Footy's greatest ever commentator opens up about his struggles in retirement - and gives a glimmer of hope to fans who are desperate to see him return to TV
Known as 'The Voice of Rugby League', Warren's last match as a commentator was the 2021 NRL grand final between Penrith and Souths.
Warren retired in 2022, ending a career in commentary that lasted 55 years.
The veteran broadcaster now says that he has struggled to make the adjustment to life outside the commentary box.
'I'm not handling that (retirement) all that well, to be honest', he told radio 2GB.
'Leaving what I was doing was like cutting off my arm. It was a playground. I don't think I ever went to work.
'I went to play, but I don't think I ever got Mondayitis, but it's gone now.
'I was 78 when I gave it away, so I didn't have much longer to go anyway.'
From a young age, Warren was passionate about commentating, even practising by calling marble races by himself.
He began his professional career at 23 in regional NSW before moving to Sydney in 1969 and starting in television in 1974.
Throughout his career, he worked for 2LF in Young, 2GB radio, Network 10, and Nine's Wide World of Sports.
Warren said he's flattered when people tell him how important his work has been over the years - and also offered a glimmer of hope to those who want him to continue commentating.
'I don't think they realise I was 78 when I gave it away and I didn't want to undo what good I might have done, that's the long and the short of it,' he said.
'But now I sit down in the lounge room and think I might be able to do a call from home.
'It was a fabulous time in life for me, it went 55 years.'
In 2019, Warren was inducted into the National Rugby League Hall of Fame for his ongoing service to the sport.
Last year, he hosed down speculation he could come out of retirement to call what would have been his 100th State of Origin game.
Warren also covered swimming, tennis and horse racing in his decorated career, winning legions of sports fans along the way.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Rollie inspired to push for Lions recognition
Chloe Rollie says the British and Irish Lions' series win in Australia has fuelled her desire to be part of the inaugural women's tour in first female Lions squad will head for New Zealand in two years' time and Scotland full-back Rollie would love to be part of that historic says watching Andy Farrell's Lions – featuring the likes of Scotland's Finn Russell, Sione Tuipulotu, Huw Jones and Blair Kinghorn – defeat the Wallabies this summer gave her a taste of what might be possible in her own future."I think in the past it's not really had that effect because it was it was never an opportunity that we thought we were going to have," Rollie told the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast."Now watching it and seeing all the different nations coming together and performing as a team, it really pushes you to want to do that as well."I would say it's probably the pinnacle of your career. It's definitely a target that I personally want to push for."Looking at the men's side, there was a lot of Scots in it and that makes us really proud as a nation and I think there's no reason why that can't be the same in the women's side."We're a small nation but that doesn't matter, we still want to strive to be the best of the best of world rugby."
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Sam Burgess reveals how Hollywood A-lister Russell Crowe lured him to the Rabbitohs - and it involves a prank call to Shane Warne and Leonardo DiCaprio
Sam Burgess had been 'hell-bent' on joining the Manly Sea Eagles. Under the stewardship of legendary coach Des Hasler, the Sea Eagles had gone on to win the 2008 premiership, having placed as a runner-up the year prior, before going on to win the flag again in 2011. The club was expanding and it was an attractive prospect for 'Slammin Sam' Burgess, who admitted he had been blowing up Hasler's phone with calls, even offering to play for the club for reduced fees. Multiple other clubs had been interested in snapping up the former Bradford Bulls star, who had his sights set on making a move Down Under to play in the NRL. But that's where Hollywood A-lister Russell Crowe stepped in. The Gladiator star and co-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs had been over in the UK at the time filming Robin Hood and had heard through the grapevine that the now Warrington Wolves coach, Burgess, was making rumblings about a move to play rugby league in Australia. So Crowe got hold of Burgess' phone number and gave the footy star a quick call to see if he could tempt him to join the Bunnies. But speaking to cricket legends, David Lloyd, Sir Alastair Cook, Phil Tuffnell and Michael Vaughan on The Overlap and Betfair's Stick to Cricket show, Burgess revealed he actuall snubbed Crowe's phone call because he thought someone was prank calling him. 'We were playing down in Wales at the time,' he said to The Overlap and Betfair's Stick to Cricket show. 'I'm just getting a massage - you're not really supposed to have your phone on the massage beds - but I took the call because I was taking anything at the time. It was Russell Crowe on the phone! 'I thought someone was pranking me, so I hung up. I thought: 'I'm not paying a fine just for someone on a prank phone call'. 'Anyway, he rang me back a few times, I let it go through.' After Burgess got off the massage bed, the Bradford Bulls star finally answered one of the Gladiator star's phone calls. 'He said: 'It's Russell Crowe. I want to catch up with you, I want to meet you. Do you want to come play in Australia?' 'I said: 'Yes, I do.' He said: 'Okay then. I'm filming a movie in Derby, I'll be there next week, you want to come down?'' Burgess, who had spent three years at Bradford before finally moving to the Souths in 2010, agreed to come down and asked the Hollywood star if he could bring some friends along with him. Crowe, keen to get the England star on board, obliged. 'So, I took four of my mates down and we go to this fancy hotel in Derby - can't remember what it's called - that's where he was staying,' he told the cricket legends. 'We arrive and security's there - 'Name? Where are you from? Who are you seeing?' - Yes, come in. My mates are all walking in, looking at this establishment. We sit and have dinner - the cutlery's laid out perfectly. Burgess and his friends sat down for dinner with Crowe but the footy great revealed that rugby was not spoken about once during the meeting. 'We end up having a great feed, didn't talk one thing about rugby, but we got a little bit p***ed,' he explained. 'They start bringing out desserts - they had like gold spoons, real gold. So, my mates are ordering extra desserts, saying, 'Yeah, get me one more of them please,' and they're pocketing the spoons. We get in the car on the way home and they've all got two or three spoons each - 'We're killing it, boys!' 'We didn't have any conversations about rugby.' Instead, they opted to play a few pranks on some of the illustrious names in Crowe's phone book, including Leonardo DiCaprio and legendary Aussie cricketer Shane Warne. 'We were prank calling off Russell's phone - that's how the night finished up. We prank-called all these movie stars,' he said. 'We rang Leonardo DiCaprio. We rang Shane Warne - Warney, big mate. We rang a few other people. I'm thinking, this is amazing, how fun is this?' After the lavish dinner, Burgess explained he went down to meet Crowe again where they talked shop. 'A couple of days later, I went down, and we spoke a bit more about the opportunity to play in the NRL and my ambitions as a player - I was only 20 at the time. From that day on we've been great mates. 'He's been true to his word: 'There won't be a door in the world I can't open, you just gotta walk through them.' And he's just such a great bloke. Loves his cricket.' The rest is history, with Burgess going on to cement himself as a legend of the club, helping lift the Bunnies to win their first premiership in 43 years during the 2014 season. He would go on to make 176 appearances for the footy club across two spells, sandwiched between a stint in rugby union back in England. He would notably pick up the Clive Churchill medal during the Grand Final that year, after suffering a horror head collision with fellow Brit James Graham in the opening minute of the match. Burgess had fractured his cheekbone in the collision and could barely see out of his right eye. 'First tackle of the game, I clash heads with James Graham a great mate of mine and smash my face up,' he told the podcast. 'I had no option but to come off. South Sydney hadn't won for 43 years. We'd had a great season, worked our backsides off, and now we're here. 'The trainer comes out, I tell him I'm in a bad way - he says: 'Oh f***'.' Burgess revealed to the podcast that he tested out the injury to see if he could keep playing. 'One of my thoughts was: 'I'm not going to have a beer tonight, because my face will be out here.' But I thought: 'Let's see how far I can get before I have to leave the field'. Tried running, tackling - pain was manageable - so I stayed on. 'At half-time, the doctor wants to assess me. I say: 'Doc, all due respect, I want to sit and listen to the coach, stay connected to the team'. In the second half, my brother George misses a tackle. I give him a spray: 'You lazy b******, I'm here covering you with my face busted - you better make it up'. Next set he scores one of the greatest individual tries in a grand final. The footy great revealed he didn't go to hospital after the game, instead joining his team-mates to celebrate the huge victory.
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Will Premier League host games abroad like rivals?
With the Serie A and La Liga set to take regular season fixtures abroad to Australia and the USA, respectively, will the idea of Premier League matches being played overseas be revived?In the past month, Italy and Spain's football federations have revealed plans to stage league fixtures in Perth and Milan's home match against Como in February would be played more than 8,500 miles away from the San Siro, while Villarreal's home fixture with Barcelona in December would take place at the Hard Rock Stadium, a 2026 World Cup host football federations are now seeking permission from Fifa and is set to change its rules after it set up a working group last year to look at the impact of playing competitive domestic matches followed a legal settlement between Fifa and match promoter Relevant Sports in the USA last year, which, in the words of Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, "left the door ajar" for league games to be played in different Premier League says it has no plans to do so, despite being the instigators of the infamous '39th game' idea during Richard Scudamore's time at the helm. US ownership influence may reach 'tipping point' There are 11 US-owned clubs in the top flight, closer than ever to the two-thirds majority of 14 that is needed to impose changes to the Premier League's rules.A third of EFL clubs are also partially or majority US-owned, and a number of English clubs are for sale or seeking fresh investment, so it may not be long until that tipping point is Serie A and La Liga announcing their intention to take matches to Australia and the USA, respectively, and with major US sports leagues regularly playing regular-season games overseas, it would be no surprise if American owners of Premier League clubs pushed to do the same, especially given some of them also own US franchises in the NFL, NBA and year Liverpool chairman Tom Werner told the Financial Times that he hoped to see Premier League games played in New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Riyadh and Rio de Janeiro, raising fears among some fans of an attempted resurrection of the '39th game' concept that was considered and then abandoned by the Premier League in 2008 after a fan Couper, chief executive of football campaign group Fair Game, told BBC Sport that "the recent revival of ideas like a 39th game played abroad is a stark warning sign". Couper added: "It shows a willingness to prioritise global markets over local fans and to turn our national game into a global entertainment brand rather than a sacred institution."Last year, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters told BBC Sport there were no plans to reintroduce such an idea, and Bournemouth's American owner Bill Foley has said he does not support staging league matches this year, Tom Wagner - the US owner of Birmingham City - told me the idea of playing some domestic cup matches overseas should be 'seriously considered', but distanced himself from the idea of staging regular season matches overseas. The UK government was reportedly considering tabling an amendment to the Football Governance Bill in order to prevent any possibility of staging league matches overseas, but chose not to do so. 'La Liga needs to compete with Premier League' In 2018, Barcelona abandoned plans to play a league fixture against Girona in Miami because of a "lack of consensus", despite having support from La Liga. The RFEF and players' union (AFE) were vocal in objecting to the move, but the former has changed its position."Spanish football is determined to establish a strong presence in football's two biggest growth markets: the Middle East and the United States," said Spanish football expert Andy West."The former is already served by the Super Cup, a four-team mid-season event which has been held in Saudi Arabia since 2020."West added: "Of course, La Liga is aware of the need to compete financially with the Premier League, and exploiting the pulling power of Barcelona and Real Madrid is its strongest suit."And, considering its Spanish-speaking heritage, the local team's links with Barcelona (Messi, Suarez et al), and its emerging status as a power base for the global game – with Fifa moving more and more of its operations to South Florida – Miami is an obvious location." 'Premier League edge may start to erode' For some Premier League club owners, the financial appeal of hosting matches abroad is hard to ignore. With median matchday revenues below £1m, the contrast with markets like the U.S. is striking. American fans routinely pay premium prices for elite sport and NFL tickets average $132 (£105). In a 60,000-seat stadium, similar to Tottenham's NFL setup, that equates to £6.3m per match, excluding merchandise and clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal and Spurs, already earning £5m+ per home game, could command even higher prices overseas, backed by global fanbases likely to fill foreign stadiums. But for smaller clubs like Bournemouth or Burnley, hosting a home game abroad risks losing the advantage of having the majority of fans giving vocal support, especially against globally popular opponents. With each Premier League place worth £3.5m in prize money, the competitive cost of diminished fan support could outweigh commercial gains. According to the Deloitte Money League, 14 Premier League clubs ranked in the global top 30. Yet if La Liga or Serie A begin staging overseas fixtures, the Premier League's edge may start to erode.
