Peter Walsh OAM is a sports commentator for

ABC Radio Grandstand ABC Sport, formerly ABC Radio Grandstand, is a live radio sports focused commentary and talk-back program which runs on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) local radio network across Australia and on one digital-only station. History Fr ...

and is based in

Adelaide, Australia Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The demo ...

Early life/career

Peter grew up in

Ballarat, Victoria Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Within months of Vic ...

and had a passion for sport from a very early age. His first media job was working in radio at Ballarat station 3BA, where he covered junior football and was then given the chance to write for the '' Ballarat Courier'' newspaper. He is well known for his love of the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...

and has hosted/MC'ed the past three Best and Fairest counts for the club.

Sport coverage

He covered sport in Ballarat and Bendigo for five years, before being approached by the ABC to cover VFL football in Melbourne and called his first match during the season of 1978 Fitzroy v South Melbourne at the

Junction Oval Junction Oval (also known as the St Kilda Cricket Ground, or the CitiPower Centre due to sponsorship reasons) is a historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The oval's location near the St Kilda Junc ...

. In 1981, he secured a spot on the football broadcast team at 3GL (now K Rock) and called football with the great

Ted Whitten Edward James Whitten Sr. OAM (27 July 1933 – 17 August 1995) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Footscray Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Born and raised into a working-class family in Footscray, Whit ...

and was a member of the 3GL team for three years of "bliss" as Peter describes it. He moved to Tasmania in 1985 after the ABC appointed him to a permanent position where he called

Tasmanian Football League The Tasmanian State League (TSL), colloquially known as the "Tasmanian Football League (TFL)" (formerly known as the "Tasmanian Australian National Football League (TANFL)" and several other short-term names) is the highest ranked Australian ru ...

matches on 7ZR as well as cricket and the now defunct Tassie Devils NBL basketball matches and has been based in Adelaide since late 1999.

Major events

Some of the major sporting events he has covered include: 1990 World Rowing Championships Tasmania,

1990 Commonwealth Games The 1990 Commonwealth Games ( mi, 1990 Taumāhekeheke Commonwealth) were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Partic ...

Auckland,

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Barcelona, 1994 Cricket tour of Pakistan,

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta,

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel 1998)'', officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel ke-16)'', was a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This edition is marked by several unprecedent ...

Kuala Lumpur, 1999 Cricket tour of Zimbabwe,

2000 Olympic Games The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney, 2000 Paralympic Games Sydney,

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

Manchester,

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Greece. This also includes countless

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 ...

matches at 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 ...

level, as well as calling international and state cricket.

Today

Walsh has hosted the National Grandstand program on

ABC Local Radio ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its programm ...

and shares this role during the summer, with Sydney-based ABC sports broadcaster

Tracey Holmes Tracey Holmes, an Australian journalist, is a presenter on ABC ''NewsRadio'', since January 2014, with an extensive career in television and radio, specialising predominantly in sport. She currently presents The Ticket at 11:00am every Sunday ...

. Walsh formally hosted alongside Simone Thurtell, although she now works for 1233 ABC Newcastle as a Drive presenter. He is also known for his "loud shirts" and can often been seen chasing international cricketers around the

Adelaide Oval Adelaide Oval is a sports ground in Adelaide, South Australia, located in the parklands between the city centre and North Adelaide. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby ...

during

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

matches offering them an opportunity to photographed wearing one of the shirts. Walsh also commentates on National Basketball League home matches for the

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers, also known as the Sixers, are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in th ...

. He is known for his rowdy and excitable style of commentary akin to the manner of a boxing announcer, particularly after a player has made a flamboyant or attacking action.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Peter Australian rules football commentators People from Ballarat Australian radio personalities Living people Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees Year of birth missing (living people)