Dennis Cometti
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (August 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Dennis Cometti (born 1949) is a former Australian rules football player and coach for West Perth in the West Australian Football League and Footscray in the Victorian Football League but is best known as a commentator. In a career spanning almost 40 years, his dry humour and smooth voice have become his trademark. He remains the only television broadcaster to have spanned the entire duration of the VFL/AFL national competition (Seven Network, Nine Network, Broadcom).
Contents |
[edit] Early career
He commenced his media career as radio announcer in Perth, Western Australia 1968 as a top 40 disc jockey at radio station 6KY. It was the same year (his second season) he kicked over 60 goals playing for West Perth under Graham Farmer in the WANFL. Despite an outstanding junior career and an exciting start to his time at West Perth a number of factors including injury saw Cometti drift more and more towards the media. Over the following 5 years he worked as an announcer on 6PM, 3DB in Melbourne and 6PR. He broadcast his first football match - a state game between WA and Victoria at Subiaco Oval in 1971. Melbourne station 3KZ needed a caller and Cometti volunteered. He joined the ABC in 1972 where he concentrated exclusively on sport. He broadcast his first Test match in 1973 (at 23 the youngest in ABC history) and for the next 13 years broadcast Test Cricket alongside Alan McGilvray. In an ironic twist Cometti did return to West Perth - as Coach in 1982.
[edit] Television career
[edit] Seven Network 1986-2001
In 1986 his surprise move to the Seven Network coincided with the formation of the West Coast Eagles in the VFL but because of a bitter battle over television broadcast rights (that excluded the 7 Network) Cometti broadcast the first season of the expanded VFL competition on independent broadcaster Broadcom. In 1988 when the 7 Network regained the VFL television rights Cometti immediately became the highest profile commentator of VFL/AFL matches (based in Western Australia where he presented the evening news sports segment). He stayed with Seven until 2001, as main sports anchor for Seven News in Perth, when they lost the rights to broadcast AFL matches. He has since been succeeded by Basil Zempilas, who still reads the sport news on Seven News to this day.
In the late 1990s, he was among those to have been sent up by impersonator Andrew Startin on Live And Kicking. Actor Eric Bana was another to 'do' Cometti.
During his career with the station, he called eight AFL Grand Finals. He also commentated at the Summer Olympics swimming competitions in Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. Cometti has broadcast more Australian Olympic Gold Medals than any other commentator of the television era.
[edit] Move to Nine Network (2002-2006)
Cometti switched to the Nine Network in 2002 and alongside Eddie McGuire, Dermott Brereton and Garry Lyon has become one of the channel's leading Australian rules football callers. During those 5 years he was voted AFMA (Australian Football Media Association) television broadcaster of the year 5 times. In 2006 he was awarded the Alf Potter Award as the games foremost media personality. In a Melbourne newspaper Herald Sun annual poll he recorded increasing record percentages for fan popularity over his 5 years with Channel Nine. In 2006 48% of the papers readers named Cometti as their favourite commentator. A similar poll in South Australia by the Adelaide Advertiser put the number at 62%. In both cases his nearest rival was in single figures. Occasionally while at Nine, he returned to cricket commentary and in 2003/04 called an Australia A game. As at Seven, he read the sports report on the weeknight National Nine News in Perth.
His commentary had also been featured in video games such as AFL Live 2004, 05 and 06, AFL Trivia 2006 and AFL Premiership 2005.
[edit] Return to Seven (2007-)
While at Nine, Cometti was openly stated as one of the networks highest paid personalities, at a price Seven said they would not match. However, with Seven regaining the rights to broadcast AFL games starting from 2007, on December 8, 2006 it was announced that Cometti resigned with the Seven Network to call AFL alongside Bruce McAvaney.[1] In addition, Cometti presents a special weekly segment during the sport report during the evening news. By seasons end (2007) he had again been voted Television Caller of the Year (the 6th consecutive time) by his media peers and FHM Magazines Commentator of the Year.
Cometti currently resides in the Perth Suburb of Yokine.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Website Site includes Cometti weekly podcasts and blogs.
- Dennis Cometti - ninemsn Profile
- Collection of Comettisms (BigFooty.com)
- Another collection of Comettisms (BigFooty.com)
- AFL Song co-written by Dennis and James McKenna (http://www.jamesmckennamusic.com/)
|
|||||||||||||||||
