Winston McCarthy was ‘the Voice of New Zealand Rugby’. He was born in Wellington on 10 March 1908. He was given the task of broadcasting the matches that were played by the Kiwis (the New Zealand Expeditionary rugby team of 1945-46).
The team, which won 32 of 38 matches against England, Wales and France, captured the imagination of New Zealanders, including Prime Minister Peter Fraser, who enjoyed McCarthy’s broadcasts. Winston McCarthy’s commentaries were the first live broadcasts in New Zealand from the United Kingdom and he became a household name overnight.
He prepared for his broadcasts by keeping massive scrapbooks and preparing information charts on the players. Employed before the era of television, when rugby was narrated over the radio, Winston McCarthy broadcast 38 tests, as well as other sports like cricket and boxing, the 1950 and 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, and the 1956 Olympic Games. His last commentary of a rugby test match was the fourth on the 1959 Lions tour.
McCarthy, Winston John
Died 2 Jan 1984
Block X Row 42 Plot 18
