Ray Warren

2022 - 6 - 1

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Image courtesy of "ABC News"

Rugby league icon Ray Warren announces his retirement from ... (ABC News)

Warren became an Australian sporting icon via his commentary on rugby league and swimming; The 78-year-old will retire after calling 99 State of Origin matches.

I knew after that game it was my last." Fondly known as "Rabs", Warren became the voice of rugby league coverage for the Nine Network, calling 99 of the 122 State of Origin matches played since the interstate clashes began in 1982. Established as Nine's chief league commentator during the 1990s, Warren's lines during several Origin matches became the stuff of legend, including his "that's not a try, that's a miracle", when Queensland's Mark Coyne scored a match-winning try in the 1994 series opener in Sydney.

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Image courtesy of "Fox Sports"

Legendary NRL caller Ray Warren retires after 55 years (Fox Sports)

Ray Warren has commentated his last game of rugby league, with the veteran broadcaster announcing his immediate retirement from calling football.

“We look forward to his insights, memories, and character in our broadcast next week for Origin I and beyond. And finally the viewers, for allowing me to share a little time in your living rooms since the early 1970s.” “Quite simply he raises others and elevates broadcasts to higher levels. You are the voice of rugby league, Rabs. Thank you.” Hopefully my story will carry some inspiration into the lives of other young kids from the country. “I really want to thank everybody so much.

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Image courtesy of "4BC"

'Icon of Australian sport': Ray Warren has called his last NRL game (4BC)

Ray Warren has confirmed he has called his last game of rugby league. The legendary NRL commentator has called 45 grand finals and 99 State of Origins, ...

Ray Warren has confirmed he has called his last game of rugby league. “He’s part of the soundtrack of our lives – the voice of Ray Warren.” ‘Icon of Australian sport’: Ray Warren has called his last NRL game

League broadcast icon Ray Warren retires (Bega District News)

Iconic rugby league commentator Ray Warren has announced his retirement, ending a legendary broadcasting career spanning over half...

I knew after that game it was my last." Warren hadn't commentated for Nine since last year's grand final but after weeks of discussions with the network, said he was leaving the job with no regrets. Fondly known as 'Rabs', Warren has become the voice of rugby league coverage for the Nine Network, calling 99 of the 122 State of Origin matches played since the interstate clashes began in 1982.

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Image courtesy of "The Sydney Morning Herald"

'I had nothing to prove': Ray Warren announces he won't ... (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Legendary commentator Ray Warren has called his last game of rugby league. The 78-year-old confirmed on Wednesday afternoon he was hanging up the binoculars ...

“My family has been amazing during both the ups and the downs. Naturally, after 5 ½ decades, I will miss calling immensely, but I think it’s time to move on. I knew after that game it was my last.”

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Image courtesy of "Sporting News AU"

Legendary commentator Ray Warren officially announces retirement (Sporting News AU)

Legendary rugby league commentator Ray Warren has officially retired. The 78-year-old from Junee had been the voice of the sport for five decades, ...

Rugby League today is much the poorer with his retirement,”V’landys said in a statement. Warren called 45 first grade grand finals and 99 State of Origin games during his illustrious career, which saw him inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame back in 2019. The decision ends the ongoing speculation regarding his future, with Warren not featuring at all in the opening 12 rounds of the NRL season.

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Image courtesy of "The Young Witness"

League broadcast icon Ray Warren retires (The Young Witness)

Iconic rugby league commentator Ray Warren has announced his retirement, ending a legendary broadcasting career spanning over half...

I knew after that game it was my last." Warren hadn't commentated for Nine since last year's grand final but after weeks of discussions with the network, said he was leaving the job with no regrets. Fondly known as 'Rabs', Warren has become the voice of rugby league coverage for the Nine Network, calling 99 of the 122 State of Origin matches played since the interstate clashes began in 1982.

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Image courtesy of "The Sydney Morning Herald"

Ray Warren's mic drop sees rugby league lose its voice (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Rugby league – particularly State of Origin – sounded better when Ray Warren called it. His decision to retire from the commentary box is a great loss.

He had been under enormous pressure from Nine – publisher of this masthead – for weeks to make one last appearance. “There will never be another.” Here’s the Big Fella! Gets the pass on. Hancock gets it on. Darren Smith for Langer. Langer gets it away. Beats one, gets it infield.

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Image courtesy of "NRL.COM"

ARLC congratulations Ray Warren (NRL.COM)

Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) Chairman Mr Peter V'landys AM has congratulated Ray Warren on a remarkable career in broadcasting Rugby League.

Rugby League today is much the poorer with his retirement,” Mr V’landys said. A career which took him through Channel 9, Channel 10, Radio 2GB and Radio 2LF in Young will be forever celebrated and his voice will always be synonymous with Rugby League. Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) Chairman Mr Peter V’landys AM has congratulated Ray Warren on a remarkable career in broadcasting Rugby League.

League broadcast icon Ray Warren retires (Bega District News)

Iconic rugby league commentator Ray Warren has announced his retirement, ending a legendary broadcasting career spanning over half...

I knew after that game it was my last." Warren hadn't commentated for Nine since last year's grand final but after weeks of discussions with the network, said he was leaving the job with no regrets. Fondly known as 'Rabs', Warren has become the voice of rugby league coverage for the Nine Network, calling 99 of the 122 State of Origin matches played since the interstate clashes began in 1982.

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Image courtesy of "Mediaweek"

Ray Warren announces his retirement from calling live sport (Mediaweek)

Wide World of Sports caller Ray Warren has announced he has stepped away from calling live sport after a 55 year career.

“We look forward to his insights, memories and character in our broadcast next week for Origin I and beyond. And finally the viewers, for allowing me to share a little time in your living rooms since the early 1970s.” Hopefully my story will carry some inspiration into the lives of other young kids from the country.

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Image courtesy of "Nine for Brands"

Ray Warren steps away from live match calling - Nine for Brands (Nine for Brands)

After a decorated commentary career spanning 55 years, legendary Wide World of Sports caller Ray Warren today announced he has stepped away from calling ...

“We look forward to his insights, memories and character in our broadcast next week for Origin I and beyond. And finally the viewers, for allowing me to share a little time in your living rooms since the early 1970s.” Hopefully my story will carry some inspiration into the lives of other young kids from the country.

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Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

Ray Warren: the voice of rugby league's retirement leaves a ... (The Guardian)

No one rode the play like the veteran caller and no one saw the game and its combatants like he did.

Plagued by dreams of falling and always scared of heights, Warren refused to get on the plane for the 1984 Olympics and fulfil his duties as head presenter and expert of 32 sports. Half a century on, he can still recall the owner’s colours of long-dead champions like Tulloch and Kingston Town. The more he called, the better he got and the easier it became. But no one rode the play like Ray Warren and no one saw the game and its combatants like he did. Every day for a decade he did it, and the voice grew with the emotion and impact. For just as the young Don pinged a golf ball against a corrugated water tank with a cricket stump for hours on end, Warren upended a tin of marbles and called their progress as their colours ran across the rough floorboards of the family home he shared with six older siblings. Packer brought him back from exile to Channel Nine and there he stayed. He called the game for so long and felt the game so deeply that it came to speak through him. “But just because someone takes away the bike, it doesn’t mean you stop pedalling,” he would say later, “particularly when you’ve got a wife, kids and a mortgage.” So he went back to the country, and kept punching, calling greyhounds, pacers, trots, anything that paid. Warren was so determined to make commentary his career that he drove a wheezy Valiant thousands of miles across the NSW plains to attend mid-week training, matching faces of players to names, so that when he set up his card table on the sideline on game day, he was ready. As Ray rode a broomstick, the voice on the radio built from a low burble to a blast to call his horse home in the 1949 AJC Derby: a 20-1 maiden named Playboy. While he waited for his break, Warren became a policeman. Of course the game will go on and other commentators will call it as they see it.

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Image courtesy of "Wide World of Sports"

Fatty lifts lid on time 'Rabs' missed half a call (Wide World of Sports)

Paul Vautin has told a priceless story about Ray Warren after the legendary commentator announced his retir...

Of course he's got the confidence because he's got the referee decision. "Some of the biggest moments in our game's history and our country's sporting history have been captured through his eyes and with his emotion in that iconic voice. Of course up goes the green light, they rule a try, they kick the goal, they go to an ad-break and he reaches over and grabs me on the leg and he says, 'That was brilliant, son. If they rule that a try I'm going to jump out of the commentary box. "Well of course Rabbits won't commit because he doesn't want to be wrong. "Mate, he never missed a beat down the straight and nailed it. "As a player through the 80s... History has shown over the last 30 years at Nine how good a caller he is and has been... "We didn't have bunkers back then. He did love a punt," Vautin told 4BC's Wide World of Sports radio. (He says), 'Oh yes, we're back working, we're back on air, ladies and gentlemen, as they come round the turn'. It's 9-4 and I'm trying to get 5-2'.

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