Legendary sports broadcaster Dennis Cometti, best known for AFL and Olympic broadcasts, has died.
Legendary sports broadcaster Dennis Cometti, best known for AFL and Olympic broadcasts has died, aged 76.
Cometti started as a radio announcer in Perth in 1968 while he was also trying to forge a moderately successful playing and coaching career with West Perth in the Western Australian Football League.
He went on to work for the ABC between 1972 and 1985, the Seven Network from 1986 to 2001, the Nine Network between 2002 and 2006 and returned to Seven from 2007 until his retirement in 2016. He was also the lead football caller for Melbourne radio station 3AW and then for Triple M, and wrote sports columns and blogs for The West Australian newspaper.
Commuting regularly between his hometown and the eastern states, Cometti was best-known Australia-wide for his football work, calling the AFL from its inception in 1990, but he also covered Cricket and the Olympic Games as well as reading the sports news bulletins for both Seven and Nine in Perth.
One of his signature sayings became “centimetre perfect,” summing up Cometti’s calling style, with his dulcet tones and razor-sharp observations becoming the soundtrack to so many great football moments.
Some of his famous calls became part of footy folklore with fans delighting in what became known as “Comettisms.”
He broadcast his first Test cricket match for the ABC in 1973 at age 23, the youngest to do so for the national broadcaster, and continued in this role for the next 13 years alongside iconic commentator Alan McGilvray.
Cometti covered three Summer Olympics for Seven – Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 – specialising in swimming, and calling more Australian gold medals than any previous Australian television commentator.
He bowed out of full-time TV after the 2016 AFL Grand Final, the 16th that he had called.
“I’m getting rather old these days and not so much tired of footy but certainly tired of travelling,” he said at the time.
“I think I’ve worked out, with the help of a couple of other people, I’ve spent about six years of my life living in hotels.
“That seems a waste. I don’t think there’s any chance this will change, so it is my final year and I’m looking forward to it.
“Probably my ideal is just to get a rug and go and sit on the bank at Joondalup or something,” he said. “Watch a grassroots game of footy again.”
Voted the Television Caller of the Year by the Australian Football Media Association a record 11 times, in 2006 he also won the Alf Potter Award for that season’s most outstanding media personality and the sports category at the West Australian of the Year awards in 2017. In 2018 he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in sports journalism at the 17th annual Sport Australia Media Awards.
Cometti was also inducted into the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Australian Football Media Association Halls of Fame and Sport Australia Hall of Fame. In 2019 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the broadcast media as a sports presenter, and to the community.
Seven Network sport commentator, Bruce McAvaney said: “When I think about Dennis, one of the first things I think about is the amount of joy he brought to all of our lives.
“How many times did he make us laugh and smile? We would sit there and think, how did he think of that? He leaves a legacy that is undeniable, unique, and authentic. In many ways he was the benchmark for all of those that are following in his footsteps. We are a nation who prides itself in having so many of the all-time great sport commentators, and he was up there with the very best of them.
“Perhaps the most impressive thing about Dennis is that through his calling, he made footballers famous. That’s a gift,” he said.
“On a personal level, I feel like I’ve lost something truly precious. We shared an extraordinary journey. We were a similar age and at similar stages of our lives, and we both understood the pressure that came with the role – the effort it demanded and the vulnerability that came with trying to live up to expectations. We leaned on each other through that. We always had each other’s backs.
“While Dennis and I started our careers as colleagues, we ended as friends and I am so grateful for that.”
Seven Network Head of AFL and Sport Innovation, Gary O’Keeffe said: “While Den will forever be remembered for his iconic one-liners, he was by any measure a world-class caller who has entertained sport fans – especially footy fans – across the whole nation and all over the world.
“More importantly, off-camera, Dennis was a world-class person. Everyone who had the opportunity to meet and work alongside him, walked away from the experience a better person. His impact will be felt far and wide across the industry. We are so lucky to have known him.
“When we think back to some of the greatest moments in footy folklore, Dennis has more than likely provided the soundtrack. It’s hard to imagine anyone else in world sport who could so brilliantly and so succinctly capture the moment.
“We will forever remember when Peter Wilson bobbed up like a cork in the ocean, and Heath Shaw snuck up behind Nick Riewoldt like a librarian. Perhaps none more iconic than when the western suburbs erupted over Tom Boyd’s goal in the 2016 Grand Final – the last AFL goal Dennis called on television.
“On behalf of everyone at the Seven Network and particularly our sport department who have worked so closely with Den over his incredible career, we send our thoughts to his wife Velia, and children, Ricki and Mark at this incredibly difficult time.”
Seven will acknowledge the incredible career of Dennis at tomorrow night’s Opening Round match between the Sydney Swans and Carlton at the SCG.
As announced earlier this year, Seven will broadcast a documentary into the life and career of Dennis later this year, aptly titled Centimetre Perfect led by his great mate and Seven broadcaster, Bruce McAvaney.
This post updates.
Source: news.com.au