The rugby codes have been dealt a double blow. With the news of Dave Brockoff’s passing yesterday came this morning’s death of legendary rugby league figure Rex Mossop. Affectionately known as The Moose, Mossop passed away at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital, at the age of 83.
Mossop was a dual international, having played eight Tests for the Wallabies before switching to rugby league in the 1950s. He played 163 games as a no-nonsense front rower for Manly, played nine Tests for Australia, and went on the 1959 Kangaroo tour.
For a whole generation of kids growing up in the 1970s, the Moose’s playing exploits were less known than his role as the commentator for Seven’s Big League.
From 1974 to 1982, 6.30pm Sunday nights was must-see TV as Mossop and sideline eye Barry Ross brought the match of the round into our lounge rooms.
Mossop would present the sports report on Seven news but would withhold the result of the rugby league match to be broadcast directly after. Instead he’d give a teaser by showing the “Hunter Douglas” try of the match, which was sometimes a fair indicator as to the eventual winner of the game.
Rex Mossop also presented the Channel Seven show Sports World on a Sunday morning form 11.00am to 1.00pm. While the show covered a whole range of sports (Johnny Warren even had a football segment), the last part of the show was devoted to Controversy Corner, where Mossop and other former greats such as Ferris Ashton, Col Pearce and Noel Kelly would discuss “Pertinent League Matters.”
To this day, if some of my friends are meeting up we always remember to discuss “pertinent league matters!”
Controversy Corner also included the Commonwealth Bank Passing Competition, where two players from that week’s game of the round would appear in their playing gear and pass a ball at a target. The highest points scorer was awarded a range of gifts including the Pelaco shirt, the Meapro ham and the Patra fresh orange juice.
It was prime-time Sunday nights where The Moose roared loudest.
His commentary was enthusiastic, often blunt, and the English language got a fair work out. My English teacher at the time re-named tautologies “Mossopisms” and always said her favourites were “That’s so incredulous I can scarcely believe it” and “Norths played badly” (with apologies to Bears fans).
Mossop wore his Manly heart on his sleeve but was also the club’s most vocal critic, which pretty much ensured no-one liked him! But everyone tuned in to hear him…
On one particular broadcast, circa 1978, Mossop was commenting on a Canterbury player whose name escapes me and he said to sideline eye and statistician Barry Ross, “I believe this is the young fella’s debut, Barry.” Ross replied, “No Rex, he played last week.” There was then about three minutes of dead air time, where the game went on with no commentary. A group of us watching agreed that Mossop had left the commentary booth to stride down to the sideline and put Ross straight about correcting him on air.
Mossop was a regular spectator at Manly’s Graham Reserve on a Saturday, watching junior football (soccer). He stood behind my goal one day and applauded a save I made. For a 13 year old sports nut, there was no higher praise at the time.
It was not the Moose’s only brush with the round ball code.
By 1983, Channel Ten had won the rights to broadcast rugby league. The Socceroos played a three match series against the touring England side, and Channel Seven broadcast the games, with the unlikely duo of Mossop and Johnny Warren heading the commentary. These were Frank Arok’s first games in charge of the national team.
Mossop returned to his first love when he moved to Channel Ten to head their broadcast team soon after. He remained involved until retiring from the commentary booth in 1990.
He made a surprise return to the TV on Andrew Denton’s sports show Live and Sweaty in 1991, where he became a regular on a revamped Controversy Corner, having the time of his life as the old school bloke arguing the sporting point with Elle McFeast, Lex “The Swine” Marinos, Debbie “Skull Of Rust” Spillane and “Crackers” Keenan.
Away from the camera, Mossop garnered headlines when he made a citizen’s arrest of a man outside his North Manly home.
The man was returning from Reef Beach, a designated nudist beach and had made the mistake of not bothering to kit up before he walked to his car which just happened to be parked near Mossop’s house.
In a quote that brings a broad grin to this day, Mossop declared that he didn’t need “the male genitalia rammed down my throat” which was reason enough to “collar” the naked man.
If any proof of Mossop’s influence on the collective psyche of a generation of people was needed, consider this. While writing this article, a female friend of mine phoned. When I told her what I was doing she presented a whole slew of memories of The Moose, despite not being a league fan, and rarely watching TV.
In the 1970s, Rex Mossop was the doyen of TV sport.
Manly players will wear black armbands and there will be a minute’s silence on Monday night before their clash with great 70s rivals Parramatta.
There could be no more appropriate opponent in the circumstances.
And if the game produces a bit of biff, a lot of forward progress and a high, high Gary Owen or two, The Moose will probably be watching from somewhere with a knowing smile.
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June 18th 2011 @ 3:30pm
Sandy said | June 18th 2011 @ 3:30pm | Report comment
‘You Bloody Beautyy! or Romancin’ the Moose’
An icon for my father & his father’s generation. A voice from the 70′s tube (aka the idiot box) on Sundy arvo. Us tackers dashing through the house, runnin’ the gauntlet, slammin’ the fly screen door & muddying the lino. A larrikin commentary as the Eels & the Sea Eagles crunched each other on the paddock. After mowing the lawn, the neighbours could easily hear dad shouting ‘you bloody beautyyy’ (in his finer moments), having adopted the position on the vinyl lounge, hoofs up on the coffee table, in a blue singlet, King Gee shorts & thick sox with a sherbert in his mit… bon voyage Rex Mossop!
June 18th 2011 @ 5:10pm
p.Tah said | June 18th 2011 @ 5:10pm | Report comment
Sandy, that mirrors my childhood memories. It was a great time to follow footy. Thanks Rex. Vale
June 18th 2011 @ 3:31pm
Bruce said | June 18th 2011 @ 3:31pm | Report comment
Great story apaway thanks for the “Moose” memories. Mossop will be missed.
June 18th 2011 @ 5:20pm
Peter said | June 18th 2011 @ 5:20pm | Report comment
Well written article with a better than average compilation of Moose information. It certainly brings back memories of Rex and his style. So representative of Australian sports culture at that time. Always pondered what Rex thought of the Footy Show approach. Rex’s encounter with Julian Clarey was an absolute scream too. Rex you were a great man of your era and you will be missed.
June 18th 2011 @ 5:27pm
MyGeneration said | June 18th 2011 @ 5:27pm | Report comment
My memories, and the way I watch and appreciate Rugby League to this day, were shaped by the Moose’s calls on the box, as well as Frank Hyde’s on the radio. A hard man but fair, Rex, it’s sad to see you go. Hope appropriate recognition is given the rest of this round, and especially at Brookvale Oval on Monday night. Every Rugby League broadcaster today is indebted to the Moose.
June 18th 2011 @ 6:14pm
Dean - Surry Hills said | June 18th 2011 @ 6:14pm | Report comment
Great innings Rexie. I still get a laugh from the day my mates and I saw you chase a pair of nudists away from your digs near Forty Baskets. For all those who aren’t in the know – Rex’s house was opposite the bush track that led down to Sydney’s Reef Beach. The combinations of a cricket bat in one hand, a curled paw, and a thunderous voice, ensured that the streakers (who should have disrobed at the beach, rather than at the top of the street – according to the Moose) moved faster than Greg Inglis with a two for one Maccas voucher.
June 18th 2011 @ 6:52pm
Johnno said | June 18th 2011 @ 6:52pm | Report comment
Vale Rex mossop and and Vale Dave Brockhoff. there was a good minutes silence today at all rugby club matches in sydney which was good , and there will be one tonight for the Waratahs v Brumbies match id assume.
The moose for all you moose fans, i liked him for his time was great tv entertainment, but in modern times he is to politically incorrect, but he was entertaining in his time thats for sure. There is a funny video clips of him on YOUTUBE some really hilarious ones i will tell you about to check it out it is actually very hilarious , as i t is live thats what makes it so funny.
1) rex mossop is invited on the steve vizard show late 1980′s and there is this english gay comedian a then young julian clary. Julian Claiy is in a dress or something outrageous like boy george style clothing. rex Mossop comes on dressed in really you no general conservative clothes as if he is going to dinner at an RSL club or a leagues club, just standard clothes, and Julian politely puts his hand out to shake his, Rex refuses and says stuff along the lines of your not a real man im not shaking that, the crowd ar laughing at the awkwardness of Rex next to julian , and steve vizard is bating him, and he is insulting both julian and steve vizard with lots of politically incorrect terms that maybe only that Sam Newman seems to be able to get away with today. Really funny live tv watching moose and julian clary form such different beliefs having a live argument on national tv, and the awkwardness of it.
2) other one is watching Rex having a young Mario Fenech on his tv show. A young falcon looks so funny dressed in a tacky 1980′s suit and there talking about matches at the old school venues like Henson park and redfern oval, vintage stuff.
3) Rex loses it on air when a back set failed on top of him at the SCG he goes really angry and swears and abuses the production staff hilarious.
RIP MOOSE and RIP Dave brockhoff.
June 18th 2011 @ 7:18pm
Tony Tannous said | June 18th 2011 @ 7:18pm | Report comment
Outstanding tribute Apaway, wasn’t aware of his commentary work on the Socceroos, so thankyou for sharing
June 18th 2011 @ 9:39pm
apaway said | June 18th 2011 @ 9:39pm | Report comment
Thanks Tony. I remember the games well as they weren’t what you would call the most exciting matches. The first game ended 0-0, England won the second 1-0, and the third finished 1-1. You could tell Rex was “trying” to get involved in the action and when the Socceroos finally DID score he went suitably nuts (it was an own goal) but he often deferred to Johnny Warren for game analysis.
June 18th 2011 @ 7:36pm
robert said | June 18th 2011 @ 7:36pm | Report comment
He’s gone to the great viking sauna in the sky. My Controversy Highlights are as follows;
1. Tom Terrific being sent off camera to pick a letter from the viewers barrel whille rex continues a spray about a world shattering league issue. While rex is spraying you can hear tom off camera whispering “rex”; rex continues the spray, tom continues to try and get rex’s attention. finally rex acknowledges tom’s existence and tom tells him off camera there are no letters in the barrel. well rex goes mental and turns the whole debacle into a spray about workers failing to do there jobs and put the letters iin the barrel; assuming there were any letters;
2. Rex whille watching a replay of a game complains about a player holding onto the ball for too long; counts it to five seconds before one of the assembled panel guardly points out the clip is in slow motion;
3 rex the earliest tech head; using a calculator to count the score in the commonwealth bank passing competition; 5+3+4+2;
4. rex brought the best out of people; peter peters farting on camera.
not controversy corner but rex’s car being vandalized at a manly v parramatta or wests game; unfortunately a manly fan misunderstood rex’s “rm” numberplates to mean “roy masters”
good bye rex
June 18th 2011 @ 7:54pm
betamax said | June 18th 2011 @ 7:54pm | Report comment
“the male genitalia rammed down my throat” Classic Mossop.
Never particularly liked his pro Manly bias, but he wore his heart on his sleeve, something thats missing with media personalities these days. He was THE voice of RL in the day.
Out of curiousity, does anyone know when he did his last call? I seem to remember him doing a comeback briefly with ch7(?) for some Kangaroo tours years back.
Vale Moose.
June 18th 2011 @ 8:28pm
Jason Cave said | June 18th 2011 @ 8:28pm | Report comment
Rex Mossop did come back to call the 1986 Kangaroo Tour with Channel 10. He was the ‘special comments’ person alongside Graeme Hughes and Ian Maurice for the big matches ie State of Origin. Mossop also called the first State of Origin game at Lang Park in 1980 for Seven. Mossop also covered the 1972 Olympics for Seven as well.
June 18th 2011 @ 9:36pm
apaway said | June 18th 2011 @ 9:36pm | Report comment
Funny you should say that betamax. He gave Manly hell in his commentary but never shied away from his links to the club. When asked to forecast the winner of the 1976 Grand Final between Manly and Parramatta, he said, “I know Parramatta have won all three of their meetings this year, but I can’t tip against Manly for God’s sake. I played for them for 10 years!”
Rex jumped to Channel 10 in the mid 80s and was head commentator for a few seasons before a few health problems slowed him down. He came back to league commentary as an analyst to Graeme Hughes until 1989. He also commentated on the Olympic boxing at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
June 18th 2011 @ 10:06pm
Jason Cave said | June 18th 2011 @ 10:06pm | Report comment
And the unfortunate person who had to make way for Rex Mossop at Channel 10 was none other than…Ray Warren. A ‘dream’ RL commentary team would consist of Rex Mossop and Ray Warren doing the play-by-play commentary, Peter Sterling doing the expert comments.
June 19th 2011 @ 12:01am
betamax said | June 19th 2011 @ 12:01am | Report comment
Here we go.
My Dream Commentary Team : Rabs(circa AMCO cup), Moose, Sterlo, Jack Gibson(big wooley jacket and yellow glasses era). Maybe chuck Tommy Raudonikis in there for side-line comments. Perfect.
June 18th 2011 @ 8:12pm
Ray Marler said | June 18th 2011 @ 8:12pm | Report comment
Back in the early 80′s i tried to keep fit by jogging, so i picked a nice quite little oval at North Manly near the public swimming pool to jog around, i changed near my car and began to jog down to the fence and that is when i heard this heavy puffing, out of the corner of my eye i saw this huge bloke jogging out of the sunlight and immediately saw that it was Rex Mossop, now i knew this guy was a big fellow, but not a mountain, he was very well build, tanned, a full head of hair, a goliath.
He looked at me as he jogged past and just nodded his head, i returned the nod, now that felt great just doing that, but i had a big problem to work on, would i join Rex and start jogging around the perimeter of the oval, would i wait for Rex to come around again and ask him if i could jogg with him, or would i just forget about it all together, i chose the latter.
I didn’t dare step on a blade of grass while Rex was jogging, i just started doing push – ups and sit – ups and it wasn’t long before Rex had done his quota of rounds and he wiped himself down with his towel, put the towel around his neck, hopped into his car and drove off.
Now i wasn’t frightened of Rex, we were the same height, he was quite a bit more muscular then me and he was about 20 years older, but about 20 years fitter then me also. What i was more frightened of was getting into a war of words with Rex if i upset him, (keeping in mind what he did to the naked guy near his home some years before), oh yes, i can let out a few swear words also, but it was his vocabulary of words that he would have thrown at me that frightened me, just like i used to hear Rex use calling the league or on his Sunday morning TV program “Controversy Corner”.
I thought that Rex used to make these words up as he went along until i looked them up in the dictionary and found them to be true words. Rex was a man of many words, knew when and how to use them, a man amongst men and as i found out later a gentle giant and it is very, very sad for me to hear of his passing, he will be greatly missed by all.
The Moose Roars No More, Rest in peace Rex, “You were and are a Legend”
June 18th 2011 @ 10:35pm
Dean - Surry Hills said | June 18th 2011 @ 10:35pm | Report comment
Classic Ray – Moose was often out for a jog around Grahams Reserve – especially on Sunday morings when I’d finished my paper run. You’re bringing back memories.
June 25th 2011 @ 8:36pm
Ray Marler said | June 25th 2011 @ 8:36pm | Report comment
Thanks Dean
What you read was how it was and i still sit here and can’t beleive that our Rex has gone, he used to sit a few rows back up into the stand at Brookie with Kerry Packer and i had seen Singo there a few times also and every now and then you would hear Rex yell out a few of his special words at the ref or a player from either side if he thought they were bludging on their team mates, sometimes some funny stuff, but what ever it was, Rex was right as no one would ever dare to disagree as they would then get a mouth full also
Fun times and i am glad i bought back some memories for you Dean and yup the old Graham Reserve, goodluck mate.