Scot Palmer (25 March 1937 – 15 January 2022) was an Australian sports journalist.

Early life

Palmer was the only son of sports and crime reporter Clyde Palmer, who worked on the ''Morning Post'', ''

The Sun News-Pictorial ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' (known as ''The Sun'') was a morning daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, from 1922 until its merger in 1990 with ''The Herald (Melbourne), The H ...

'' and ''

The Truth The Truth may refer to: Film * ''The Truth'' (1920 film) starring Madge Kennedy * ''The Truth'' (1960 film) or ''La Vérité'', a French film by Henri-Georges Clouzot starring Brigitte Bardot * ''The Truth'' (1988 film), a Hong Kong trial crim ...

''. He was educated at Trinity Grammar School.

Journalism career

Palmer started as a copy boy on ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' in 1954, covering a wide variety of general work before winning the Herald & Weekly Times overseas scholarship and moving on to sport. Best known for his work on

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 ...

, he was one of the founders and a president of the Football Writers Association, now the AFL Media Association. He also covered nine Olympics and Wimbledon tennis. Palmer appeared with

Jack Thompson Jack Thompson may refer to: Sports *Jack Thompson (footballer, born 1892) (1892–1969), English footballer who played for Sheffield United and Bristol City *Jack Thompson (1920s footballer), English footballer who played for Aston Villa and Bright ...

in the football movie '' The Club'', playing the role of a reporter. A long-time writer for ''The Sun'', the ''Sunday Press'', ''Sunday Sun'' and ''Sunday Herald Sun'', Palmer was best known as the presenter of the "Punchlines" segment on Channel 7 on Sundays. He also appeared on 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 ...

as a regular during half-time breaks of

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

matches and on HSV7's Sunday football panel over two decades. His catch-cry, "Keep on punchin'", and relays back to commentators

Peter Landy Peter Landy (born 1943) is an Australian television presenter. Career Beginning his career in the early 1960s—after attending the Jesuit Xavier College—he started with Radio 3UL, Warragul, co-ordinating horse racing and football broadcas ...

and

Sandy Roberts Sandy Roberts (born 22 February 1950) is a veteran sports presenter and commentator formerly working on television for Fox Sports Australia and radio with Crocmedia. He was a long-time personality of the Seven Network for four decades, notably p ...

made him even more well known.

Honours

A member of the MCG Media Hall of Fame, he retired from the ''Sunday Herald Sun'' as associate editor in 2008 but was retained by the Herald and Weekly Times to continue writing his "Punchlines" column.

Personal life and death

Palmer was married to Lorraine Palmer, with whom he had two children, Jodee and Lincoln. He died on 15 January 2022, at the age of 84.

References

1937 births 2022 deaths Australian columnists Australian sports journalists {{AFL-bio-1930s-stub