SANFL Commentators - All who called

While not a commentator as in radio or tv, i thought it was worth mentioning that the great man ''24222'' wrote for the paper about the 1975 grand final, i've watched the replay & it was mentioned in the call by Max Hall (i think) that paraphrasing ''Richie Benaud was here for the grand final & reporting for his paper''

in hindsight why Kerls took Butch off Dillon at 3/4 time is beyond me, mind you had Fred kicked straight it would not have mattered, them the breaks

Big Phil wrote:

C.K wrote:

rocket_rooster wrote:I don't know if this is drawing a long bow but John Callaghan and Jim Hough call the games for the SANFL on the Internet.
Also as well as the well known media commentators like PhilH, Big Phil and CK, I believe another regular poster who may have the best all round knowledge of the SANFL of any poster was a special comments man for a North vs South game about 6 yeas ago.

My apologies, RR, I missed this post for some reason. Racking the memory banks about who you mean there?

Not Andy Lee, CK !!!

Clearly missing Hamish Blake that day

Very remiss not to mention Jon Symonds of Life FM.
Doug Robertson (formerly of The Advertiser) also
Miles Pfitzner.

Paul Bonsor

Ken Sheldon
Steven Trigg
Michael Aish

Some 1079 Life from past & present
: Doug Oakley
: Julian Burton
: Tom Basso
: Bevan Jones
: Patrick Goldsmith

Others
David Wildy (many SANFL called)
Stephen Rowe
Brenton Yates
Dale Lewis
Andrew Jarman
Mark Soderstrom
John Casey
Tim Ginevar
Rhett Biglands



I think Chris Kendall holds the record for most outlets broadcasting games on with 7 : Pine Lodge, 891 ABC radio, ABCTV, RPH, Life, Digital Pass and SEN (v2)

John Nankivell and myself would be 6


In addition to that
Chris hosted a SANFL Show on C31 in 2006 (involving many of us) and was ocassionally on fiveaa SANFL show
At its busiest I would talk SANFL on Chris's C31 show, Fiveaa SANFL show, Radio TAB (at 6.10am on a Monday morning) and Coast FM.

PhilH wrote:
Some 1079 Life from past & present
: Doug Oakley
: Julian Burton
: Tom Basso
: Bevan Jones
: Patrick Goldsmith

Others
David Wildy (many SANFL called)
Stephen Rowe
Brenton Yates
Dale Lewis
Andrew Jarman
Mark Soderstrom
John Casey
Tim Ginevar
Rhett Biglands



I think Chris Kendall holds the record for most outlets broadcasting games on with 7 :   Pine Lodge, 891 ABC radio, ABCTV, RPH, Life, Digital Pass and SEN (v2)

John Nankivell and myself would be 6


In addition to that
Chris hosted a SANFL Show on C31 in 2006 (involving many of us) and was ocassionally on fiveaa SANFL show
At its busiest I would talk SANFL on Chris's C31 show, Fiveaa SANFL show, Radio TAB (at 6.10am on a Monday morning) and Coast FM.

Thank you for your kind words Phil. I've certainly been very blessed and fortunate in so many outlets having faith in me to assist along the way in promoting the SANFL. With the decision to move back to only one radio station broadcasting SANFL in 2020 there are now less opportunities to commentate the league and that is a real shame for aspiring broadcasters. I was incredibly fortunate in starting my time in 2005 when there were multiple radio stations (Life FM/5RPH and the original version of SEN); ABC-TV and Pine Lodge Studios all providing weekly broadcasts/replays of SANFL matches. It was the ideal training ground to learn the trade and the craft while working toward an opportunity presenting itself.

Unfortunately nowadays I think the chances of a future commentator calling for 7 different outlets are slender but I have been very fortunate in being to live the dream that I aspired to when I was a 6 or 7 year old in the late 1970's watching The Big Replay or listening to Rod McLeod/Brian Lees/Dennis Browne and so many others and longing to call one game myself.

If anyone had told me at that age that I would be lucky enough to call SANFL for 16 years - over a third of my life - I would have laughed and said in the words of Daryl Kerrigan "tell ém they're dreamin''.

Rod McLeod's son is a very good friend of mine, CK.

A few updates to this list from the last couple of seasons. These have all called play-by-play for the Digital Pass/SANFL NOW streaming service.

Tom Rehn
Theo Doropoulos
Sam Tugwell
Tim Saul

Tom Cordwell-Eglinton made his league debut today at Richmond
Nick Harris
Chris Kerry

Tom did an excellent job

An addition in 2023, and quite possibly the youngest to ever call a SANFL league match, aged 19 - Lachlan Gould.

Former CD star Lee Spurr commentates very well in the WAFL

This may not be the best forum, but is there any radio coverage of the SANFL this year?

C.K wrote:

rocket_rooster wrote:I don't know if this is drawing a long bow but John Callaghan and Jim Hough call the games for the SANFL on the Internet.
Also as well as the well known media commentators like PhilH, Big Phil and CK, I believe another regular poster who may have the best all round knowledge of the SANFL of any poster was a special comments man for a North vs South game about 6 yeas ago.

My apologies, RR, I missed this post for some reason. Racking the memory banks about who you mean there?

I just found this quote from 7 years ago.
One of the callers didn't turn up at a Prospect game about 13 years ago, so the other caller got Robranisgod to do the special comments for the second half of a North vs South game. I think Rory Sloane was playing for North so it may be even more than 13 years ago.
I believe RIG was offered a gig after his commentary, but knocked it back.

rocket_rooster wrote:This may not be the best forum, but is there any radio coverage of the SANFL this year?

Is SEN doing games this year?

They are still doing an sanfl show on Wednesdays at 2pm, two shows down already & you can hear them back on the podcast

bayman wrote:

rocket_rooster wrote:This may not be the best forum, but is there any radio coverage of the SANFL this year?

Is SEN doing games this year?

They are still doing an sanfl show on Wednesdays at 2pm, two shows down already & you can hear them back on the podcast

Yes, but very much on a reduced scale...

As far as I know, they will only be covering 3 minor round games, plus finals.

They are covering Port v Norwood on Saturday night in Round 4 and then I believe will do the SANFL Showdowns, also.

Gone are the days of 2 x radio stations and the rest being streamed. I miss the old days

On a more positive broadcast note, I get to commentatet a game with a young man that I've known since he was 6 or 7 years old.

I'm calling the Central v Eagles game on SANFL Now with Tom Eglington, formerly known as Little Bayman

I remember the around the grounds score updates last century
The inimitable Dick Jones was asked by the studio about the crowd attendance
Dick's reply was something like this:
" I've seen more people at a scene of an accident."