. W 3 March 1997 TRANSCRIPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER
THE HON JOHN HOWARD MP
ADDRESS AT THE NORMAN MAY OAM TRIBUTE DINNER
WENTWORTH HOTEL, SYDNEY
E O E
Thank you very much Gordon; to Michael Knight and Gabrielle Harrison; to John
Coates, and most importantly of all to our guest of honour and the person whose long
years of commitment to and enjoyment of and demonstration of the great capacity to
communicate Australian sport, Norman May, ladies and gentlemen.
It's often said that if there is a national cement in Australia it is our great love of sport.
And I can't think of a gathering that I've been to, certainly as Prime Minister, perhaps
at any time, that has brought together such a cross-section of men and women that
have thrilled us over the years. Every conceivable sport, just about, is represented here
tonight. Some of the greatest names in Australian sport, in the Olympic sports, in our
other great national sports such as cricket and rugby league, they're all represented
here tonight and that is for a very good reason. Because there's a special bond
between Australians and their sportsmen and that bond in most cases is via sports
commentators. When I was growing up as a young bloke in the late ' 40s and early ' 50s my connection
was fought apart from my rather feeble attempts to play various games not very
adequately. My real connection with sports was through those great sports
commentators, firstly on radio and I have to say almost entirely at that time through
the ABC. People like Bernard Koo and Brian McLenahan and Frank O'Rourke who
described the rugby league, and of course the great Alan McGilvray and Victor
Richardson and Johnny Moise and others, and the interstate sports commentators like
Clive Harburg and Arnold Mewens in Brisbane and Adelaide they were the people
who first sort of put me into touch with sport.
And tonight is a reminder to me of how absolutely incredibly important the link
between the sportsmen and women of Australia adore and admire how incredible is the
link that is provided by the sports commentator. Because without the sports
commentator the ability of men and women in the Australian community who love
their sport to relate to the achievements of their sporting heroes simply wouldn't be
there. And if you look back over the sporting achievements of Australia, the last 30 or
years, no person has occupied the centre stage in communicating the thrill of the
experience and the excitement and the national pride and the sheer joy and the sheer
pleasure more effectively and more eloquently than Norman May. And in doing that
he's taking his place beside some absolutely tremendous sporting commentators, but
he really has been the principal. And what has been quite remarkable about him is his
capacity to communicate about so many sports and that's what I think marks him out
from the others. You have the great cricket commentators like Alan McGilvray and
we've had, in more recent times, great rugby league commentators like Ray Hadley
and you had some great race callers over the years, but Norman May is unique because
Norman is associated with so many sports. He will be forever associated, of course,
with the 1980 Olympic Games. And we were reminded of that just a few moments ago
when he bequeath some inaugural words to the long history of Australian sport and
what a great excitement to have three of those four tremendous representatives of
Australia in the 1980 Games here with us tonight.
But to be able, as one single sports commentator, to be able to hear the tributes from
those three blokes, to hear what Tracy Wickham had to say, to hear Doug Walters I
don't think I've heard a funnier speech at a sports gathering than I heard tonight, good
on you Doug you were a great Australian cricketer and even more important than
that, you're a great Australian personality. And of course the tribute from a
member of that sort of rare breed of the rare manifestation of sporting belongs to one
of those great Australian sporting family where incredibly the genes are such that you
produce two or three or, in some cases, even four Australian or world champions in a
particular sport.
So Norman you have achieved something that no other sports commentator in the
history of Australian sport has achieved. You have achieved a versatility, you have
achieved a capacity to relate across all of the sports and a capacity to communicate to
all Australians in something that they all instinctively love and they all instinctively
enjoy. And it's been a great privilege to share this night with you. And I'm very
grateful that you've been able to keep me fually informed as time has gone by the
cricket score in South Africa I haven't heard anything though since the resumption
after lunch. I hope somebody will get be informed about that after I've sat down.
Norman, on behalf of a very grateful sports loving nation and from the lips of a sports
loving Prime Minister can I say thank you for what you've done for Australian sport.
Thank you for all your selfless, prodigious, sacrificing efforts for no personal reward
other than the enjoyment of doing something good for other people for the tremendous
fundraising efforts to which you've committed yourself over such a very, very long
period of time. And having said all of that I would like you to come forward because I
want to make a very small presentation well, it's not so small a presentation to you
which I hope expresses the affection, the gratitude and the admiration for what you've
done and for the privilege of knowing you and your contribution to Australian sport.