Get your boots on, it's back
Scott Ellis
March 10, 2009
Andrew Voss admits he's very happy to be heading into what is, for him, a monumentally busy time of the year.
The next few months might not leave him much time for socialising, he may miss a bit more sleep than he should, and regular meals are likely to be few and far between.
But for a man who knew he wanted to be a football commentator before he was 10, the hectic NRL season is as close to heaven on earth as he can imagine.
"It beats working for a living," Voss says, who this week joins the panel of Nine's The Footy Show for its 15th season in addition to his job as a game commentator for the network.
"On many weekends I actually say to myself: 'Well, I'm going out on another bucks weekend,' because I'll go flying off to the football on Friday night, then with my other role I'll go to the races on Saturday, watch all three footy games on Saturday night, then go off to do the Sunday Roast on Sunday morning, which is really like four guys gathered around a beer garden discussing footy ... then I go off to the football again that afternoon.
"Add the Thursday night Footy Show into it, working with Fat and Matty [Paul Vautin and Matthew Johns] and, as I say, it beats working."
Voss, who had been a regular contributor to The Footy Show before joining as a permanent member of the hosting team this season, says he is looking forward to joining series regulars Vautin and Johns.
Vautin, who has hosted the irreverent and authoritative show since the start, says he can't wait for the injection of fresh blood into the
15-year-old formula.
"Andrew's one of the hardest working people I've ever met," Vautin says.
"He's going to be great on screen with us and also helping produce the show behind the scenes.
"We're going to miss Paul Harragon and Laurie Daley a lot [both decided to leave The Footy Show after last season] but, as usual, I'm looking forward to the season getting under way."
And yes, Vautin promises there will still be room for some fun among all the football talk.
"The one thing I say before we go out each week is let's have some fun," he says.
"We do tend to cop a bit of criticism from time to time [for irreverence] but the bottom line is it's 9.30pm Thursday night, people are starting to wind down from the week, the footy's nearly with them so let's not talk footy the whole hour and a half, let's have some fun.
"And that's our aim every week."
Addicted to league
Unlike most of his colleagues, Andrew Voss hasn't come to the commentator's table via an on-field past.
A radio sports reporter for 2UE, he started out covering everything from swimming to boxing before finally becoming what he had wanted to be since he was seven, a rugby league commentator. And yes, he knows that's a slightly odd ambition for a boy so young.
"Yeah, ask any family member, I was a bit weird," Voss says. "I just decided in my head I wanted to be on that side of the game, I wanted to be a footy caller."
The Footy Show, Thursday, 9.30pm, Nine.
Scott Ellis is editor of The Sun-Herald Television Magazine.
