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
Opinion
Legendary rugby league coach Wayne Bennett will lead the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL grand final this weekend against the Penrith Panthers. It will be his 10th NRL/NSWRL grand final appearance as coach. His first was with the Canberra Raiders in 1987, in his only season at the club, in which he took it to its first grand final....
Sport
Canberra Raiders forward Sia Soliola has announced his retirement after 17 seasons playing professional rugby league in the NRL and English Super League. He will be remembered as a tough, hard-running player, who emigrated from the backline well before he arrived in the ACT, in 2015, where he went on to play 137 games for the Raiders. However, it's his...
Sport
When I started looking at Australia’s top sporting cities per head of population, I felt it would be hard to go past Queanbeyan. That is, until I took a closer look at Wagga Wagga. I discovered that it’s daylight between Wagga and every other city region of comparable size, not just in Australia, but potentially globally. READ MORE: Australia’s regional...
Opinion
Both Queanbeyan and Wagga Wagga are justifiably regarded as Australia’s top sporting cities per head of population. In fact, the councils of Wagga Wagga and Queanbeyan Palerang have similar populations, with Wagga having only a few thousand more. Many have tried to find out why so many champion sportspeople originated from, or spent a substantial part of their lives in,...
Sport
If ever you needed evidence of the impact a halfback can have on a Raiders team, simply head back to the 1993 season. Going into the final two rounds of the premiership in 1993, the Raiders were leading the competition and were on course to win the premiership. In the second last game of the regular season, the Raiders beat...
Opinion
Brick by brick, rugby union in this country is starting to turn things around. It’s been slow progress, but the code is getting there. Several years ago, as the game started its descent, there was a suggestion that free-to-air television was the answer as you could only see the game if willing to sign up to pay television or if...
Sport
For the past 15 years, Canberra’s Stromlo Forest Park, which took shape following the 2003 ACT bushfires, has been the jewel in the crown of ACT’s sporting facilities. Attracting an estimated 700,000 visitors a year, the facility includes mountain biking, criterium, cross-country running and now swimming. For many people, the mountain bike section of the facility is the unique aspect...
Opinion
I had an insight into Craig Bellamy’s passion for rugby league several times during his time as a player and then as a coach with the Canberra Raiders. Watching the Raiders train at Seiffert Oval on many a cold Tuesday and Thursday night in the 1980s and early 90s showed his determination. No one pushed harder than Craig. He remains...
Sport
With the Tokyo Olympics in a comparable time zone to Australia, and with so many in COVID-19 lockdown, more people appear to be engrossed in the Olympic Games than ever. The larger television audience is aided by Channel 7’s app function, allowing the viewer to have considerable choice in event selection. With plenty of eyeballs on Seven’s coverage, there has...
Sport
Martin Dent was barely a teenager growing up on the NSW Central Coast in 1993 when Sydney was awarded the 2000 Olympic Games. It ignited a dream to one day be part of the biggest show on earth. Four years later, by the time he turned 18 years in 1997, he was off to Canberra to train under the guidance...
Sport
As a Queanbeyan Whites rugby union player, Grant Jones concedes he had little time for referees and was often quick to offer advice. So it was much to the surprise of many of his former teammates when Grant became a referee. He is currently in the midst of his fourth season with the whistle. However, his route to becoming a...
Community
Yvonne Cuschieri was a formidable force of nature. In 1985, she started what evolved into the ACT Eden Monaro Cancer Support Group, which is now known as Rise Above. She began by launching a fundraising campaign to enable 13 local teenagers with cancer to attend a Canteen national camp. Soon after, social workers started asking for help for other families...
Sport
Within the first 10 minutes of the Brumbies-Hurricanes game on Saturday night, it was obvious what had been missing from Super Rugby matches at Canberra Stadium. And while the game only featured three tries, the scoreline of 12-10 does little to reflect the high entertainment level of the game for which we can thank the Kiwis. New Zealand teams play...
Opinion
Having participated as a journalist in thousands of post-match press conferences, I can testify the experience can be incredibly uncomfortable for all involved. In the NRL, there is a rule that both head coaches front the media while players are made available where possible. An obvious exception is when players are being treated for an injury. The losing coach's press...
Sport
Rugby League people talk a lot about the importance of 'the spine' - the spine being the combined talents of the hooker, halfback and fullback. In the Raiders glory years of 1989, 90 and 94, the spine was virtually unchanged and had an enormous influence on the team’s success. In 1989/90, Steve Walters was the best hooker in rugby league....
Sport
John Blom lasted around a year in the public service in Canberra before deciding that there was another world to be conquered. It was a world he had become familiar with while studying International Relations and Politics at the ANU. John worked his way through university as a global tennis umpire, effectively travelling the world while completing his degree from...