Bruce William McAvaney OAM (born 22 June 1953 in Ferryden Park, South Australia, Australia) is an Australian sports broadcaster. Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia on 14 February 1975 "for the purpose of according recognition Events 217 BC - Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. Year 1953 ( MCMLIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Ferryden Park is a north-western Suburb of Adelaide 10km from the CBD, in the state of South Australia, Australia and falls under For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics.
McAvaney is well-known for his commentary of Australian rules football matches on Channel Seven from 1990 until 2001. Australian (rules football, or simply known as football, footy or Aussie rules, is a Team sport played between two teams of 18 players In 2007 he resumed calling AFL with the Seven Network as they regained the rights to Broadcast AFL. The Australian Football League (AFL is both the professional Australian national competition in the Sport of Australian Rules Football and its highest The Seven Network is an Australian television network, owned by the Seven Media Group. He is known for his animated style, infectious enthuisiasm and his use of the word 'special'.
He has been the face of his network's Olympic Games coverage for more than 25 years. The Olympic Games is an international Multi-sport event established for both summer and winter games
He is known for his meticulous research and in-depth knowledge of the sports and athletes he covers.
McAvaney lives in Adelaide with his wife, TV producer/reporter Anne Johnson and two children, Sam and Alexandra. Adelaide is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and is the fifth largest city in Australia with a
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Career
After five years service as a public service clerk, inspired by legendary racecaller Bill Collins, McAvaney’s media career began in 1976 at Adelaide radio station 5DN where he called horse races and hosted a sports show. Cruise 1323 (call sign 5DN) is one of Adelaide 's longest running radio stations Two years later he moved to television joining ADS7 to read sport news and produce the weekly Racetrack show.
His first big break came in 1980 when colleague Sandy Roberts went to the Moscow Olympics for Channel Seven and Bruce was chosen to host the Adelaide end of the telecast. Sandy Roberts (born February 22, 1950) is the sports presenter of the Melbourne bulletin of Seven News The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, were an International Multi-sport event held in Moscow in the Soviet The Seven Network is an Australian television network, owned by the Seven Media Group.
In 1983 he joined Melbourne's Channel Ten to read sport news with then cadets Eddie McGuire and Stephen Quartermain working under him. TV10 could refer to TV10 (Netherlands See Channel 10 (Greece Network Ten in Australia Edward Joseph "Eddie" McGuire AM (born 29 October 1964 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian television presenter and businessman Stephen William Quartermain (born 7 May 1962 in Melbourne, Victoria Australia) is an Australian television personality and sports journalist
The following year he went to the Los Angeles Olympics to commentate track and field events and be the secondary host. Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West
McAvaney co-hosted Ten's telecast of the 1988 Seoul Olympics to public and critical acclaim, coming runner-up to Sandy Roberts in the 1989 Penguin Award for "Best Presenter in the field of Summer Olympic Presenting for an Australian commentator working for Channel 7, for the year of 1988" and an award from the Glenelg local council, the "Putting Glenelg on the map" award. The Penguin Award is an annual award given given for excellence in broadcasting by the Television Society of Australia.
During his time at Ten he called the Melbourne Cup from 1985-88 and hosted telecasts of major sporting events including the 1987 World Athletics Championships in Rome and the 1988 Grand Prix Athletics in Berlin. The Melbourne Cup is Australia 's major annual Thoroughbred horse race. The World Championships in Athletics is an event organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany.
At the end of 1989 Bruce rejoined the Seven Network where he established Sportsworld as the most authoritative and highest rating sports show on television. The Seven Network is an Australian television network, owned by the Seven Media Group. For the American sports anthology series see Sportsworld (US TV series.
Australia's finest commentator
McAvaney's reputation of Australia's "Mastercaster" grew during his time at Seven where he became the face of the network's sports coverage from the Melbourne Cup, World Athletics, AFL, Motor Racing, the Australian Open Tennis, Australian Masters Golf and the Olympics. The Melbourne Cup is Australia 's major annual Thoroughbred horse race. The Australian Football League (AFL is both the professional Australian national competition in the Sport of Australian Rules Football and its highest The Australian Open is one of the four Grand Slam Tennis Tournaments held each year The MasterCard Masters is a Golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia.
A stickler for detail and knowledgeable on all sports, McAvaney did himself no harm when he said the following of Florence Griffith-Joyner - "Impossible, no female could run that fast. Florence Griffith-Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith) also known as Flo-Jo ( December 21, 1959 &ndash September 21, " and he also cast doubt on Ben Johnson on the 1988 Olympic record. Ben Johnson or Benjamin Johnson may be Ben Johnson (sprinter (born 1961 Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson (politician (1858&ndash1950 Johnson was later proven to be dope-fuelled and doubt has also been cast on Griffith-Joyner, especially after her untimely death in 1998.
In 1999, McAvaney won the inaugural TV Week Logie for Most Outstanding Sport Broadcaster ahead of cricket legend Richie Benaud, racing caller Johnny Tapp and SBS soccer host Les Murray. TV WEEK is a weekly Television Magazine in Australia, first published as a Melbourne -only publication in 1957 (as Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE (born October 6 1930 in Penrith New South Wales) is an Australian former Cricketer who since his retirement from Les James Murray AM (born László Ürge in Hungary, 1945 is an Australian Football (soccer
He was awarded an OAM by The Queen in June 2002 for service to sports broadcasting, and to the community through charitable and sporting organisations. For the ship see RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Context States headed by Elizabeth II
In 2001, when Seven lost the rights to broadcast AFL, McAvaney stopped working as an AFL commentator. However, he continued his role at the Seven Network as host of Sportsworld and anchor of major sports events. The Seven Network is an Australian television network, owned by the Seven Media Group. For the American sports anthology series see Sportsworld (US TV series.
He has covered every games since Moscow in 1980 to Athens in 2004, where he called swimming and athletics, including Ian Thorpe's wins in the 200m and 400m freestyle. Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's Ian James Thorpe OAM (born 13 October 1982 in Sydney, New South Wales) also known as the Thorpedo or Thorpey
In early 2005, McAvaney appeared as a host on radio station SEN 1116 on The Insiders. SEN 1116 ( Callsign 3AK) the acronym standing for Sports Entertainment Network, is a commercial AM radio station based in Melbourne He also returned to Stawell with the station and called a memorable Stawell Gift final which was won by Joshua Ross in 2005. Stawell is a town in the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia. The Stawell Gift is Australia's oldest and richest short distance running race Joshua Ross (born February 9, 1981 in Sydney) is an Australian sprinter mainly competing in the 100 metres event After The Insiders was axed in the station's financial crisis he quit.
Following the Seven Network/Network Ten consortium's winning bid for the 2007-2011 Australian Football League television broadcasting rights in January 2006, McAvaney has returned to his role as a football commentator and commentates all Friday Night games and all 2PM Sunday Games. The Seven Network is an Australian television network, owned by the Seven Media Group. Network Ten, or Channel Ten, is one of Australia 's three major commercial television networks. A consortium is an association of two or more individuals companies organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities with the objective of participating The Australian Football League (AFL is both the professional Australian national competition in the Sport of Australian Rules Football and its highest
He joined Melbourne radio station 3AW for the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games to call athletics and co-host nightly show Sports Today called The Games Today for the 11 days of competition. 3AW is a Radio station in Melbourne, Australia on 693 KHz AM. Melbourne ( is the second most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 3 The Commonwealth Games is a multinational Multi-sport event. Held every four years it involves the elite athletes of the Commonwealth of Nations. Sports Today is a long-running radio show on Melbourne Australia radio station 3AW.
He provided an epic commentary of Craig Mottram's silver medal in the 5,000m
Memorable moments
McAvaney's excitement has been a major part of Australian sporting moments from calling Channel 10's coverage of Empire Rose's Melbourne Cup, to Cathy Freeman's gold medal in the 400m at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Empire Rose was one of the most popular Mares to race in New Zealand and Australia. Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman, OAM (known as Cathy Freeman) (born 16 February 1973 is an Australian sprinter who is particularly associated with "I am proud and happy to proclaim that you have presented to the world the best Olympic Games ever
When Freeman crossed the moment, McAvaney let fly with the superlatives and was overcame with emotion when he said "what a moment, what a legend" to which athletics legend Raelene Boyle replied "what a relief". Raelene Ann Boyle, AM, MBE, (born 24 June 1951) Australian athlete, represented Australia at three Olympic Games
He has said he rates nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis as among the finest athletes he has seen and five-time gold medalist Michael Johnson gave McAvaney his shoe following his victory in the 400m at Atlanta in 1996 as a sign of respect. Frederick Carlton ("Carl" Lewis (born July 1 1961 is a retired American track and field athlete who won 10 Olympic medals including 9 golds and 10 Michael Duane Johnson (born September 13 1967 in
He was the lone caller when legendary AFL full-forward Tony Lockett kicked his 1300th career goal to become the all-time greatest goalkicker in the game's history, while playing for Sydney Swans at the SCG in 1999. The Sydney Swans is an Australian Football League (AFL club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG is a sports Stadium in Sydney.
The public perception was he had a football love-affair with great players such as North Melbourne star Wayne Carey and Essendon player James Hird and was synonymous for scream "Caaaary", when the star centre-half forward took a mark or kicked a goal. Wayne Carey (born 27 May 1971 is a former Australian rules football player who played for North Adelaide in the SANFL, before joining Australian Football James Alan Hird (born 4 February 1973 is a retired Australian rules footballer and the former captain of the Essendon Football Club. He is also commonly lampooned for his use of the word special.
When Gary Moorcroft took mark of the year for Essendon against Western Bulldogs at Telstra Dome in 2001, McAvaney remarked "that will go around the world on CNN" - and it did. Gary Moorcroft (born 16 April 1976 was an Australian rules football player for the Essendon Bombers and Melbourne Demons in the AFL. Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club and is part of the Australian Football League. The Western Bulldogs, formerly referred to as the Footscray Football Club, is an Australian Football League (AFL club based at the Whitten Oval in Cable News Network, usually referred to by its Initialism CNN, is a major English language Television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner
In an interview in 2002, McAvaney said the chance to front the coverage of a FIFA World Cup in which Australia was involved would top of his career as a broadcaster. The FIFA World Cup, occasionally called the Football World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international Association football A presenter, or host (sometimes hostess, in feminine form is a Person or Organization responsible for running an event
When Makybe Diva won the Melbourne Cup for the third time in succession in 2005, McAvaney dubbed it "the greatest victory in the history of the race". Makybe Diva is an Australian racehorse, and the first Thoroughbred to win the prestigious Melbourne Cup three times in 2003 and 2004 and again in 2005
In May 2006, he listed his top three sporting moments of all time as:
1. Makybe Diva winning a third Melbourne Cup 2. Makybe Diva is an Australian racehorse, and the first Thoroughbred to win the prestigious Melbourne Cup three times in 2003 and 2004 and again in 2005 Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis in the 100m final at Seoul Olympics 3. Ben Johnson or Benjamin Johnson may be Ben Johnson (sprinter (born 1961 Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson (politician (1858&ndash1950 Frederick Carlton ("Carl" Lewis (born July 1 1961 is a retired American track and field athlete who won 10 Olympic medals including 9 golds and 10 The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an International Multi-sport event staged in 1988 in 1971 Mohammad Ali v Joe Frasier
In the Summer Olympics of 2004, over come with emotion after the win of Hicham El Guerrouj in the Men's 1500m Athletics Event, he quoted, "But he's coming back the champ, El Guerrouj is coming back. Biography Early life Cassius Clay Jr was born on January 17 1942 For the Major League Baseball player and manager see Joe Frazier (baseball. . . he is a legend. He has gone from the greatest never, to the best of all time. "
When McAvaney appeared on Seven's show, Sunrise, taking over Mark Beretta.
Impersonations and Other Media
Along with Richie Benaud, McAvaney is probably the most commonly impersonated sports commentator in Australia. Richard "Richie" Benaud OBE (born October 6 1930 in Penrith New South Wales) is an Australian former Cricketer who since his retirement from
Popular impersonator Billy Birmingham, of Twelfth Man fame, featured McAvaney on his Bruce 2000 single released following the Sydney Olympics. Billy Birmingham (Born 1953 is an Australian humourist and sometime sports Journalist, most noted for his parodies of Australian Cricket commentary
Andrew Startin also features his take on McAvaney in many of his show, including multiple times on Channel Nine's The AFL Footy Show, while actor/comedian Rob Sitch produced a memorable performance of McAvaney on ABC television's The Late Show in 1992. Andrew Startin is an Australian Performer, Impersonator and television personality Channel 9 may refer to Channel 9 (Malaysia Channel 9 (New Zealand Channel 9 (Serbia Channel 9 (Thailand The AFL Footy Show is a Logie Award winning Australian Sports Television program, shown on the Nine Network and its affiliates Robert Ian Sitch (born March 17 1962) is an Australian director producer screenwriter and actor The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly abbreviated to the 'ABC' is Australia's national public broadcaster. The Late Show was a popular Australian Comedy show which ran for two seasons on ABC TV from 18 July
In 2007, Tich Lange released a hip-hop version of The Sunnyboys classic song "Alone With You" as "I'm Alone Wid U" mentioning Bruce McAvaney favourite term "special" in one of the first verse as the best as well as sampling a commentary of Bruce's call of Tich's brother Adam when playing for North Melbourne Football Club. Hip hop is a cultural movement which developed in New York City in the 1970s primarily among African Americans and Latinos. Sydney band The Sunnyboys remain one of the most highly regarded and best-loved bands of the Australian ' Post-punk ' era North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is an Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League.
Combatting rumours
In 2002, McAvaney hit back at a rumour he claimed had dogged him and his family for two years - that he was gay and living with a big-name athlete (thought to be Matthew Shirvington).
He told a News Limited newspaper the talk had been "upsetting and weird". News Limited was the principal holding for the business interests of Rupert Murdoch until the formation of News Corporation in 1979
"And stressful and a long way off the mark," he said. "Which made it easier in one way, but more frustrating in another.
"It was incredibly frustrating because it was damaging and there was no truth, in any way, shape or form, to any of the stuff. It was that far out there I was almost laughing sometimes. That made it a bit easier; it was silly.
"I don't know where it originated and I'm not sure what motivated it, but I'm also aware that there are other people in the media or in the public eye who've suffered the same thing, but they get on with it.
"The only thing I actually worry about in the end is that my family situation - my wife and particularly my children - are safe and well and happy. " McAvaney added that being branded gay did not carry the slur it once did. "It's nothing," he said. "It just isn't factual. "
2007 AFL Season Sayings
During the 2007 AFL Season, McAvaney added two new sayings to his large array of memorable commentary sayings from the past. The Australian Football League (AFL is both the professional Australian national competition in the Sport of Australian Rules Football and its highest These included "Clever", which is said very loudly and longer than normal commentary words. The other saying is " Ohh He's Good Isn't He". He says this emphasising the "Good". He has used these sayings frequently during 2007 when a player does something brilliant or exciting. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
External links
- Bruce McAvaney - Seven Profile - retrieved 1/1/07
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