About Tim Gavel
Sports commentator with ABC Grandstand for over 30 years Tim Gavel has called a range of sports including NRL, Super Rugby, Wallabies, Rowing World Cups, Rugby World Cups, Socceroos, Matildas, Opals, Boomers, WNBL, NBL, International Netball, Men's and Women's one day international cricket, Big Bash, World Volleyball League for Fox Sports, Rowing World Cup and National Championships for Fox Sports and the 2000 Paralympics.
All Articles
Sport
With the Raiders reduced to 11 players at times against the fifth-placed Sharks last weekend, there was an expectation the Green Machine would be overrun before the final whistle. Two-thirds of the Raiders spine were rookies: half Brad Schnieder is still finding his way and starting hooker Zac Woolford was making his debut. With the sin binnings of Elliott Whitehead...
Sport
During the 2013 NRL season, in the midst of the Canberra Raiders' worst run of losses in the club’s history, coach David Furner’s position was publicly guaranteed by a board member. Towards the back end of Furner’s tenure, after eight losses in a row and with just six wins for the entire season, it was obvious change was required. His...
Sport
It’s pretty much a constant when the Raiders aren’t winning: What’s going wrong? How can it be rectified? Why aren’t key players firing? The Raiders are 13th on the ladder with two wins from five rounds. Against the Melbourne Storm, they were in the game in patches but they struggled for much of the 80 minutes. They appeared to lack...
Opinion
The mid-week rugby league competition started as the Amco Cup in 1974 and continued until 1989 under various sponsor names. It provided a unique opportunity for country players to showcase their wares. In the first year of competition, the Western Division side comprised part-time players, including farmers, rabbit trappers, miners and sleeper cutters. Johnny King was the team's coach. In...
Sport
Peter Solway has no doubt Neil Bulger had the talent to play for Australia had he taken up the opportunity to play for Queensland in the late 1970s. Instead, Neil focused his attention on leading Queanbeyan to multiple ACT Cricket titles and establishing himself as the region’s premier all-rounder. A left-handed batter and left-arm medium-pace bowler, Bulger's record speaks for...
Sport
A couple of years ago I was standing at the base of the stairs leading up to the Mal Meninga Stand. You know the area at Canberra Stadium. It's where the statues of Meninga and Laurie Daley stand on either side. A young boy, decked from head to foot in Raiders colours, asked his father about the Daley sculpture. He...
Sport
In the 2019 NRL grand final against the Sydney Roosters, half the Canberra Raiders starting forward pack comprised English players: Josh Hodgson was hooker, and John Bateman and Elliott Whitehead were in the second row, while Ryan Sutton was part of the wider squad but didn’t play in the decider. The following season, the number had grown to five with...
Opinion
As a Raiders fan, the opening game of the season could not have provided more drama and edge-of-the-seat anticipation. Soon after kickoff, it became quickly apparent that the Raiders had adopted a new, more flamboyant approach in attack, with Elliot Whitehead providing an additional attacking option on either side of the ruck. There was Ricky on the sideline jumping with...
Sport
The Women’s Rugby League State of Origin, now viewed as one of the code’s showcase events, is coming to Canberra in June. The ACT Government successfully bid to host the standalone game, which will be held on Friday night, 24 June, correlating with the men’s second origin match taking place in Perth on Sunday, 26 June. NRL CEO Andrew Abdo...
Opinion
When the Raiders' mascot Tony Wood was battling ill health many years ago, Ruben Wiki and David Furner organised to give his garden a makeover. When Tony was released from hospital, he came home to find his backyard completely transformed with new grass laid by Wiki, Furner and a number of teammates. It was one of the many community deeds...
Sport
Stephen Peios isn’t short on self-belief. In many respects his confidence is a necessary ingredient in his chosen profession. Getting into the middle of a boxing ring as an announcer or to host live World Cup soccer matches takes a fair degree of courage. And judgement on performance, in this age of social media, is almost instant with not everybody...
Opinion
In the early days of Super Rugby, there was a pizazz surrounding the code. There was Bachman-Turner Overdrive declaring “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” blasting from our television. The glamour in the commercials was translated onto the field, with a sense of flamboyance that attracted plenty to the game. The promotion on Channel 7/Prime was second to none, and by...
Sport
Established 13 years ago by Narooma's Shaun Martyn, FairBreak promotes fair and equal access to opportunities for all people. The vehicle it uses to progress gender equality and equity is cricket. Why cricket? Because of the very nature of the sport. It is played in over 100 countries, it is not gender-specific, nor is it connected to any specific culture,...
Sport
Canberra halfback Sam Williams was on hand in Wagga Wagga to launch ticket sales for the NRL game in the city between the Raiders and the Melbourne Storm on 9 April. The game is the Raiders' third in Wagga Wagga in four years, and there are high hopes it will be played in front of a capacity crowd. The 2020...
Opinion
A decade ago there was hardly any women's sport on free-to-air or pay television. The only offering was the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, one game a weekend of the WNBL and the W League, the Australian Open Golf and tennis. For a number of these sports, there was a sense that broadcasters begrudgingly provided coverage of women's sport as they...
Opinion
There's a sense of deja vu as the Canberra Raiders prepare to head into the 2022 season. I've watched the likes of Laurie Daley, Terry Campese and Alan Tongue struggle to keep going through the latter years of their NRL careers because of injury. They all had time remaining on their contracts, but their bodies simply had taken a pounding...