David William Morrow (5 July 1953 – 17 July 2024) was an Australian sports radio and television broadcaster/commentator, best known for his association with the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

and 2GB, and his calling of

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

and the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

, but also other sport and his coverage of the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

and

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

Early life and career

Morrow was born on 5 July 1953 in Sydney. He grew up in the

Northern Tablelands The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...

towns of Walcha,

Uralla Uralla is a town on the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. It is located at the intersection of the New England Highway and Thunderbolts Way, north of Sydney and about south-west of the city of Armidale. At the , the township of ...

, and

Armidale Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 23,967 as of the 2021 census. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands reg ...

and was educated at

The Armidale School The Armidale School (abbreviated as TAS) is an independent Anglican co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school, located in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia. Administration of the schools is formalised as a ...

. Morrow started his broadcasting career at Kempsey in 1971 as a general announcer with 2KM (now 2MC) and then became the New South Wales

Mid North Coast The Mid North Coast is a country region in the north-east of the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region, situated 416km north of Sydney, covers the mid northern coast of the state, beginning from Port Stephens at Hawks Nest to as far ...

sports broadcaster. He called local horse races and rugby league matches. He completed an accountancy degree at

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. In the mid-1970s, he worked as an accountant in Bathurst and was a casual sports broadcaster with 2BS.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (as racecaller and NRL commentator)

Morrow joined the ABC in 1980 and commenced calling Friday harness racing at

Harold Park Harold Park is a place in the London Borough of Havering. History Harold Park is north-eastern part of Harold Wood, occupying an isthmus of land between the A12 and the Ingrebourne River (The River Ingrebourne at Harold Park and Hornchurch). ...

and assisting the rugby league commentary team. He ceased calling the harness racing in 1987. In 1985, Morrow became the ABC's number one rugby league radio commentator. He called Saturday rugby league matches on ABC television until the network ceased its coverage in 1996. He called NRL matches on radio with

Warren Ryan Warren Redman Ryan (born 27 October 1941) is an Australian former professional rugby league football coach and player. He is considered one of the most influential rugby league coaches of the 20th century. Ryan also played in the NSWRFL Premie ...

for fourteen years until both departed in 2014.

Olympic, Commonwealth Games and others

Morrow covered eight Olympic Games and six Commonwealth Games, his first being Olympic Games in 1984 and his first Commonwealth Games in 1986 In 1990, Morrow replaced Geoff Mahoney as the ABC's Sydney race caller. He also commentated on

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

, soccer and athletics.

Other networks

In 1990, Morrow worked for Channel Ten and covered the 1990 Kangaroos tour of England. In 1995 and 1996, Morrow called all the Perth-based

Western Reds The Western Reds were a rugby league football club based in Perth, Western Australia. Founded in 1992 as the Western Reds, they entered into the Australian Rugby League competition in 1995 before defecting to the rival Super League (Australia), ...

matches for Channel Nine during the Super League War. Morrow joined the

Macquarie Radio Network Nine Radio (formerly Macquarie Media Limited) is an Australian media company, owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and headquartered in North Sydney. The company operates radio stations nationally in the capital cities of Sydney, Melbou ...

(now Nine Radio) in 2015 to call NRL matches. Due to illness, Morrow finished calling in February 2024 – a career of calling first grade rugby league for forty-four seasons.

Controversies

In May 2013, Morrow was suspended by the ABC for a racist joke but made an apology and was reinstated. In May 2014, Morrow and

were stood down pending an investigation into an alleged racist remark made by Ryan during a rugby league broadcast. In July 2014, the ABC stated that it "has reviewed Mr Morrow's responses to the investigation and accepts that he does not condone or endorse terms that are offensive and racist." In releasing this statement, ABC advised that Morrow would retire in November 2014.

Health and death

In February 2024,

Ray Hadley Raymond Morris Hadley (born 27 September 1954) is a retired Australian talkback radio broadcaster and a rugby league football commentator for Channel Nine. He presents 2GB Sydney's Monday to Friday morning show, and leads the Continuous C ...

announced on 2GB that Morrow was stepping down from his position of calling rugby league, due to a

brain cancer A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cance ...

diagnosis. He died due to the cancer on 17 July 2024, aged 71. The previous week it had been announced that he would be inducted into the

National Rugby League Hall of Fame The National Rugby League Hall of Fame was first established as the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2002, before being reestablished in 2018 in its current form. The hall of fame honours the contributions made to the National Rugby League, ...

, the formal ceremony for which took place in August 2024. (He had previously been a nominee in 2019.)

Honours and awards

* 2005: Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the media as a sports broadcaster and commentator, and to the community. * 2023:

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

Media Hall of Fame * 2024:

as contributor

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrow, David 1953 births 2024 deaths Australian accountants Australian racecallers Australian rugby league commentators Australian sports broadcasters Australian sports commentators Deaths from brain cancer in Australia Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia University of Sydney alumni Sportspeople from Sydney