Keith Quinn: the voice of New Zealand rugby...

Interview – 2011

Keith Quinn is part of the fabric of Kiwi TV and sporting history. On hand to commentate and write about many of our key sports moments — rugby and otherwise — over almost four decades, Quinn called his first rugby match for TV in 1973, and was part of the 2011 Rugby World Cup team for Māori Television.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Quinn talks about:

Imagining he and his brothers were All Blacks during a sport-obsessed childhood
How his passion for rugby likely began with his Canadian father
His first television appearance, involving an unfortunate mix-up between the motor-racing commentary and the women’s netball
His most difficult commentary to date: the last test of the 1981 tour, when he feared the plane buzzing the field might take out the commentary box
The full story behind that legendary Keith Quinn and Jonah Lomu moment, when Lomu scored a try at the 1995 World Cup
Travelling the world as presenter of landmark 1999 series Legends of the All Blacks
His thoughts on changes in commentary styles over the years, as the game has got faster and more commercial

This video was first uploaded on 13 September 2011, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview - Ian Pryor. Camera and Editing - Alex Backhouse

When I was a kid, I used to startle family members by commentating on their sports games on the backyard in our house in Wellington . . . . we had five boys and we were all very competitive amongst each other in sports events; I played many test matches, all against my brothers.
– Keith Quinn on the roots of his passion for sports commentary

Keith's Full Profile