Paul Vautin

Paul Vautin

Personal information
Born	(1959-07-21) 21 July 1959 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Playing information
Height	176 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	90 kg (14 st 2 lb)
Position	Lock, Second-row
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1977–78 Wests (Brisbane) 1979–89 Manly-Warringah 204 20 2 2 74 1988–89 St. Helens 21 4 0 0 16 1990–91 Easts (Sydney) 34 1 0 0 4 Total 259 25 2 2 94 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1982–90 Queensland 22 2 0 0 7 1982–89 Australia 13 0 0 0 0
Coaching information
Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1995–97 Queensland 9 4 0 5 44
Source: Rugby League Project and Yesterday's Hero

Paul Vautin (born 21 July 1959), is an Australian sports television personality and former rugby league footballer and coach. He currently hosts the NRL Footy Show and provides commentary for the Nine Network's coverage of rugby league matches. An Australian Kangaroos and Queensland State of Origin representative lock or second-row forward, Vautin played club football in Brisbane with Wests before moving to Sydney and playing with Manly-Warringah, with whom he won the 1987 premiership. He also played with the Roosters and in England with St. Helens. After playing, Vautin became a sports commentator for Channel 9. Later, during the Super League war, he was hired to coach Queensland, taking the Maroons to a 3–0 whitewash of New South Wales in 1995.

Playing career

Vautin made his name in the 1970s playing for the Wests Panthers in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership, the Manly Sea Eagles in Sydney, St. Helens in England, Queensland in the State of Origin and the Australia national rugby league team. He finished his playing career with the Roosters.

Vautin was a "toiler"; a player who does a lot of work in defense. He was also an aggressive and explosive runner of the ball. Never the largest player on the field, Vautin had the respect of his opponents.

Club

Vautin attended Padua College in Brisbane. He played at either Lock or Second Row. After moving from Brisbane's Wests club to play in Sydney, he played in Grand Finals with Manly in 1982 and 1983 but in 1983 was voted the Dally M Player's Player of the year, as well as Representative Player of the Year and later enjoyed success in leading Manly to victory in the 1987 Grand Final.

Vautin signed for St. Helens on 2 August 1988 and played his last match for them against Wigan on 29 April 1989 [1]

After returning to Sydney he played two more seasons with Easts before retiring.

State of Origin

It was at the State of Origin level where "Fatty" Vautin's performances were most notable. Vautin himself has commented on the passion that would be ignited whenever he pulled on his State representative jumper. He came on as a replacement in game II of 1982, scoring a try that swung the game for Queensland. For the next nine years he was a regular in those star-studded Queensland sides and produced many inspirational performances over 22 games, often as vice-captain to Wally Lewis. He led the Queensland side in the first games of the 1988 and 1990 series.

International

Vautin first played for Australia in 1982 in the First Test against New Zealand and next returned in 1984 in the second Test against Great Britain. He played 13 Tests during his career, touring New Zealand twice. He was unlucky to never tour Great Britain with the Kangaroos when he broke his arm at the end of the 1986 season. In addition to the thirteen Tests he played for Australia, he played three tour games in 1985 and 1989. In the year 2000 Vautin was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in the sport of rugby league.

Coaching career

Loyal to his Channel Nine employer, Vautin was a vocal supporter of the Kerry Packer-backed Australian Rugby League during the Super League war of the mid-1990s. He was considered an inferior replacement for Wally Lewis as coach of the 1995 Queensland State of Origin team. With Queensland having lost the last three consecutive series and being given a handful of young and inexperienced players, Vautin was expected to be on the losing side. However his coaching debut took a fairy tale turn when the young Queenslanders, without any of the stars from Super League-aligned clubs, completed a 3–0 series whitewash of New South Wales that year. He was later replaced by Wayne Bennett.

Post-football career

Commentary

Paul Vautin has been a regular commentator for Nine's Wide World of Sports' coverage of rugby league matches alongside Ray Warren and Peter Sterling for several years.

Tim Brasher actually fell over in front of Tony Smith. He's hit every limb, Rabs – all five of ‘em came out and he's brought down Tony Smith...

— Paul Vautin commentating during the 1995 Rugby League World Cup Final at Wembley.[2]

The Footy Show

Vautin has hosted The NRL Footy Show since 1994, propelling him to TV stardom. He suffered a serious concussion in 2005 filming for the show in a segment called "Dare-Devil Dudes", when he hit his head on concrete, with a helmet luckily minimising the damage. He did not host for a period of about 10 weeks. [3] Vautin later returned in the 2005 season of The Footy Show, but has vowed not to do any more stupid stunts.

From 1994 to 2004 he was a mainstay of the Channel Nine match commentary team along with Peter Sterling and Ray Warren. Since the concussion incident he has focussed on his Footy Show appearances but currently is still part of the broader Nine expert commentary team for big fixtures like the State of Origin.

Speculation existed that 2007 would be Vautin's last season as host of The Footy Show[4] however he has continued with the show.

Sources

• Colman, Mike (1992) Fatty: The Strife and Times of Paul Vautin, Ironbark Press, Sydney
• Vautin, Paul: Turn It Up! The life and thoughts of Paul "Fatty" Vautin; Pan Publishing, Sydney, 1995. A collection of articles Vautin has written between late 1993 (including his appearance and well-publicised catch in a all-stars cricket match in Tasmania) and the end of 1994, covering some of his past and views on current events of the time.
• Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League, Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
• Big League, State of Origin 25 Years Collectors Edition 1980–2005, News Magazines, Sydney
• "Chapter 14: TALKING SPORT". Retrieved 11 August 2008.

External links

• Template:StateofOrigin player
• Paul Vautin at the Former Origin Greats website.
• Saints.org
• Paul Vautin at Silvertails.net