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The Voice: My Story
Ray ‘Rabbits’ Warren is the legendary voice of Australian sports commentary. People tell him he must have drunk a bottle of scotch and smoked a packet of cigarettes every day to have the voice that he has. That’s not the case; at least, not any more . . .
The son of a railway worker, Ray placed his first bet on a horse called Playboy at the age of just six, and won. A lifelong love of the track – and the punt – was born.
During his remarkable broadcasting career, which has now spanned almost five decades, Ray has called three Melbourne Cups, Commonwealth and Olympic Games swimming, and countless rugby league matches alongside his mates Fatty, Sterlo and Gus.
Here, for the first time, Ray reveals the man behind the microphone. He speaks of the great highs and devastating lows of his career and life in the same way he calls every sporting event: with great passion, colour and candour.
‘When it comes to rugby league commentary, there is little dispute that Ray Warren is the best in the business … I know you’ll enjoy his story.’ – Alan Jones AO
‘It’s not the vision that sells this game. It’s not just the amazing feats of these mighty players. It’s the way Ray Warren calls the action. The sense of theatre he brings to the call. Ray makes the game better. He brings it to life in lounge rooms all over the country. Ray Warren is the voice of rugby league.’ – Phil Gould
‘I loved rugby league growing up in Sydney ... and you can’t talk rugby league without talking Ray Warren. They are synonymous.’ – Hugh Jackman
The son of a railway worker, Ray placed his first bet on a horse called Playboy at the age of just six, and won. A lifelong love of the track – and the punt – was born.
During his remarkable broadcasting career, which has now spanned almost five decades, Ray has called three Melbourne Cups, Commonwealth and Olympic Games swimming, and countless rugby league matches alongside his mates Fatty, Sterlo and Gus.
Here, for the first time, Ray reveals the man behind the microphone. He speaks of the great highs and devastating lows of his career and life in the same way he calls every sporting event: with great passion, colour and candour.
‘When it comes to rugby league commentary, there is little dispute that Ray Warren is the best in the business … I know you’ll enjoy his story.’ – Alan Jones AO
‘It’s not the vision that sells this game. It’s not just the amazing feats of these mighty players. It’s the way Ray Warren calls the action. The sense of theatre he brings to the call. Ray makes the game better. He brings it to life in lounge rooms all over the country. Ray Warren is the voice of rugby league.’ – Phil Gould
‘I loved rugby league growing up in Sydney ... and you can’t talk rugby league without talking Ray Warren. They are synonymous.’ – Hugh Jackman
- GenresBiography
194 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 23, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 28, 2018
"Jack didn't do anything extraordinary, mainly because, as he would tell you, rugby league is not an extraordinary game. Rather, he would say, it is a simple game made difficult by those who try to over-teach it. One of his lines was to do the simple things well, and the rest will look after itself."
To hear Ray Warren is to be enthralled. He is possibly Australia's best commentator and frankly I'm unsure what Rugby League will do when he fully retires, the Grand Final, the Origin will all be worse off without Ray. Even now with his reduced calling schedule games don't feel right without him in the box.
This book is an interesting one. It's a jumble of anecdotes with a few underlying themes tying it all together. It jumps back and forth quite a bit and doesn't exactly form a coherent or compelling narrative but that's probably not the point.
Ray Warren is a story teller with a twist. He's a very rare breed because every weekend for a large part of his life he tells a half dozen stories live in front of the nation without a second to compose his thoughts. He adds a spoken narrative to the images we see unfolding in front of our own eyes. He does this with such skill that watching an event without his input feels hollow.
He's narrated the big stories in Australian swimming, the biggest of stories in Australian horse racing and of course he's told all of the great stories in Rugby League for the last 30 years. He has a voice and personality which are infectious, he can manipulate an audience's emotion better than anyone else in show business and he can do it without the audience even realising.
The book itself has a good forward by Andrew Webster and an interesting section by Phil Gould at the end. It's clear that Webster has also turned his journalistic hand to shaping some of Ray's own story in the middle.
The anecdotes from his life will make you smile but you'll probably be a little bit let down and disappointed by the messages and themes.
1. Gambling - Ray like many Australians loves a punt. From a very young age he has been a gambler. He believes he's not a problem gambler and has only ever used his own money, never endangering or bringing hardship on friends or family but his own anecdotes tell a different tale. The way he explains away his father's dying plea asking Ray to give up the punt is almost heartbreaking. His insistence on grouping himself in a different group to the problem gamblers is symptomatic of the illusion of control fallacy that all problem gamblers suffer.
2. Anxiety and Fear - Ray has deep seated anxiety about his health, flying, and his skill. It's fascinating to see the other side of a personality who exudes confidence while calling a game. However, he doesn't seem to have a strong message about how one can conquer their fears or doubts, rather he just sort of says you'll get through it. Perhaps that's partly due to his humility which is the next big theme.
3. Humility - Ray is incredibly humble and this is echoed in the afterward by Gould and by anyone you have ever heard talk about him. His humility and loyalty are two of the traits he believes have got him far in an industry he recognises is more crooked than an 's' bend. Sometimes this humility strikes up against things like the statue built in Junee to recognise his achievements or the OAM he received. You can see the humble brag but even then Ray's incredulity at his own success still feels genuine.
4. Sport - This biography is interesting because you get to see the story of someone who has made a career from sport in a unique way. Tales from players, coaches and managers are common but someone who has a made a career as a professional observer and a friend to all is very interesting.
5. Playing a straight bat - Ray consistently mentions how he would rather say nothing at all than something negative about someone (a well-known mantra which he inherited from his early commentary mentors). His view of the old establishment and their approach to commentary as the right way is fascinating because it is certainly something that makes him beloved by all but also the only one of his kind left. Obviously in modern sports commentary you need expert opinion but you also need someone to deal in objective reality coloured only by unbiased emotion.
6. Relationship with Gould - Listening to these two on air almost everyone believes they hate each other but reading this book it seems the love between them is strong. This misconception is largely because Gould's strong often negatively phrased opinions are in such contrast to Ray's buoyant optimism. Gould also cuts Ray down so much on tv that it's hard to believe they could be friends. Ray makes an interesting comment about how Gould can't switch off the rugby league part of his brain but he can. This seems strange because in many of his stories and the overarching narrative it seems that Ray is as equally obsessed as Gould is. Ray also talks about how Gould has the ability to first guess everything, that is to say he can see things coming in a game as opposed to being able to say what went wrong and should have been done instead.
7. Cancer - Clearly a strong spokesperson in relation to prostate cancer, it's interesting to see how it has touched his life and the last page of the book is reserved for a charitable organisation dealing with prostate cancer. You can only appreciate Ray throwing his considerable influence and weight behind this. Also the death from cancer of his close but significantly younger swimming commentator clearly deeply affected him and showed him the importance of life and that is a good moment to see.
It's interesting because Ray seems to have very little world awareness or ability to look at things outside of the small field of view he has. This singular focus is a common trait in a lot of highly successful people and geniuses and works well in a biography. The way he clearly eschewed the political life simply because it wasn't high paying enough was interesting as was the way he couldn't sustain his first marriage because he was married to his job. I think these say more about his character than much of the other stuff in the book. It would have been really nice to get more on his technique other than the stuff he says about light and shade (the different moments in the game that require different emphasis).
For a book about a professional commentator it's ironic that you learn the most in the silences between words and what remains unsaid.
To hear Ray Warren is to be enthralled. He is possibly Australia's best commentator and frankly I'm unsure what Rugby League will do when he fully retires, the Grand Final, the Origin will all be worse off without Ray. Even now with his reduced calling schedule games don't feel right without him in the box.
This book is an interesting one. It's a jumble of anecdotes with a few underlying themes tying it all together. It jumps back and forth quite a bit and doesn't exactly form a coherent or compelling narrative but that's probably not the point.
Ray Warren is a story teller with a twist. He's a very rare breed because every weekend for a large part of his life he tells a half dozen stories live in front of the nation without a second to compose his thoughts. He adds a spoken narrative to the images we see unfolding in front of our own eyes. He does this with such skill that watching an event without his input feels hollow.
He's narrated the big stories in Australian swimming, the biggest of stories in Australian horse racing and of course he's told all of the great stories in Rugby League for the last 30 years. He has a voice and personality which are infectious, he can manipulate an audience's emotion better than anyone else in show business and he can do it without the audience even realising.
The book itself has a good forward by Andrew Webster and an interesting section by Phil Gould at the end. It's clear that Webster has also turned his journalistic hand to shaping some of Ray's own story in the middle.
The anecdotes from his life will make you smile but you'll probably be a little bit let down and disappointed by the messages and themes.
1. Gambling - Ray like many Australians loves a punt. From a very young age he has been a gambler. He believes he's not a problem gambler and has only ever used his own money, never endangering or bringing hardship on friends or family but his own anecdotes tell a different tale. The way he explains away his father's dying plea asking Ray to give up the punt is almost heartbreaking. His insistence on grouping himself in a different group to the problem gamblers is symptomatic of the illusion of control fallacy that all problem gamblers suffer.
2. Anxiety and Fear - Ray has deep seated anxiety about his health, flying, and his skill. It's fascinating to see the other side of a personality who exudes confidence while calling a game. However, he doesn't seem to have a strong message about how one can conquer their fears or doubts, rather he just sort of says you'll get through it. Perhaps that's partly due to his humility which is the next big theme.
3. Humility - Ray is incredibly humble and this is echoed in the afterward by Gould and by anyone you have ever heard talk about him. His humility and loyalty are two of the traits he believes have got him far in an industry he recognises is more crooked than an 's' bend. Sometimes this humility strikes up against things like the statue built in Junee to recognise his achievements or the OAM he received. You can see the humble brag but even then Ray's incredulity at his own success still feels genuine.
4. Sport - This biography is interesting because you get to see the story of someone who has made a career from sport in a unique way. Tales from players, coaches and managers are common but someone who has a made a career as a professional observer and a friend to all is very interesting.
5. Playing a straight bat - Ray consistently mentions how he would rather say nothing at all than something negative about someone (a well-known mantra which he inherited from his early commentary mentors). His view of the old establishment and their approach to commentary as the right way is fascinating because it is certainly something that makes him beloved by all but also the only one of his kind left. Obviously in modern sports commentary you need expert opinion but you also need someone to deal in objective reality coloured only by unbiased emotion.
6. Relationship with Gould - Listening to these two on air almost everyone believes they hate each other but reading this book it seems the love between them is strong. This misconception is largely because Gould's strong often negatively phrased opinions are in such contrast to Ray's buoyant optimism. Gould also cuts Ray down so much on tv that it's hard to believe they could be friends. Ray makes an interesting comment about how Gould can't switch off the rugby league part of his brain but he can. This seems strange because in many of his stories and the overarching narrative it seems that Ray is as equally obsessed as Gould is. Ray also talks about how Gould has the ability to first guess everything, that is to say he can see things coming in a game as opposed to being able to say what went wrong and should have been done instead.
7. Cancer - Clearly a strong spokesperson in relation to prostate cancer, it's interesting to see how it has touched his life and the last page of the book is reserved for a charitable organisation dealing with prostate cancer. You can only appreciate Ray throwing his considerable influence and weight behind this. Also the death from cancer of his close but significantly younger swimming commentator clearly deeply affected him and showed him the importance of life and that is a good moment to see.
It's interesting because Ray seems to have very little world awareness or ability to look at things outside of the small field of view he has. This singular focus is a common trait in a lot of highly successful people and geniuses and works well in a biography. The way he clearly eschewed the political life simply because it wasn't high paying enough was interesting as was the way he couldn't sustain his first marriage because he was married to his job. I think these say more about his character than much of the other stuff in the book. It would have been really nice to get more on his technique other than the stuff he says about light and shade (the different moments in the game that require different emphasis).
For a book about a professional commentator it's ironic that you learn the most in the silences between words and what remains unsaid.
April 27, 2021
I love Ray Warren calling the footy, and it will be sad when he retires. Reading his book, it sounds like he would have a million stories to tell about people, but because he is such a nice guy, he doesn't.
Good read if you are a fan.
Good read if you are a fan.
May 20, 2023
Didn't realise how much gambling was a problem for him and that he was an old parent - having a kid in his 60s.
January 8, 2019
Kick and chase by Mullins, KICK AND CHASE AGAIN BY MULLINS! THIS WILL BE A MIRACLE! OH IT IS A MIRACLE. OH MY GOODNESS. YOU WON'T SEE ANYTHING AGAIN LIKE THAT THIS YEAR, AND MAYBE EVER!
May 10, 2015
Remarkable that after in a life in the media of all professions that Ray Warren can produce a book and not bag anybody! An amazing account of his life and times as the voice of Rugby League in Australia plus of course other pursuits including horse and dog racing and swimming. His account of his legendary hatred of flying is a must read on its own. A class book about a class Australian - well worth a look.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews