inside the game.
“But she hasn’t shown she wanted and whoever does it is going to cop it left, right and centre. They will need to want it badly.”
One woman who says she would like to jump into the commentary box and call rugby league is Shannon Byrne.
The ABC sports reporter, who had served as the ABC’s rugby league sideline eye for five years up until this season being replaced by former player Andrew Ryan recently, said she would love the call the game.
“It would be something that I would like to learn to call,” Byrne said. “Calling, as most women and men would find, is a confidence thing.”
“If there is an opportunity for a female who has worked in the industry for a long time and knows her sport, she should not be disadvantaged by someone new or a former player who might not have the expertise.”
“So, it’s about opportunity. For Kelli Underwood, she had Rex Hunt say to her, call the last quarter. If she hadn’t had that opportunity, she would be where she is today, which is at the top of her game.”
Senior commentator Kelli Underwood, who was the first woman to call AFL on television, reflects on that moment in 2005 in the 3AW commentary box where Hunt handed her the microphone in the last quarter of Essendon versus Carlton game.
“I walked away thinking I don’t ever want to do that again,” Underwood said, laughing. “But it planted the seed.”
Three years later ABC producer Susie Robinson and caller Gerard Whateley went to Underwood and encouraged her back the radio commentary box to call.
“They backed me in, it was through their insistence and belief in me that I did it,” Underwood said. “Now ten years down the track I am one of four ABC ball by ball commentators in Melbourne.”
“Since I have started I have done it every week as part of the ABC grandstand team for the last six years.”
Today, just like her male radio counterparts, no one raises an eyebrow when she takes her place behind the microphone. Her confidence has, naturally, grown.
“I am accepted,” she said. “I am respected within the ABC commentary box, I do it, I love it.”
However Underwood attracted a fierce wave of criticism when she commentated on 12 games of AFL for Channel Ten over the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
The main complaint was the sound of her voice.
“The first criticism was that people weren’t used to the female voice,” Underwood said. “Absolutely it sounds different. Even when I heard myself back it was; ‘oh wow that sounds different’. But it doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with it because here are plenty of men on radio who have voices that grate but because they are blokes or because they have played the game, no one says anything about them.”
“I don’t hear anyone criticising the blokes.”
“To me it’s like a newsreader on TV, it’s about warmth, familiarity — it just takes time.”
Underwood adds; “No one complains when I call netball or tennis.”
Underwood said it was support from the likes of Whateley and her fellow commentator Tim Lane that helped her cope with the firestorm of criticism. There was also a phone call from Tony Charlton, the first Aussie rules football caller on TV.
“The late Tony Charlton said to me; from the first man on TV, to the first woman on TV, keep going, you are doing a great job,” Underwood said.
The Australian sports landscape is changing.
There are more women on Fox Sports than ever before — Tara Rushton, Jessica Yates, Louise Ransome, Lara Pitt and Megan Barnard featuring across their programming. Neroli Meadows and Sarah Jones are hosts on Fox Footy.
Channel Seven recently lured the talented Mel McLaughlin from Channel Ten and she is expected to play a big part in their Olympic coverage.
McLaughlin has since been replaced by experienced sports journalist Roz Kelly on the Ten cricket coverage.
Former Southern Stars players Lisa Sthalekar and Mel Jones have commentated on cricket for Ten and most recently the Indian Premier League.
But as for women in a special comments role or calling the game on TV — well — there is still isn’t a single woman in those roles across all footy codes.
Underwood, who also commentates on netball on Fox Sports and is co-host of The Back Page and featured on the BBC’s tennis coverage last summer, said the Australian sports landscape is changing it still has a way to go.
She would like to see more women in high profile roles.
“I sense that there is momentum,” Underwood said. “There are more pathways, women can make a successful career in the industry, but having said that, we can still do better.
“I look at the US and the UK and look at how women are represented over there. Here in Australia female broadcasters present but in a sense impassive roles; they are on the boundary, they are on the sidelines, they are in the rooms, reading updates.
“I look at the US and the ESPN tennis coverage has Chris McKendry who hosts the coverage. Doris Burke who is part of a three person commentary team on the NBA. Clare Balding at the BBC is the Olympic host.
“I still feel like we have a way to go.”
It is women like the pioneering Underwood, who have served as inspiration to people like Anna Harrington. Harrington was at high school when she first heard Underwood calling AFL on the radio and TV, bolstering her belief women can commentate sport.
The 24 year old has since called local AFL, W-League and now has six Socceroos games to her name for SBS Radio Sport. Harrington called her first game last year between Tajikistan and Australia last September.
“I have worked really hard to get where I am. I have worked at grassroots footy and soccer, commentated women’s footy and soccer,” Harrington said.
“It’s been incredible. SBS has been really supportive which has helps.
“I have not attracted any criticism, no one has said; ‘you can’t do this because you a girl’. But even if people are saying that behind my back — it’s probably not an opinion worth listening to anyway.”
The promotion of Lara Pitt, Megan Barnard and Lou Ransome across rugby league shows has been widely acclaimed and Delany believes the investment in women is paying dividends.
“We’ve known for a long time how important female presenters are in media and specifically sport,” he said.
“That’s why we’ve invested in pulling together the biggest line up of female sports hosts and reporters in Australia.
“We’re always looking for fresh, bright new faces with that rare ability to combine genuine passion for sport with journalistic ability and on-screen presence.
“At the end of the day though, we want the best people on screens who our viewers trust and enjoy watching and part of that means making sure women are given every opportunity to shine.
FEMALE COMMENTATORS
Kelli Underwood – AFL for ABC radio, netball for Fox Sports and tennis for the BBC
Lisa Sthalekar –T20 for Channel Ten
Mel Jones – T20 for Channel Ten
Anna Harrington – Socceroos qualifiers for SBS Radio Sport
Shannon Byrne – A-League and netball for ABC radio
Victoria Shaw - horse racing
More Coverage
Originally published as Nothing stopping women cracking male-dominated commentary boxes of the NRL, AFL, says Ray Warren
How woman plans to go from running novice to the New York marathon
She has Johnathan Thurston and Buddy Franklin in her corner and this proud Indigenous woman, who has never run a marathon, is now planning on conquering the Big Apple.
First games for likely new Matildas coach
The Matildas have announced four upcoming games in Western Australia, with their new coach set to be in charge.