Karl John Langdon (born 28 March 1968) is a sports commentator and radio personality in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

and a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er with the

Subiaco Football Club The Subiaco Football Club, nicknamed the Lions and known before 1973 as the ''Maroons'', is an Australian rules football club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). It was founded in 1896, and admitted to the WAF ...

and the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known ...

Early life

Langdon began his sport career at

Guildford Grammar School Guildford Grammar School, informally known as Guildford Grammar, Guildford or GGS, is an Independent school, independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Mixed-sex education, coeducational Primary school, primary and Secondary school, se ...

, an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

boys' school in

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. During his school years he was an outstanding sportsman, captaining the school's football, cricket and athletics teams, the first student in its history to do so. In 1985 he won the Guildford Sportsman of the Year award. Langdon was a talented cricketer and was selected in the Under 16 Australian team. He also represented Western Australia at Under 16 and Under 19 level and attended the Western Australia Institute of Sport. Whilst working as a bank teller, his bank was the subject of an armed robbery by Brenden James Abbott (the postcard bandit).

Australian rules football career

In 1985, Langdon began his football career, joining the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

. He played in Subiaco's 1986 premiership side in only his fourth league game after starting the season in the colts. At the end of the 1987 season, after playing in a losing grand final against Claremont, in the WAFL, he was drafted by the

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

and debuted in 1988. Nicknamed "Boris", he was a flamboyant half-forward who was naturally red-headed but bleached his hair during his playing days. Langdon played 100 games with the West Coast Eagles and played in their first ever premiership side in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. A knee injury the following year sidelined him for the entire 1993 season. He also made several appearances at the

AFL Tribunal The AFL Tribunal is the disciplinary tribunal of the Australian Football League (AFL), an Australian rules football competition. The Tribunal regulates the conduct of players, umpires, and other officials associated with the AFL and its clubs. ...

due to his aggressive style of play.Holmesby, R and Main, J. (2005). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. Langdon represented Western Australia in State of Origin games as a

centre half-forward In Australian rules football, the centre half-forward is a position on the half-forward line of a football field. The directly opposing player is a centre half-back. Royce Hart of the Richmond Football Club and Wayne Carey of the North Melbou ...

. He represented the state for the first time in the bicentennial carnival in Adelaide in 1988 and retired from the AFL after 100 games and 108 goals with the Eagles.

Media career

In 1996 Langdon retired from football and became a football and cricket commentator for Perth radio station

6PR 6PR, known as 6PR Perth, is a commercial radio station based in Perth, Western Australia. Owned by Nine Entertainment, its focus is on news, talk and sport, and is Perth's only commercial talkback radio station. It commenced broadcasting on 14 ...

. During his time he has broadcast numerous sports including Commonwealth and 2000 Olympic Games. He currently hosts 6pr's Breakfast Show 5-9am weekdays. He has a regular spot on Nine News Perth every Thursday with Fishwatch and calls Speedway at the Perth Motorplex October to April annually. He has also been the master of ceremonies at West Coast Eagles home games since retiring in February 1996.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Langdon, Karl 1968 births Living people Australian rules football commentators Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia Subiaco Football Club players West Coast Eagles players West Coast Eagles premiership players Western Australian State of Origin players People educated at Guildford Grammar School VFL/AFL premiership players