Australia Honors Beloved Sportscaster Dennis Cometti

When a broadcaster gets a state memorial service at the very stadium where he called his last game, you know he touched something deep in a nation's heart.

Dennis Cometti, Australia's legendary sports commentator, was farewelled at Perth Stadium this week in a celebration that perfectly captured the warmth and wit he brought to five decades of broadcasting. Politicians, athletes, and thousands of fans gathered to honor the man whose distinctive voice became the soundtrack of Australian sports.

His longtime broadcasting partner Bruce McAvaney spoke about the outpouring of love since Cometti's death in March. "The measure of what he's given so many Australians over the years" was evident in every story shared, McAvaney said. Strangers had stopped him on the street for eight weeks straight, not just to ask about Dennis, but to share what his commentary meant to them personally.

WA Premier Roger Cook captured the challenge of the moment perfectly. "How does one begin to honour, with words, one of the greatest orators in Australian history?" he asked the crowd.

What made Cometti special wasn't just his clever one-liners, though his "Cometti-isms" became legendary. It was his humility and preparation. Former West Perth Captain Les Fong, who played under Cometti when he coached football, remembered him as someone who "understood people" and "never wanted to speak ill of others."

Olympic champion Susie O'Neill credited Cometti with making her swimming generation popular. "One of the reasons we were so popular was because we had such good commentators," she said. His call of her 200-meter butterfly in Atlanta lives in her head whenever she thinks of that race.

The Ripple Effect

Cometti's influence reached far beyond sports fans. As Premier Cook noted, whether you watched sports or not, the sounds of Dennis Cometti "evoke a sense of comfort and familiarity that we all share." His voice became part of the Australian experience itself.

In a video shown at the memorial, Cometti revealed the secret behind his famous wit with characteristic self-deprecation. "Thank God for the internet, it arrived about the same time so plagiarism was alive and well," he joked about sourcing his one-liners.

WA Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas, a longtime colleague, perfectly summed up the contradiction of the man. "He would've wanted us all to play it down and be very low key, and then he would've called me in and said 'Bas, make sure they make a fuss,'" Zempilas said with a smile.

From calling Test cricket for the ABC to three Summer Olympics to becoming the only TV commentator whose career spanned the entire duration of the national AFL competition, Cometti dedicated himself to his craft with meticulous preparation and genuine love for the game.

A voice that brought joy to millions finally received the farewell it deserved, surrounded by love in a stadium full of grateful fans.