- Long-time commentator makes surprise defection
- He spent decades as one of Seven’s biggest stars.
Bruce McAvaney has made a shock defection to join ABC to cover the Paris Olympics after spending 30 years as one of Channel Seven’s biggest stars.
Regarded as the voice of football for his work calling the AFL, the 71-year-old is also fondly remembered for calling key Olympic moments such as Cathy Freeman’s gold medal win in Sydney, and now his shock move means he will call for more Games to come.
McAvaney will work on ABC Radio’s commentary team alongside Australian Olympic stars such as former sprinter Melinda Gainsford-Taylor and swimmer Sarah Ryan.
“I’ve always felt the Olympics were the most important event for an Australian broadcaster. To have this opportunity from the ABC means a lot to me,” McAvaney said on Monday.
Channel Nine and Stan hold the rights to this year’s Games, which start on July 27 Australian time, leaving McAvaney with no hope of rejoining Seven to cover the world’s biggest sporting event.
He called his final AFL game for the network in February 2021 after lending his talents to more than 1,000 matches.
Considered for decades the voice of the AFL alongside commentator Dennis Cometti, stepping down was a difficult decision for McAvaney.
“I felt I had reached a stage in my career where I needed to reduce my workload,” she said at the time.
Bruce McAvaney spent decades as one of the faces of sport on Channel Seven, but has now moved to ABC to cover the Paris Olympics.
The shock defection comes after he announced Seven’s 2021 Tokyo Olympics bid (pictured, the broadcaster’s Melbourne headquarters)
‘I’m going to miss it massively, I can only picture Richmond and Carlton coming out to play in the first round and the ball bouncing around, I’m going to climb a wall somewhere.
‘I’ll have to move on and just be a fan like everyone else.’
McAvaney insisted the decision to step back after that year’s coronavirus-interrupted AFL season was not health-related, having battled chronic lymphocytic leukaemia in 2017.
The surprise decision was the result of discussions with his wife Anne and the network.
“I was confident I could continue to play hard, but I felt like it was the right time for me,” McAvaney said.
“I had to compromise. I realized I wanted to keep working. I didn’t want to retire, that wasn’t on my mind. But I just didn’t think I was in a position to keep doing as much as I was doing.”
The fan favourite broadcast the Tokyo 2021 Olympics for Seven and also worked on the network’s horse racing coverage after stepping back from his football duties.
McAvaney has made some of the most famous Olympic predictions in Australian history, and is now on course to maintain that record at the Paris Games (pictured: Eiffel Tower)
She then contributed to Seven’s coverage of last year’s Women’s World Cup and made a startling observation as the Matildas gained new fans across the country.
Speaking after the Matildas defeated Denmark in their round of 16 clash in front of a packed crowd at Sydney’s Stadium Australia, McAvaney said the atmosphere at the event made him feel like he was “floating on air”.
“There’s something about going to these games that’s different than going to big games where men dominate,” McAvaney said.
“It’s a friendlier feeling… Am I making this up? No, I’m not making this up, because a lot of people have told me that.
“There’s a lot of joy, there’s a lot of laughter, there’s a lot of shouting and a lot of ‘come on’, but there’s also a lot of sportsmanship.”