"Hello again from
down under! I'm Peter Landy and, from the Seven Network, welcome to our
exclusive presentation of Australian Rules Football from the VFL!"
Back
in the early to mid 1980s, Americans, such as myself, were treated to this
friendly greeting when tuning to the ESPN Network for the hour and a half
program "Australian Rules Football." This time period marked the
beginning of the "Aussie" trend in the USA - everything Australian was
popular. Having already been introduced to "Sydney" the koala
bear with his QANTAS Airlines commercials, Paul Hogan "slipping an extra
shrimp on the barbie" for us, not to mention Olivia Newton John's talents
with "Grease," "Xanadu" and "Let's Get Physical,"
it was only fitting that America be introduced to Australia's number one sport
in footy. I personally felt Peter Landy did an outstanding job as liaison
of "Aussie Rules" for Americans watching on ESPN.
Peter Landy - Commentator and
Instructor
Peter Landy in 1985 teaching the
ESPN audience the act of marking the ball.
Serving as footy liaison
for Americans in the early 1980s, Peter Landy provided candid and helpful
description of the basics of the game to help us understand it past the chaotic
madness on the pitch. In the commentary box with Lou Richards and Bob
Skilton, or in front of the camera at various points in the telecast, Peter was
not just an announcer, he was part of the entire Australian Football package for
Americans. To give you an idea of the effect he had on one such American
(myself), I became so enthused over Australian Rules Football that I used
to grab my tape recorder, set up my own "commentary box," and recruited
my friend Rob Raymond to play Lou Richards while I filled Peter's role as we
recorded our "Australian Rules Football Comment" tapes with our fake
Australian accents! Rob and I created a number of tapes and we really
enjoyed making them. When my friends got ear of these tapes, they then
started watching Australian Football on ESPN and begged me to have them do a
cameo appearance on my tapes! So, you see, all of that is behind why I
wanted to do this page. Peter not only inspired me to try my own "off
the wall" attempts at broadcasting, his example helped pave the way towards
my success in a serious and more significant environment when I presented my formal speeches
in English classes for grades in high school and college (I always received an "A" whenever I did the
Australian Rules Football speech!). I was saddened when Peter stopped
hosting the program on ESPN midway through the 1985 season when Sandy Roberts
picked up the hosting duties (and he did a fine job at that). Since then,
Peter worked one more season with Lou Richards before the Seven Network lost
television coverage of the VFL in 1987. When Seven Sports regained VFL
coverage in 1988, Peter assumed a smaller commentator role at Seven. Despite
this, his earlier years and efforts in the infancy of the sport here in the
USA will never be forgotten and is still appreciated to this day.
Peter Landy - SoundBits!
Here are two audio clips of Peter
from an ESPN Australian Rules Football show back in 1985. Briefly, they
are:
Clip #1: Peter welcoming us into the new football season.
Clip #2: My favorite Peter Landy saying ...
"Have a great week in sport, bye for now."
If you are using Internet Explorer
to view this website and have Windows Media Player installed, you should see
the embedded Media Player below with a dropdown menu underneath it.
Select a clip from the dropdown menu below and click the PLAY button (>) button in the media player to hear it.
If you are using Netscape to view this site, click on
one of the speakers below to listen to the corresponding .wav file
- Play Clip #1
- Play Clip #2
Peter Landy - Background
A youthful portrait of Peter Landy
from the 1970s.
It should be no
surprise that Peter enjoys participating in sports as much as providing
commentary on them. Among his favorite activities include distance running
(a favorite of mine as well) and rowing (a passion he has taken full advantage
of since his retirement from commentary).
Peter recently concluded a long and illustrious career in media. He was put
on the right track early on with training and guidance from top broadcasting
trainer Lee Murray.
His early assignments included Radio 3UL in Warragul, Radio 3UZ and 3AK in
Melbourne as well as Channel Nine.
It was in 1971 when he began his long relationship with the Seven Network where he produced, hosted and reported sport. Among his achievements at Seven
include:
Seven's Summer of Tennis
Teamed with Lou Richards as
one of footy's greatest commentary teams (equaled only by Pat Summerall
and John Madden covering the NFL in the USA)
Boxing program TV Ringside
with legendary Ron Casey
Commentary at many of the
Olympic Games where he gained international notice and received praise for
his exemplary coverage of rowing
From 1977 to 2001, called 1176
footy matches
Peter's recognition for his work
includes two Penguin commendations, two AFL media awards and a Victorian Cricket
Association media award. In 1999, he was inducted into the Melbourne
Cricket Ground Media Hall of Fame
Peter also enjoys playing jazz on his clarinet and saxophone as well as
restoring old automobiles for
extracurriculars - a well rounded individual he is! In case you didn't
know, his favorite footy club is the Hawthorn Hawks.
Peter Landy - Retired and Rowing!
A more recent portrait of
Peter Landy before his retirement from the commentary boxes of the AFL.
When Seven Sports
said goodbye to AFL coverage at the completion of the 2001
season, it marked the end of Peter's long run of football commentary.
Spanning one thousand, one hundred seventy six games over twenty five years, one
of the great voices of the VFL/AFL may very well have been heard for the last
time. To his credit, Peter welcomed the beginning of his retirement by
turning to the hobbies he loves - antique auto restoration and rowing.
Among his accomplishments include the restoration of his 1965 series Fleetwood 75 Limousine which can be viewed in the Links section above. In
addition, Peter has assumed a role in the Hawthorn Rowing Club as a Vice
President, coach and competitor. For now, it would appear that Peter is
set to enjoy a long and well-deserved retirement. Congratulations, Peter and
enjoy it to the fullest!
Final Thoughts
A man as distinguished as Peter Landy deserves a fair tribute - I
only hope this web page serves justice towards that end. It would be my
sincere privilege to, one day, get the opportunity to meet him. Should
such a wish ever come to fruition, I would anticipate engaging in long
conversations with him about footy - perhaps while running a few miles together
on the track. I would thank him for inspiring me to become a footy fan as
well as being an excellent resource on proper speaking technique in the public
domain which aided me
immeasurably during my educational years. I salute Peter Landy on all his
accomplishments and have thoroughly enjoyed his commentary whenever I was fortunate
enough to listen to him. I sincerely wish him well on all his future
endeavors and hope he would contact me for a get-together should any of his
future travel plans include a visit to the southeastern United States.
"I've got plenty of admiration for
Pete ... a pleasure to work with"
Dennis Cometti, another fine footy commentator, from his book Back to
the Place
Feedback from Fans Like You!
In the thousands of replies I
received from Australians and even Americans when I first released this website
in 1999, I received a number of kudos for creating this Tribute to Peter Landy web
page. In fact, this page received a review from the Collingwood Magpies'
fan site From the Outer when they wrote
back in January 2001:
A
Peter
Landy website?
I
wish this was someone's idea of a cruel joke, but alas, it isn't! Proof positive
that all Americans are insane.
All
I can say fellows is thanks for the advertisement and I look forward to your thoughts
on this updated
version of my Tribute to Peter Landy website - ENJOY!