Ray Warren

For other persons named Ray Warren, see Raymond Warren (disambiguation).

Ray "Rabbit(s)" or "Rabbs" Warren (11 June c. 1943 in Junee, New South Wales) is an Australian sports commentator, most famous for his coverage of televised professional rugby league matches on the Nine Network. He also calls the action for Australian swimming team events. On Saturday mornings, he is a member of the panel on Triple M Sydney's radio sports program Dead Set Legends. Warren also writes columns for sports website The Serve.

Career

As a youngster Ray Warren was amazed by the ability of race-caller Ken Howard to paint the perfect picture of the race track. As a child, Ray used to roll marbles down a wooden slope and call them as horses.

He eventually followed in the footsteps of his brother and joined the police force. It was during his brief stint in uniform he got a phone call as a result of all the door-knocking he had done at various radio stations as a teenager. Ray took the job offered to him in Young, New South Wales as a rugby league commentator - a move which started his career in broadcasting.

He began commentating on the Amco Cup on Channel Ten with Keith Barnes in the 1970s. In 1980, Ten approached Warren to call the Melbourne Cup, the first of three Cups he would call for the network. He also became Network Ten's chief Rugby League caller from 1983 - 1986. In 1984 he was to head up Ten's commentary for the Los Angeles Olympics but refused to take the mission. As a nervous flyer, Warren had grave reservations about the trans-Pacific haul and suddenly realised he could not get onto the plane. In 1986, Warren was fired by the network, primarily because it wanted to replace him as its chief rugby league commentator with former international player Rex Mossop.

Over the next six years, Warren would also travel many miles to call horse races. In 1989 he was recruited by the Nine Network to commentate on the state of origin series alongside Darrell Eastlake and to be part of its team to broadcast swimming at the 1990 Commonwealth Games with Norman May. The television rights for rugby league were bought by Nine for the 1992 season and onwards and he has been calling the game for them ever since. Warren has overcome his fear of flying, and has travelled to the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Yokohama, Fukuoka and Montreal for the network's swimming coverage.

Ray Warren is known for his passionate commentary, and has often been parodied by The Twelfth Man. His voice has become synonymous with important rugby league matches in Australia, and he is renowned for his proficient ability to take over from fellow-commentators when anything interesting happens on the field.

Controversies

Occasionally, Warren has been criticised for getting carried away - for example his use of the terms "Big Willie" and "Little Willie" ("willie" being a slang term for penis) to describe Canterbury Bulldogs players Willie Mason (115kg/253lbs) and Willie Tonga (92kg/203lbs) respectively. He also received flak for muddling the name of Queensland fullback Karmichael Hunt and referring to him as "Kunt" in a 2007 State of Origin game. Later in the same match, he claimed that the Queensland side had "really bent the New South Wales team over" (Queensland won Game I 25-18 after trailing 18-6 at halftime), and was rebuked by journalists and viewers alike for his use of such a crude sexual euphemism.

Personal life

Ray Warren lives in the Sydney suburb of Castle Hill with his wife, Cher, and daughter, Holly. Ray's first son, Chris Warren, is a rugby league presenter for Sky Sports in England. Interestingly, Ray was once the chief commentator in a match that Chris participated in while he was a player for the Western Suburbs Magpies in the early 1990s.