Les Murray: The fans' favourite who made Australia fall in love with football
Updated
"You join us at a poignant moment in Australia's footballing history."
"Where, after a 32-year wait, Australia will walk on the pitch behind me, face the sun and engage in a game of football that will captivate all in our country like few have done before."
As a country's nerves jangled beyond repair, a welcoming voice from a welcoming face, with the most welcoming of words.
Australia was about to play Japan in its first game of the 2006 World Cup, and Les Murray was there to greet us.
And so he would be from then on. Whenever Australia's Socceroos faced a defining World Cup moment, celebrated a breakthrough triumph or put the pieces together after yet more heartbreak, Murray was always there.
Never intruding, never stealing the spotlight, just there. Saying the right things the right way, and giving the world game the credibility in Australia that had been fought for generations.
Of course, Murray had been there with SBS all along — in Mexico in 1986, at Italia '90 and surrounded by the glitz and the glamour of USA '94 — but Murray became the face of a game rapidly rising to prominence in Australia.
Maybe it was the accent, maybe it was the obvious passion for the game in his eyes, or maybe it was the fact he could pronounce every single footballer on the planet's name without so much as stumble. Whatever it was, this guy knew his stuff.
So when Murray told us, after our Socceroos had beaten Japan 3-1 in that game, that "Australian football has made its mark on the world stage", who were we to argue?
He carried with him the knowledge and experience of a man who fell in love with football as a child and wanted only to spread that love in his adopted country as far as he could. He always chose his words carefully, so when he spoke, football fans listened.
For the millions sitting in front of TVs across the country, the World Cup hadn't truly started until Murray told us it had. We all might have had our suspicions, but we were never completely sure how well or poorly the Socceroos had played until Murray laid it out for us.
He was the rarest of broadcasters who, without even trying, illuminated the game by his presence. Richie Benaud aside, it's difficult to place another figure in Australian sport broadcasting with a comparable impact.
Seven months before he settled the country's jitters in Kaiserslautern, Murray joined us in delirious celebration of the Socceroos' qualifying success against Uruguay in Sydney.
Video: Grandstand's Ned Hall says Les Murray 'brought the game to a far broader audience'
(ABC News)
That night, amid the chaos and colour, he paused, looked heavenward and spoke to one of Australian football's other great pioneers, Johnny Warren.
"Johnny Warren told us so. 'I told you so, I told you so, I told you so'," Murray said, echoing the words of the defiant Warren, who committed his life to seeing Australia reach footballing heights.
"Johnny, we hear you."
It's only right to return the favour.
Les, we hear you. The world game would not be Australia's if not for Les Murray, and it won't be the same again.
Topics: soccer, sport, australia
First posted
