Andrew Kenneth "Drew" Morphett (22 August 1948 – 25 August 2017) was an Australian sports broadcaster.
Life
Morphett started his career as a sport specialist trainee in Sydney in 1966 at 18 years of age.
Over a long career, he worked on both
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
radio and television, most notably commentating
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 oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
(the
VFL and
AFL
AFL may refer to:
Sports
* American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues:
** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
), but also tennis, cricket, basketball, golf (including a
British Open
The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...
), lawn bowls and six
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
, mainly commentating cycling, hockey and diving. He was the host of ABC TV's weekly VFL show ''
The Winners
''The Winners'' was a long running Australian television series that shows highlights of Australian rules football matches.
Original show (1970s and 1980s)
The original version was broadcast from 1977 until 1986 on the ABC
ABC are the firs ...
'' for ten years during the 1980s.
He joined the
Seven Network
The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...
in 1988 as a commentator for Australian rules football matches. He also hosted ''Saturday Night Replay'', which featured highlights of two of the Saturday afternoon AFL matches. He was discharged by Seven after the 2000 season. He worked for ABC radio as part of their ABC Grandstand team until being made redundant in 2014. He continued to commentate football matches on radio until his death in 2017. Drew was awarded an
Order of Australia Medal
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...
as part of the 2014 Australia Day honours.
Death
On 26 August 2017, it was announced that Morphett had died the previous evening while watching AFL football on television at his
Pakenham residence in outer
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
.
He was married to Karen 'Kaz' Morphett.
References
External links
Presenters, ABC Grandstand, ABC Local Radio
1948 births
2017 deaths
Australian radio personalities
Australian television presenters
Australian rules football commentators
Australian cricket commentators
Golf writers and broadcasters
Australian tennis commentators
Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia
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