It could be the sliding doors moment that subtly set Matt Hill on the path to becoming not only Australia’s most prominent race caller, but also a trusted and respected voice across a range of sports.
Others have made the same journey Hill is now mastering, but perhaps none more successfully than Bruce McAvaney.
Like Hill, McAvaney began as a race caller before broadcasting across AFL, the Olympics, and countless major sporting events. Yet in a moment McAvaney himself doesn’t recall, a chance meeting planted the seed that left a 10 year-old Hill starstruck.
Hill’s mother, Sue, worked at the Palmerston Hotel alongside a Channel 7 cameraman. She persuaded her colleague to take her son to the Channel 7 studios to meet Bruce.
“Well, he doesn’t remember that,” Hill told Betsy. “He doesn’t even realise this. He left the set, I vividly remember it. So there we were at the Channel 7 studios. Sportsworld had its set there, and Mum and I sat on the 7 News desk where Jennifer Keyte would’ve sat.
”Bruce left the show at 12 o’clock, walked out, then came back. He shook my hand and gave me a little signed photo, like they did back then. It read, ‘Dear Matthew, all the very best, Bruce McAvaney’ with a picture of a young Bruce and his signature.”
Little did McAvaney know that many years later, the pair would work side by side at some of the world’s biggest sporting events, from the Olympics to the Melbourne Cup.
“I’m a big believer that if you want to be successful at something, having heroes is very important,” Hill told Betsy. “There are times when you’re on a set, at a racetrack, or at the footy and you think: What would Bruce do in this situation? What would Greg [Miles] do?
”And that’s important. We’ve got to a stage now where, if they say something to me, I’ll take it on board, but you’ve got to be very careful about who you take advice from nowadays. I’ve never been a social media person, and because I’m a sensitive soul, I’d hate to think what people might say about me.
”There are some nasty people out there. So I’ve always thought: you have to be careful who you listen to. Some people are just plain nasty. But Bruce or Greg? They’re people I’d always run something by.”
In an extensive interview with Betsy, Hill revealed:
- What will make him give calling away
- How he balances calling AFL and racing
- Why calling racing is his true passion
- How he found his groove working with AFL legends
Read part one of Paul Tatnell’s extended interview with Matt Hill tomorrow at betsy.com.au
