Although Ray French was a dual rugby international, winning four caps for England at rugby union and then, after signing professional terms to play rugby league, appearing four times for Great Britain, it was as the BBC’s rugby league commentator that he came to national prominence.
French, who has died aged 85 after living with dementia, succeeded Eddie Waring as the BBC’s voice of the sport in 1981, spending 27 years in the role. Waring had established a public profile, beyond his verbally eccentric rugby commentaries, via frequent appearances in light entertainment shows and knockabout comedy routines. And, like Waring before him, French too became a somewhat divisive figure among a cohort of rugby league supporters who believed he entrenched a stereotypical perception of their sport. With his distinctive Lancashire enunciation, catchphrases and characteristic lexicon, his critics accused the national broadcaster of choosing a figurehead designed to “keep the sport in its place”: an idiosyncratic pastime of northern England.
