By Andrew Logan
January 21st 2010 @ 2:57am
Vale Bill McLaren, we’ll never see your like again
Legendary radio broadcaster Bill McLaren, left. AP Photo/John Cogill
In Sydney yesterday, it was a balmy summer day with a slight sea breeze sweeping in over the sand on the ivory beaches. I took myself for a walk up the street and saw cars full of happy teenagers heading off to the seaside and mothers pushing small babies in prams enjoying the sunshine.
It was a classic Australian summers’ day, with the smell of eucalypts in the air and the sound of cicadas chirping gaily in the trees outside my office window, but I felt chilled and my mind was half a world away.
Despite the heat, I felt as bleak as the weather in the town in my dreams – a small Scottish Borders town called Hawick, home of the Hawick RFC, where yesterday the temperature was almost freezing and an icy south-easterly wind was whipping in around the cracks in the doors and gusting the drizzle against the window panes.
Shoppers hurrying along the Hawick High Street were silhouetted against the tall sandstone edifices like mourners with their heads down, and the grey cloudy sky gave an entirely appropriate atmosphere of bereavement to the scene.
The funerary air spilled over into the hearts of Hawicks great rivals, Gala RFC, and onward across the Borders of Scotland to the whole rugby world, because yesterday we lost the truest of rugby men.
Our grandfather, our artiste, our rugby poet laureate, Bill McLaren, was dead.
Hearing the news that McLaren was gone, was akin to hearing that the Wallace Monument had collapsed from the top of the Abbey Craig; that the Eiffel tower had fallen into the Seine; or perhaps that Table Mountain had tumbled onto Capetown.
Immovable objects all, which, like McLaren, have just always been there. It never occurs to you to think that one day they may not be.
For me, as for many southern hemisphere rugby nuts, northern hemisphere rugby and Bill McLaren were one. As a young boy, long before I ever travelled to London, I had the idea that everyone in the whole of the UK, perhaps even Europe, spoke with a Scottish Borders accent, because when you watched the Five Nations championship on the ABC, it was all you heard.
The rich, chewable tones of McLaren’s Borders brogue, rolling out exotic names of the great European rugby players. Jean-Pierre Garuet, the 29 year old potato farmer from Nice. Finlay Calder, the 32 year old grain merchant from Edinburgh.
There was no such thing as a player interview, or an after-match chat with the coach in front of a sponsor’s banner. McLaren carried the whole show and no-one else ever seemed to speak. They didn’t need to. If McLaren had recited a telephone directory people would have listened.
I recently had a wonderful conversation with a mate who played for one of my old clubs, the Goulburn Dirty Reds. As a youngster he was so thoroughly indoctrinated into the cause by McLaren’s dulcet tones, that even now, he starts stories of his Australian country town childhood with the phrase “When I was a wee boy in the ‘Burn …” delivered in a Scottish burr. He’s Italian – and he’s only half-joking. McLaren had that effect on us all.
Anyway, “…when I was a wee boy in the ‘Burn” he said “after watching the Five Nations replays on the ABC late on a Saturday arvo, I’d go out into the backyard and kick the footy around with my dog Suzie and pretend to be Johnny Rutherford who was my favourite player. As I was playing I’d commentate in a Bill McLaren accent. Joooohhhnnny Rutherford!”. Ahh yes. Didn’t we all?
It seemed that McLaren was on intimate terms with every player he described, and with the amount of preparation he put into his commentary – attending training sessions, handwriting reams of notes, shuffling cards representing players and doing phantom calls – it’s probably no surprise.
He managed to get a tremendous amount of information into his call, and there was something in his tone which made you remember things effortlessly, even years later.
Players ages, occupations, scoring records and towns of origin were delivered not as dry data, but as wonderful gems and secrets which were hard won and inestimably valuable.
His knack for context, delivering the right fact at the right time and making you feel like you knew the people playing the game, gave you an emotional investment in the outcome which was simply irresistible. How else would I remember the occupation and hometown of 1980s French prop with a liverish paunch and a walrus moustache?
It was as if I loved Bill so much that I didn’t want to disappoint him by forgetting. He so clearly cherished what he was doing that we cherished it too.
There is a divide between those who work in rugby for the love of it, and those for whom it is simply an available profession.
The latter group has inched ahead in the last decade, and the game is the poorer for it, as a growing list of former players join the commentary ranks, not necessarily because they have a burning love for the game, but simply because they can.
McLaren was El Presidente of the Rugby-For-The-Love-Of-It movement and we identified with him. We felt the pounding of McLaren’s own heart as he described the crowd’s rendition of Flower Of Scotland in 1990; we heard the awe as Scott Gibbs burst through the English line to score in 1999, “a marvellous score, the angle of his run was superb”; and heard the chuckle as he described French prop Christian Califano’s pace “This lad can do the 100m in 12 seconds. That’s sonic boom for a prop forward, I tell ye!”.
We loved Bill McLaren because he was just like us, an average rugby nut. Unlike us, he went agonisingly close to winning his first Scottish cap before tuberculosis almost killed him and put and end to his rugby.
Had he won a cap, or several caps, he would perhaps have been just another ex-player on the box and we may not have loved him as much.
But that possibility was cold comfort to McLaren.
He wanted to play for his country and he actually had the ability and motivation to make it a reality. The fact that he didn’t manage to win a Scottish cap was a lasting regret. In his final interview with Borders Radio in 2005 he said “The greatest regret of my life really. From the time I was a wee boy, my mother’s cousin Wattie Sutherland played on the wing for Scotland and I heard stories about him when I was a boy, and I always had that one great desire to play for Scotland. Once would have done me fine. I didn’t need 50 caps, one would have done me fine. And when I look back, old and doddering, about 114 years old….that will be the one great regret of my life”.
“I would have given anything for my name to be in the book. WB McLaren…open bracket…Hawick…end bracket…one cap. Would ha’ done me fine. Just one! But…c’est la vie”.
But McLaren’s loss was the rugby world’s gain.
Perhaps for those of us from the South, his value was even greater, because when you heard the strident McLaren tones marching from the television speakers, you knew that your team was on tour in hostile territory, advancing on the gloomy English, the quicksilver Welsh, the wily Irish or the dour Scots.
It wasn’t an everyday accent down under, so there was no question that we were in for some truly international rugby. A Bledisloe in the eighties with Keith Quinn or Gordon Bray on song was wonderful, but the Wallabies versus the Barbarians at Twickenham with McLaren on the call, was beyond sublime.
The fact that it was being aired at 2am only increased the wonder, because you knew that right then, at that very second, as you sat there with your hot chocolate and Arnotts Iced Vo-Vo’s, the Wallabies were going into battle and McLaren was your personal tour guide.
Perhaps the greatest wonder of Bill McLaren’s commentary was his total impartiality. There was respect, but no malice, in his voice when he described the All Blacks as “looking like great prophets of doom”.
There was amusement, but no trace of nastiness, when he described Wade Dooley as a “perambulating lighthouse”. And there was amazement, but no venom, when he imagined Simon Geogeoghan as being “all arms and legs like a mad octopus”.
His delightful accent, deft turn of phrase and affectionate manner undoubtedly helped, but his love of rugby shone through and eclipsed all else.
No matter whether he was calling the All Blacks playing the Barbarians, Scotland playing England, watching Borders play Edinburgh or Hawick play Gala, McLaren simply revelled in the rugby.
When asked some time back about great players from the Gala club (who were great rivals of his beloved Hawick), McLaren affected a glowering brow and boomed “We don’t talk about Gala round here”, before breaking into a grin and holding forth on some of Gala’s great players from years past.
He was incapable of hostility to anyone in the rugby family.
And so it was that as news of the death of Bill McLaren reached me in Sydney, I felt as sad as if a close friend, that I hadn’t seen for a long while, had died before I got a chance to call.
I wished, like many of my era, that I could have told him just how much he was responsible for me falling for rugby hook, line and sinker, as a 13 year old boy in a rugby league town in far off New South Wales.
But then, after a time, sitting in the sunshine while the sleet and ice cluttered the doorways in distant Hawick, I felt happy at how lucky I have been to be one of the family in so great a game as rugby, and to have known Bill McLaren.
As anyone who has ever listened to Bill call a match will know, you didn’t have to have met Bill McLaren to have known him. It was all on display right there. Wit, compassion, humour, inspiration and an inexhaustible reservoir of adoration for the game and its people.
McLaren himself once said “If it all ended at this single moment, it’s been a delight and I’ve thanked God for the fact that I was in the right place at the right time and I managed to get my nose in the door. It’s just been a treat. You can’t expect anything better than to see Scotland win the Triple Crown…and do the commentary!”.
Well Bill…with the greatest respect…if I had the choice between doing the commentary and listening to you do it? I know which one I’d choose.
Goodbye mate.
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Dublin Dave said | January 21st 2010 @ 2:55am | Report comment
A sad passing indeed.
Many rugby fans would have no problem nominating McLaren as the finest TV commentator on their sport that the world has seen, though in fairness, it would be hard to think of anybody representing any sport who could better him. McLaren possessed so many of the qualities which on their own make a good commentator; in combination they made him a great one.
For a start, he was knowledgeable about the game, its laws, its tactics and its history but such knowledge can be learned by those with more diligence than talent. He also possessed a remarkable enthusiasm for the game, but this was hardly surprising for a native of Hawick in the Scottish borders where rugby commands similar affection among the population at large as it does in hotbeds such as New Zealand or the Welsh valleys.
McLaren’s talent was the ability to take that knowledge and enthusiasm and communicate it to the masses in such a memorably engaging way that he continued to be employed by the BBC for over 50 years, first on local radio in 1948 and then on TV since the 1960s until his retirement in 2002.
Such talent can not be taught. It is innate. To listen to McLaren was a joy; the warmth of his personality, the sense of excitement and anticipation he could convey about even the most unprepossessing match, his ability to see and describe the skill, bravery and indeed the bathos and humour that attends big rugby games, especially in the amateur era through which he lived, were all conveyed in a folksy amiable style and in a Scottish Borders accent you could cut with a knife.
That made him a pioneer in broadcasting in a more general sense, especially in the patrician BBC where traditionally one was required to have prim, cut-glass English tones now described as Reithian in honour of the BBC’s first Director General Lord Reith, who insisted on such standards.
McLaren proved what has now become established wisdom: refinement of accent is not what matters, rather it is clarity of diction and the content of what you say that is important. His communication skills were such that he could even slip in the odd word of Lowlands Scots dialect, as was his wont, without losing his audience.
When he looked out upon a sodden Lansdowne Road pitch and said with a shudder in his voice: “Och it’s a dreich day in Dublin today”, you didn’t have to be a devotee of the poetry of Robbie Burns to infer his meaning.
The fact that he was Scottish, and very proud of it, only increased his credibility and indeed gave hope to all those who love the game and hope for glory to make its occasional visit to the teams they love. As he was fond of pointing out, to be a Scottish fan meant you had to take the rough with the smooth, especially during a bleak period in the 1950s which started with South Africa inflicting a then record 44-0 defeat at Murrayfield and continued through several years of losses before Scotland finally achieved a Five Nations victory over Ireland.
Contrasting with that misery though were moments of utter elation, such as when his son in law Alan Lawson scored what he always maintained, with due acknowledgement of family bias, was the greatest international try of all time in a Calcutta Cup match against England. Or when Tony Stanger, a former pupil, (his day job was a schoolmaster) scored the dramatic winning try in the winner take all Grand Slam decider against the Auld Enemy in Murrayfield in 1990. Nobody more deserved to be in the commentary box at that moment than he.
It was a more usual experience though to describe his beloved Scotland being on the receiving end of beatings and the fact that he could delight in great rugby, even when it was coming from the opposition was testament to his professional skills and to his genuine enthusiasm for the game. One particularly memorable piece of play, to which his commentary was a delightful accompaniment, was a marvellous Australian try (his words) scored by David Campese at the end of a breathtaking counter attack during the victory over Scotland during the Grand Slam tour of the 1980s.
Although he tried his hand at writing, it is fair to say that his metier was really the spoken word. Deprived of the bubbling warmth of his voice and accent, his written words can appear light and twee. You had to hear the chuckle in his voice when he marvelled at the tiny French scrum half and captain of its 1977 Grand Slam team Jacques Fouroux and his Napoleon-like ability to boss around some of the mammoth psychopaths in the French pack. “Isn’t it amazing the way all those big fellas do exactly what they’re told?”
It was! Those “big fellas” included former heavyweight boxer Gerard Cholley at prop, one who continually reminded opponents of his “other” sport and a pair of fearsome locks Palmie and Imbernon, one of whom (I can’t remember which) was nicknamed “the Dentist” in honour of his propensity to remove opponents’ teeth.
Also one of my favourite McLarenisms was his description of the French prop Christian Califano and his atypical turn of speed. “This lad can do the 100m in 11 seconds. That’s sonic boom for a prop forward, I tell you!” Again, on paper it’s unremarkable. But with McLaren’s voice, and the mangled dipthong with which the Scottish accent uniquely renders the word “boom” it lingers in the memory.
He came across as the sort of person you would love to meet and spend an evening talking about the important things in life. To paraphrase another of his stock sayings, there will be sadness in the Borders tonight.
And elsewhere around the rugby world.
pothale said | January 21st 2010 @ 3:32am | Report comment
Nicely, nicely done, Andrew.
Beautifully written piece, cliche-free, and captures the memories of the man in a poignant personal way that still resonates with all of us who grew up listening to his voice.
I was in Hawick a couple of years ago at the Melrose Sevens tournament which Bill McLaren often attended. We went to see the grounds of his club, Hawick RFC, and the little room set aside in his name for posterity. No fanfare, names in lights, just a simple little sign on the door – The Bill McLaren Room.
All those phrases of his that stick in the mind over the years as he commented along on the match, occasionally getting excited if a piece of play took his fancy, but never reaching the exhausting hyperbole that fills our speakers in the modern game.
There’s some lovely tributes to him and people’s memories of him on the BBC rugby site 606 – worth having a read if this guy crossed your TV path over the last few decades.
Here’s one of many You Tube clips of him commentating on a Wales v Scotland match from 1984 that captures the true Voice of Rugby nicely – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S1tsZIRR94&feature=related – “there’s a little bit of niggle going on there……Richard Murrary who’s an electrician and sparks could fly there…..he flitted in and out of there like a phantom….and that was nearly a try from the big boy from Carrrrdif – classic stuff.
With none of today’s technology available to him, and with just a single screen (often black & white) to watch replays on, McLaren would do all his homework beforehand. He would use a particular deck of playing cards to memorise the players on teams by first learning all the names off by heart using the numbers and royals, then shuffling the deck and then calling the cards as they appeared so that he could visualise any running player passing to another in quick play and make sure he called the names right including some of the difficult French ones unfamiliar to his Scottish brogue.
A class act who could teach a few things to the younger fellas around today.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasail.
Cattledog said | January 21st 2010 @ 2:10pm | Report comment
For once I must agree wholeheartedly with Pothale, excellent piece of work well worthy of the Man.
Wavell Wakefield said | January 21st 2010 @ 3:57am | Report comment
Andrew, DD and Pothale summarise this sad situation far more eloquently than I ever could. Well said all three. The Six Nations has never been the same since he stepped down – and that isn’t an exaggeration. McLaren’s voice framed so many moments. You won’t find a single player with a bad word to say about him. Contrast that with Eddie Butler’s TV tirade at Gareth Thomas. Says it all really. A gentleman and a fan. RIP Bill McLaren.
Matty P said | January 21st 2010 @ 4:05am | Report comment
Great piece Andrew. I fell in love with rugby watching 5 Nations on the ABC on Saturday afternoons listening to Bill McLaren’s amusing and inciteful commentary (in Tassie they didn’t broadcast local rugger). I agree that he mastered the art of providing just enough of the obvious wealth of knowledge he has on the individual players without deluging us unlike many lesser commentary fry – it provided the icing on the cake. One of a kind, greatly missed.
True Tah said | January 21st 2010 @ 6:58am | Report comment
I remember playing Jonah Lomu Rugby in PS, perhaps the only real game on any console I was ever interested, and McLaren’s commentary was priceless.
Truly the voice of rugby!
Timmypig said | January 21st 2010 @ 7:08am | Report comment
“19 stones on the hoof”
“Ball flying out like chocolate bars from a slot machine”
“Jiggery-pokery”
Bill McLaren was easily the best. We’re all a little poorer for his passing. Vale Sir!
Wavell Wakefield said | January 21st 2010 @ 7:11am | Report comment
Perhaps it would be a nice gesture (and this may sound silly) if every year the first game of the 6N contested the Bill McLaren trophy/shieldy – nothing OTT, just a small trophy/shield that was contested by the first two teams to take the field. I realise that there is an abundance of pointless trophies, but something small that would be available to different teams every season might be a gesture in fitting with McLaren’s love of the game. OR … perhaps the MOTM in the 1st game of the 6N tournament could be the Bill McLaren MOTM – that way the player in question would have a permanent momento. As time passes it’s all too easy to forget.
pothale said | January 21st 2010 @ 7:15am | Report comment
Nice idea WW. Perhaps to tie it to his native country – maybe it should be MOTM in the first Scotland match in the 6N. It could still go to a player on either side dependent on the outcome.
Brett McKay said | January 21st 2010 @ 7:56am | Report comment
Great piece Andrew, and as well to all that have left comments here. Unfortunately, I don’t have any real memory of Bill McLaren’s commentary, even though it’s quite likely that I’ve heard him on numerous occasions. I will have to give YouTube a working over tonight.
That all said, I feel like I’ve listened to him my whole life, just based on Andrew’s beautifully written tribute, and the follow-on comments from Roarers near and far..
Andrew Coorey said | January 21st 2010 @ 8:37am | Report comment
Mr Logan, an excellent piece. The vision of the matches used in the BBC’s own website tribute to McLaren reminded us of the pure colours of Five Nations rugby, before the shirts were designed by anyone. Each nation, apart from the tres
debonair French wearing one plain national colour and the grass greener than any in Australia. McLaren’s voice was the soundtrack to a visual feast.
Everyone has their own favourite Bill moment but allow me two. Seeing John Jeffrey -who for me epitomised Scots rugby, a hard edge more common than finessse- stepping around a bloke down the 5 metre line and Bill saying ” Mind you, this isn’t a wing-three-quarter, it’s a Kelso farmer!”….and I dimly recall as a teenager a scrum erupting into three one-on-one fist fights. I don’t recall who was playing but I do remember that Bill’s delivery slowed down and showed none of the modern tendency for hyperventilation. Like Richie Benaud he knew that the pictures had most of the communication covered. He inhaled and said ” well ” ( slower than John Wayne)…” here we see ( pause) the front row forwards (pause) trying to impress upon each other in a manner (smaller pause) unacceptable within the laws of this game” .
When will we hear your like again?
Andrew Logan said | January 21st 2010 @ 8:57am | Report comment
“Mind you, this isn’t a wing-three-quarter, it’s a Kelso farmer!”.
In the words of another great man on the mike, Cliff Morgan “Brilliant, oh that’s brilliant”.
simon said | January 21st 2010 @ 8:39am | Report comment
Well written Andrew – your best article yet!
He was like a rally-point, who brought the whole rugby family together. He represented our love for the game in so many ways.
Hoy said | January 21st 2010 @ 8:49am | Report comment
This may not be befitting a man of his great stature within the game, however I will always rememeber him as the voice over on Jonah Lomu’s Rugby on playstation. Back when I was a bit younger, we were all playing it, and throwing out great sayings from the game:
“He’s digging like a demented mole now”
“Oh! Mercy me! What a tackle! That could’ve put him in Ward 4!” “I hope not Bill, that’s a maternity ward!”
Wavell Wakefield said | January 21st 2010 @ 8:55am | Report comment
‘ “Oh! Mercy me! What a tackle! That could’ve put him in Ward 4!” “I hope not Bill, that’s a maternity ward!” ‘
Lol. Goodness, I need to find this game before the 6N.
pothale said | January 21st 2010 @ 9:09am | Report comment
That was the two Bills talking to each other in a scripted commentary for the PS game – Beaumont and McLaren.
Some other actual live commentary moments:
It’s high enough, it’s long enough AND IT’S STRAIGHT ENOUGH.!
He’s like a demented ferret up a wee drainpipe.
He plays like a runaway bullet (description of New Zealand wing Grant Batty).
He’s like a raging bull with a bad head.
That one was a bit ineebrriated – just like one of my golf shots (description of a missed goal kick).
He kicked that ball like it were 3 pounds o’ haggis.
Would ye like a Hawick ball, son ? (McLaren offering a friend a mint).
They’ll be dancing in the streets of Hawick tonight after Scotland’s win
His sidestep was marvellous – like a shaft of lightning (description of Welsh wing Gerald Davies).
The All Blacks that day looked like great prophets of doom.
I was there (at Twickenham) in 1938 when Scotland won 28-16.
‘Tweet, tweet, tweet’ – commentary on Scottish full-back Peter Dods’ strange run up to a penalty kick.
My goodness, that wee ball’s gone so high there’ll be snow on it when it comes down.
He’s as quick as a trout up a burn.
Those props are as cunning as a bag o’ weasels.
A day out of Hawick is a day wasted.
And it’s a try by Hika the hooker from Ngongotaha (Wales v New Zealand 1980).
I’m no hod carrier but I’d be laying bricks if he was running at me (description of Jonah Lomu).
They’ll be simply chuffed to bits down at (fill in blank)
I look at Colin Meads and see a great big sheep farmer who carried the ball in his hands as though it was an orange pip.
I’ve hardly ever had to pay to get in (the best thing in his view about 50 years of commentary at rugby matches).
ohtani's jacket said | January 21st 2010 @ 12:15pm | Report comment
The best thing about that game was playing with Thailand and hearing Bill cry “Laksonasompong!” every time he touched the ball.
Hoy said | January 21st 2010 @ 4:45pm | Report comment
That was a cracker.
Jason Cave said | January 21st 2010 @ 8:53am | Report comment
Bill McLaren would have to be rated as one of the top 5 sports commentators of all time.
sheek said | January 21st 2010 @ 9:09am | Report comment
Andrew,
That would have made a nice eulogy. You must have been at Cogee yesterday….. lol.
There was a time when we Aussies could watch the 5/6 Nations on ABC, with Bill’s commentary to inspire us that the 5/6 Nations was somehow the greatest show on Earth!
Mind you, he did pick Rob Andrew as his alltime flyhalf. Bill, what on earth were you thinking when you did that….. ???
pothale said | January 21st 2010 @ 9:15am | Report comment
There was a time when we Aussies could watch the 5/6 Nations on ABC, with Bill’s commentary to inspire us that the 5/6 Nations was somehow the greatest show on Earth!”
It still is, Sheek. Where else could you get such a mix of cultures, talents, skill, abysmal failures, tragedies, triumphs, mind-numbing games, thrilling finales, massive crowds, and generally great post-match banter and camaraderie?
Frank O'Keeffe said | January 22nd 2010 @ 10:25am | Report comment
Sheek,
McLaren’s all-time XV had plenty of interesting choices… or should I say all-time XXII.
As his reserves he selected Michael Lynagh as a replacement flyhalf. I love Lynagh and think he’s always been underappreciated in Australia because he seldom showed much flair on the field, but is he really a contender in an all-time side? At fullback on his reserves bench he has Matt Burke – a great player no doubt, but does history remember him as fondly as Blanco or JPR Williams? I could be wrong, but I think he also had Jason Leonard on his bench… actually that’s pretty common for a lot of people, but was Leonard ever the world’s no 1 prop? And if I recall corectly, he selected Nick Farr-Jones as his replacement halfback! I love Farr-Jones but surely the likes of Catchpole, Going, Loveridge etc should be considered ahead of him.
They were all great players no doubt, but interesting selections for an all-time side. Then again, who am I to doubt BILL MCLAREN? I’ll only criticise him for the Rob Andrew selection…
spiro zavos said | January 21st 2010 @ 9:10am | Report comment
Andrew your piece did Bill McLaren proud. it was the distinctive voice, the professionalism and the absolute love of rugby, without malice to oppositions, that made McLaren such a wonderful commentator.
This remarkable fairness and passion gave McLaren such a llistenability. His commentary meshed effortlessly (it seemed, although true art is to hide art) into what was happening in front of us on the screen. He enchanced the pictures and the broadcast.
One does not want to get tenditious, for this thread rightly must be in praise of the great man, but what a comparison between his commentaries and the ones we have to endure here in Australia with their obsessive second-guessing of referees and whoever is opposing the local side.
I think the highest praise I can give Bill McLaren is to say that he was the equal of the great Winston McCarthy as a rugby commentator..
Mr cheese said | January 22nd 2010 @ 2:22am | Report comment
tenditious ???
Some sort of Australian neologism ??? Sounds like a knee complaint.
You’re right, however: Mr McLaren was very pro-Scottish without being anti-English. He is the only man in history to have achieved this.
Wavell Wakefield said | January 22nd 2010 @ 4:58am | Report comment
Tendentious.
Allen Stutchbury said | January 21st 2010 @ 9:18am | Report comment
Andrew, Best piece of writing I have seen in a long time.
Bill will be sorely missed he was the voice of Rugby and a gent to boot.
pothale said | January 21st 2010 @ 9:56am | Report comment
By the way, it’s a curious picture to go with the story. Anyone know who the guy is in the picture next to Bill?
Hint: he’s not a big rugby fan.
Dublin Dave said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:29am | Report comment
You know damn well who it is Pothale
But seriously lads, could you not find a picture of the great man with someone other than that wee shitehawk?
Grumble.
pothale said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:41am | Report comment
Course you and I know who he is, Dave. I was just taken aback to open up the Roar and see his face grinning back at me. Why do you think I said he’s not a big rugby fan.
Found another link of McLaren’s quotes from the actual matches on the Times’ site. Hadn’t realised that some of the comments applied to Irish players – look a the three pounds of haggis one and tell me which Irish kicker he’s talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S617AieOPJo&feature=player_embedded
Nick said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:34am | Report comment
Great article. Really well written. The best I’ve read at The Roar.
I was lucky enough to have met Bill in the UK in 1999 just before the RWC when I was working on a rugby video game. I spent a couple of days with him in the recording studio laying down the commentary tracks for the game.
Parts of the commentary recording process for a sports video game are quite mundane and hard to recreate the atmosphere of a live game, but Bill attacked it professionally with the aid of a tin of “Hawick balls”. Bill offered these boiled lollies to all he met in the studio, including the girls who were referred to one and all as “toots”!
On the first day of recording Bill had to read out the names of all 600+ players for the commentary soundtrack, each in a number of different states of excitement. When reading through the the Italian players he stopped and a put a line through the name of Massimo Gianovelli, the Italian captain, turned to me and said: “I won’t read that fella’s name. He’s a head kicker and has no place in our game. I canna’ believe he was selected for the Barbarians. I should write to Mickey Steele-Bodger to protest”!!
Our lawyer recalled giving Bill a call before the recording session to get him to sign the agreement for the work. With his great accent: “I don’t have a fax machine, but you can send it to my son, however I am sure that once I have done some work for you I’ll be able to afford one”!!
Although I only briefly met Bill I found myself with a real tear in my eye yesterday when I read the news of his passing. He must have made that much of an impression on me. Rest in peace Bill. When will we see your likes again?
pothale said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:43am | Report comment
Great story, Nick. Did he do the commentary on his own, or was it a two-hander with someone like Bill Beaumont?
Worlds Biggest said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:50am | Report comment
great work Loges, he was a titan of the game and had no peer as a commentator. A very sad loss for the Rugby World. My favourite McLaren quote and there were many was during a Scotland v England game in the 80′s. It was in reference to the foggy weather ” wellll it certianly is Pea n Ham soup here at Twickenham today “.
Nick said | January 21st 2010 @ 10:52am | Report comment
The commentary in the game, EA SPORTS Rugby (not to be confused with the fantastic Jonah Lomu Rugby game from a couple of years prior), was recorded on his own, but we also recorded “expert” commentary from Jamie Salmon. In the game it sounds like they are bouncing off each other – the wonders of technology…
Jamie was one of the rare breed of Englishmen who played for England and New Zealand in the days before restrictions on playing for more than one country. I think he was a centre in the early 80s? A nice bloke who did some commentary on rugby TV broadcasts from time to time and was not like many of the “hooray Henry” Englishmen I met during that project, particularly when dealing with the RFU in negotiating rights with them.
The other funny memory of that project was negotiating with the FFR for the rights to useFrench team and IP in video games. They were up for the deal but wanted to include a clause in the contract that the Wallabies were not allowed to use decoy runners in the video game. I thought they were joking but there were deadly serious!! Anyway, we agreed so we could get the deal done because our game wasn’t nearly good enough to be able to run decoys!!
Jock M said | January 21st 2010 @ 11:09am | Report comment
I wonder what Bill thought of the modern game with its mind numbing predictability due to law changes that have robbed the game of its soul.
I bet that Borders Rugby is not what it used to be either-I daresay any one with talent would have been drawn into the big league and thus robbing the local competition.
The Bill McLarens do not fit with the new world.
ohtani's jacket said | January 21st 2010 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
Great article Andrew. A wonderful tribute to the man. Can’t help but think that a little bit of rugby died with Bill McLaren.
Bay35Pablo said | January 21st 2010 @ 12:18pm | Report comment
Great article Loges.
I had heard many of his sayings on highlights and replays, but never really watched enough European rugby to have realised his stature and longevity.
A titan commentator in his sport for whom many come to think of synonymous with the sport, like Murray Walker for F1 or Richie Benaud for cricket.
It also makes me realise that many of the stock comments by Gordon Bray are McLeanisms, such as “The 28 year old sheep farmer from Whykickamoocow” or “They’ll be celebrating in North Coonamble tonight”. Imitiation being the sincerest form of flattery and all.
stuff happens said | January 21st 2010 @ 12:21pm | Report comment
Well done Andrew, excellent tribute to a wonderful commentator.
In a class of his own .
Roger said | January 21st 2010 @ 12:27pm | Report comment
Very good article Andrew. I only ever heard his voice on highlights but after reading your eulogy I feel I, and many others really missed out by not listening to someone who seemed to so focussed on passionately describing the immense joy of rugby, something modern dayers unfortunately do not.
captain nemo said | January 21st 2010 @ 12:53pm | Report comment
bravo zulu Andrew. Its the game they play in heavan and now they have a fine commentator. Vale Bill Mclaren.
JB said | January 21st 2010 @ 12:59pm | Report comment
Well said Loges.
Vale indeed to an icon of the game. We’ll definitely not see (hear) his like again.
JB
The Other Reds Fan. said | January 21st 2010 @ 1:29pm | Report comment
Worth listening to just to hear him say ‘Doddie Weir’.
Jaffa said | January 21st 2010 @ 3:58pm | Report comment
Andrew -an outstanding essay – one of your best. You’ve captured the essence of the man perfectly.
Rugby is the poorer for his passing.
None of the current commentators come within cooee of his ability to describe the game and its characters with accuracy, admiration and affection.
Well done
Frank O'Keeffe said | January 21st 2010 @ 4:04pm | Report comment
That was a really terrific article Andrew.
Bill McLaren is the greatest rugby union commentator there’s ever been. Personally I prefer to hear commentators you know are in love with the sport they are talking about, as opposed to someone saying what the teams should be doing or how bad the referee is. You can’t watch one game of rugby these days without the refs performance being overanalyzed. Bill McLaren always seemed happy when he was watching rugby and I loved that. Secondly, he was always unbiased – even when Scotland were playing.
McLaren was also a fan of Australia. David Campese was his all-time favourite player. I like the story of how he asked Bob Dwyer one time how he’d go about coaching such a talent, and Bob Dwyer said, “Bill I make sure to never interfere with bloody genius.” Campese on the field and McLaren on the microphone went together like prime rib steak and JR’s BBQ sauce. McLaren also rated the 1984 Wallabies as the best touring side to Britain he’s ever seen – high praise considering that’s going back to the Springboks of the early 50s.
My favourite McLaren call was probably the try Gareth Edwards scored in 1972 against Scotland. You know the one where Edwards made a sniping run down the blindside, chipped the ball ahead, caught up to it and dove face-first into the mud.
“Its beautiful laid back for Gareth Edwards, Edwards over the 25 yard line, over half way, the kick ahead by Edwards, can he get there, it would be a miracle if he could. He may well get there… And he has!!! The sheer magic of Gareth Edwards has brought the whole of this stadium to its feet. You can see on his face, the power, the strength, the fitness that took him there”.
Frank O'Keeffe said | January 21st 2010 @ 4:08pm | Report comment
“It’s not what Mark Ella does when had has the ball that matters, but what he does after he’s passed it that matters.” – Bill McLaren
“Every time Gould kicks the ball it’s like the one o’clock gun going off at Edinburgh Castle.” – Bill McLaren
Frank O'Keeffe said | January 21st 2010 @ 6:03pm | Report comment
‘Sheer genius from the moment he received the ball. The great swashbuckler has rung down the curtain with the touch of a magician.’ – Bill McLaren during the 1988 Barbarians v Australia match.
Brian said | January 21st 2010 @ 5:20pm | Report comment
Geez that was a well written tribute…..congrats to you and farewell to Bill.
PastHisBest said | January 21st 2010 @ 5:26pm | Report comment
I too am indebted to Bill McLaren for his genius. His commentary always reminds me of my long-passed grandfather, who along with my father, used to rouse me in the early hours, bleary-eyed but excited to watch all in wonder at the rugby played in far off lands.
Truly a giant of a man and commentator the like of which we will not hear again.
Sth Auckland First XV said | January 21st 2010 @ 6:30pm | Report comment
A great man. I think his voice will be the last one I’ll hear on my deathbed. His voice brings me so many memories of watching the 5 / 6 Nations when I was a kid. Humble, dynamic, distinctive, loved the world over. RIP Bill McLaren.
Ian Noble said | January 21st 2010 @ 8:42pm | Report comment
What can one say after all these wonderful comments about Bill M?
He was with the BBC in Radio and TV for over 40 years, when ITV won the rights to the RWC he was asked by ITV to move over. He refused and stayed with the BBC and did radio commentary which people listened to while watching the TV on mute.
In 1987 during the first RWC according to Ian Robertson the BBC rugby commentator, there was a poll in NZ to see who would commentate on the final. BM’s reaction was that he would get less than 10% of the vote, as it turned out he got 97% of the vote.
In his latter years there was an increasing campaign for him to be given a knighthood, he had received the MBE, OBE and the CBE in ascending order. It was very close and it is a pity that accolade was never awarded to a man who transcended rugby and represented a moral standard of fair play and equality, that is difficult to match in todays frenetic environment.
Sammy22 said | January 22nd 2010 @ 12:43am | Report comment
Wonderful Wonderful Gent, Thankyou Andrew and followed by DD and Pothole
I grew up in England and it was BM’s voice that gave me the mystic and respect for the Welsh Scots French and Irish as coming from a football background the 5 nations became a totally exotic meal of addiction.
When the All Blacks and the Wallabies toured his knowledge and respect for the players and their countries just opened up a new world to me, indeed it was the ’84 tour that made my mind up I was to live in Aus…….. all supported through the story via TV and passion
Vale Bill McLaren
Dublin Dave said | January 22nd 2010 @ 1:07am | Report comment
I have to say I’m a little disapppointed with the way the TV stations over here (Ie BBC and RTE) have paid tribute to his passing. They have just jumbled up a load of his idiosyncratic similes “like a baggie up a border burn”, “stampeding like a mad giraffe”, “kicked it like a 3lb haggis” etc etc and left it at that.
Indeed he did make such comments and they do bring a smile to the face, or at least to the mind’s eye. But that was not the sum total of his talent and to pretend that they were is patronising and dismissive, a bit like saying that all there was to Marilyn Monroe was a great pair of hooters.
McLaren’s commentaries on great pieces of play were magnificent accompaniments, like the backing track in a classic rock song, they enhanced the performance and helped to make it memorable. Imagine how insipid would be an a capella version of Satisfaction or Smoke on the Water! Then think how much better some of the tries McLaren called looked and sounded on TV thanks to his efforts.
He could pace his commentary on a great piece of play, saying the right things at the right time and with the right amount of excitement to make the moment a magical piece of television. Various posters have given some of their favourite examples above. There are many many more.
It’s that ability that a commentator aspiring to be half as good as McLaren should try to mimic. Sadly, I fear we may have to endure a generation of flat-voiced charlatans who think that all they have to do is liken a prop forward to a “wee runaway Galloway bull” or say “there’ll be dancing in the streets of Cronulla tonight” to have some of his magic rub off on them.
It won’t lads, so don’t even try.
Fred said | January 22nd 2010 @ 7:25pm | Report comment
Nice piece Andrew, he will be missed…if you want to make your piece even better use another photo…Bertie Ahern has ruined our country and isn’t a rugby man.
Andrew Logan said | January 22nd 2010 @ 8:14pm | Report comment
Hi Fred….you’re not the first to mention the accompanying photo. Unfortunately this is chosen by the editors, not the columnist.
Thanks for your positive feedback though, it is much appreciated.
Bay35Pablo said | January 23rd 2010 @ 7:40pm | Report comment
Perhaps Scotland could award him an honorary cap, in tribute.
rugbyfuture said | January 23rd 2010 @ 7:56pm | Report comment
his two grandsons have been selected in the scotland squad for an upcoming game i heard
Harry said | January 24th 2010 @ 7:31pm | Report comment
Fantastic tributes and excellent writing in Andrew’s story and the comments, credit to you all. He was a great man who bought pleasure to so many with his commentary and love for rugby. A long and happy life lived well it seems … despite him missing out on that cap!
Watched today the video “Great Rugby Moments, Bill McLaren Selects Bill’s best Bits” made by the BBC in the early 90′s.
Great viewing for all rugby lovers, I googled its availability and it is here … http://www.rugbyrelics.com/rugby-videos.htm about 9 down. Those who knew him will revel in it, and for the younger generation who wonder what all this is about, see and hear old style rugby (the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s) at its best.
Angus Boyle said | January 25th 2010 @ 12:46am | Report comment
I very much enjoyed some of the videos on You Tube re Bill Mclaren.
Funny to watch the Stanger try in the 1990 Grand Slam, Triple Crown, Calcutta Cup decider at Murrayfield with Bill’s commentary. Going to a Scottish rugby school in 1992 that try was still very much talked about. One of the lads swore that if you listened very closely you could hear Bill say, as Stanger, also from Hawick I believe, scored the try, say,”Fuck. It’s a try”.
Since then I’ve read a reasonable explanation for what he said, without swearing, the details of which I’ve now forgotten, but, nevertheless, it always brings a smile to my face.
Try listening to his commentary on that move up the right hand side of the field and listen for the unBBC-like moment.
His body of work, let alone his gentle passion for the game, deserves recognition by all who watch, play and, particularly, commentate on the game.
Henry Wood said | January 26th 2010 @ 11:22am | Report comment
Hi Angus, I never noticed the “f*ck, it’s a try” before though I’ll watch it again. The reason for Bill McLaren’s excitement may have been because he had been Tony Stanger’s PE teacher at Hawick High School?
Greg McLeod said | January 27th 2010 @ 11:49pm | Report comment
Had a ee chuckle at that yin ma self and being frae Hawick I can translate that he did however say “Fact it’s a try”
Great bit of writting leaving me with a tear in my eye.
RIP Bill