Sorry for the lack of replies but thanks to everyone for your support! Happy to report I'll be covering all the Div One Prelims at Concord on Saturday as well for those who were hoping to hear more of me
How do you get that gig? With so much club rugby covered on various platforms now commentating must be the only position in rugby booming.
After I finished uni in 2015, I reached out to Briars and became their "DJ" (i.e. pressing play as the team ran out and scored) and ground announcer, bringing my PA to the old shed. I got lucky that around the same time they were planning to build their new pavilion/grandstand, which we moved into in 2017 (I think) and have stayed ever since.
After Cluch then NSW Rugby TV began streaming, clubs were responsible for providing commentary and I basically assumed that role. I've always wanted to become a commentator so jumped at the opportunity as soon as it became an option and have been lucky enough to call 89 club games, over 100 total and now 11 Grand Finals too.
I'm currently a volunteer, essentially an "amateur" commentator, but I take pride in my work. I try to treat the players, clubs and officials with the same respect as if I was calling a Bledisloe or World Cup match. My approach is that I can never know if any given match will be someone's first, last, best, worst or only match and that I have a responsibility to treat each match as important as any other.
Regarding the Finals, I reached out last year via the club to volunteer for Subbies. NSW Rugby TV were only going to have commentary on 1st Grade and Colts for D2 Grand Final Day so I got to take on the "reserve" grades, namely 2s, 3s and 4s. NSWRUTV and Subbies both seemed to like my work and invited me back for D1 a fortnight later. This year we'd been discussing a similar arrangement but I got entrusted with all D2 Grand Finals this time around with the NSWRUTV commentators heading out to Eastwood for D3 GFs. I'll be covering all D1 Prelims as well as the reserve GFs again this year.
I was also lucky enough to be asked by Sydney Women's Rugby to call their Premier XV Div. One Semi-Finals at St Luke's North earlier in the month which is the "highest" level I've called - absolutely cracking rugby. If you haven't given the women's game a look, I'd highly encourage you to.
If you're interested in giving it a go, reach out to your club (or a local club) and see if they'll have you - that's exactly how I got into this realm a decade ago. Most of the NSWRUTV operators carry a headset in their kit for commentators so you generally don't need any equipment to get started - that said, having your own microphone, at a minimum is recommended. Grab a pro headset (I use the Audio Technica BPHS-1) or even a handheld mic (like Duck Man uses, something like a Shure SM58) and an XLR cable and you're on your way.
One good thing about Subbies, for commentary, is that we use Fusesport for team lists and scoring. I have my team lists up on my laptop - just beware that in typical fashion every player will wear the wrong number jersey.
I'm happy to answer any other questions - I'm a pretty open book as far as this stuff is concerned and would urge anyone who has the itch to just reach out and have a crack!
(tackled outside and placed ball inside).