Ray Warren receives Lifetime Achievement Award

21 February 2024

He’s known as the ‘voice of rugby league’ and was a key part of Australian swimming’s golden generation and now Ray Warren OAM has added another accolade to his impressive list – named the latest recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) Media Awards.

He’s known as the ‘voice of rugby league’ and was a key part of Australian swimming’s golden generation and now Ray Warren OAM has added another accolade to his impressive list – named the latest recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) Media Awards.

Rabs started honing his broadcast skills as a six-year-old while rolling marbles down a slope and calling the race as if they were horses before going on to call 99 State of Origin games and 45 NRL Grand Finals.

His professional broadcasting career began at age 23 in regional New South Wales before moving to Sydney in 1969 and starting his television career in 1974.

He started calling swimming alongside the late Norman May at the Nine Network as part of their 1990 Commonwealth Games coverage and called the likes of Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Susie O’Neill and Kieren Perkins through a dominant period in the pool.

Warren credits May, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003, for helping develop his skillset.

“I’m so honoured to be added to the list of recipients of this award when I see his name there,” he said.

“I had a deep-seated passion for broadcasting sport. It didn’t matter if it was a Melbourne Cup or the Olympic Games. I loved going to work and there’s not a lot of people that can say that, but I thank God I can.”

Soon, the Junee product was calling games with some of the biggest names and Immortals in rugby league like Peter Sterling, Paul Vautin, Gus Gould, Wally Lewis, Darren Lockyer and Andrew Johns.

“The job opened up so many opportunities for this starry-eyed kid with this crazy dream to work alongside some of his childhood heroes. It was just fantastic.”

Warren also called greyhound and horse racing throughout his illustrious career, but it is his role in ABC’s Bluey State of Origin episode that will see his voice live on through the next generation.

“I had never heard of Bluey, and I said to my wife ‘I can’t do this’ and she said, ‘you should’ because we’ve got a 5-year-old grandson called Matteo and he was gobsmacked when it went to air.”

“A lot of people more so today say ‘I heard you doing Bluey’ rather than maybe the 2021 Grand Final.”

Warren retired in 2022 after more than half a century of sports commentary.

He thanked the ASC, his family, colleagues who became close friends and media outlets who ‘gave him a chance to have the dream come true’ including 2LF in Young, 2GB, Network 10 and Nine’s Wide World of Sports.

“Most importantly, I’d like to thank the people that allowed me to be in their loungerooms or to be at the pub or the club and inviting me into wherever they were at the time, so I thank everybody for that.”

Warren was unable to attend the gala event in Melbourne, instead accepting the honour from his home in Sydney with close to 200 guests giving him a standing ovation as they watched his video message.

ASC Chair Josephine Sukkar AM congratulated Mr Warren on receiving the award.

“Ray is a sporting icon and a worthy recipient of this huge honour. After 55 years calling live sport spanning rugby league, Olympic and World Championship swimming and three Melbourne Cups it would be hard to find someone who isn’t familiar with Rabs’ iconic voice.”

“Congratulations to Ray and to all of our winners and finalists this evening.”

The evening saw media professionals and organisations from across Australia acknowledged for their coverage of sport.

Minister for Sport The Hon Anika Wells presented the award for Best coverage of sport by a club or organisation to Football Australia for their coverage of the Matildas’ historic fourth place finish at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Optus Sport and photographer Robert Cianflone were also recognised for their work covering the historic event taking home Best coverage of a sporting event and Best sports photography, while Bowls Australia won Best coverage of sport for people with disability.

Mark Howard took home Best sport podcast for The Howie Games while judges announced joint winners for Best reporting of an issue in sport to David Mark from ABC News and Scott Gullan from the Herald Sun.

2023 ASC Media Awards winners

Best reporting of an issue in sport - JOINT WINNERS

• David Mark, ABC News, The investigation into paedophile rock climbing coach Stephen Mitchell
• Scott Gullan, Herald Sun, Peter Bol drugs scandal

Best coverage of a sporting event

• Optus Sport, 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Best coverage of sport for people with disability

• Bowls Australia

Best Sports Photography

• Robert Cianflone, Heart of a Nation

Best sport profile – broadcast

• Danielle Laidley: Two Tribes, JamTV / Stan

Best sport podcast

• The Howie Games, Mark Howard / Listnr
• Highly commended: The Final Word Cricket Podcast, Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins

Best coverage of sport by a club or organisation

• Football Australia, Matildas’ World Cup Campaign

Best coverage of a community sport issue - rural & regional media

• ABC News Tasmania, Stacking the Odds: Inside a Tasmanian harness racing juggernaut

Best sport profile – written

• Greg Baum, The Age, But wait, there’s Moore: why the Collingwood captain is not a conventional footballer
• Highly commended: Samantha Lewis, ABC Sport, Meet Angela Iannotta, Australia's forgotten World Cup pioneer

Best depiction of inclusive sport

• Konrad Marshall, Good Weekend Magazine, Life changes tomorrow and I’m just being me

Best sport coverage by an individual – broadcast

• Gerard Whateley, SEN / Fox Footy

Best sport coverage by an individual – written

• Tom Decent, The Sydney Morning Herald
• Highly commended: Linda Pearce, CODE Sports