Ray Warren handed huge honour as fans celebrate NRL legend's career achievement

Legendary sports commentator Ray 'Rabs' Warren has added another award to a long list of accolades from his decorated career after being honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC). Known as the ‘voice of rugby league’, Warren was the man behind the microphone for a whopping 99 State of Origin games and 45 first-grade grand finals.

The sports icon also called the 1990 Commonwealth Games alongside the late Norman May, before also making a name for himself commentating swimming, calling the likes of Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Susie O’Neill and Kieren Perkins through a dominant period for Australian swimming.

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Warren credited May - who received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003 - for helping develop his commentary skillset. "I'm so honoured to be added to the list of recipients of this award when I see his name there," Warren said after receiving the reward.

"I had a deep-seated passion for broadcasting sport. It didn't matter if it was a Melbourne Cup or the Olympic Games. I loved going to work and there's not a lot of people that can say that, but I thank God I can. Most importantly, I'd like to thank the people that allowed me to be in their loungerooms or to be at the pub or the club and inviting me into wherever they were at the time, so I thank everybody for that."

NRL world celebrates Ray Warren

Warren officially stepped away from the microphone in 2022 after more than 50 years of calling some of the greatest Australian sporting moments. He famously practised his trade by commentating marble races on his own. He was inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame in 2019.

ASC Chair Josephine Sukkar AM congratulated Warren on the award. "Ray is a sporting icon and a worthy recipient of this huge honour. After 55 years calling live sport spanning rugby league, Olympic and World Championship swimming and three Melbourne Cups, it would be hard to find someone who isn’t familiar with Rabs’ iconic voice."

At the end of his illustrious career, Warren had worked for 2LF in Young, 2GB radio, Network 10 and Nine's Wide World of Sports in a career that spanned more than five decades. And fans were quick to celebrate the sporting icon's latest honour.

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