And to think when Waring went, the BBC could quite easily have had the late, great Keith Macklin to call the games ....

My personal favourites,

"He's going for that line..."

"They wear carpet slippers today, not like the boots in my day.."

I'll miss Ray French. He's been the voice of the Challenge Cup for as long as I can remember. He's very prone to the old catchphrases (6'4" former xxxxx amateur etc) and his commentary isn't the most accurate reflection of the game, but he does have real character. He is to RL what Murray Walker is/was to F1, Harry Carpenter to boxing and John Motson to football. A legend of the sport and the BBC coverage will be the poorer for his absence IMO.

I tend to agree. His commentary is not the greatest but who else is there out there ? Dave Woods just doesnt do it for me I'm afraid

God I hate Dave Woods as a commentator. He's bloody terrible. Not much better than Ray French to me.

"He's got Alan Tait to beat...

..Surely he's going to go the length...

...That is the one sensational try...

...That must rank amongst one of the finest ever seen on this ground"

Does seem a strange time to retire, hope all's well with Ray and enjoy your retirement.

"Cunningham for the liiiiiiiiiiiiine"
"Reeay, it's Leon Pryce"
"You're right Jonathon, my eyes decieve me"

Legend Frenchy. If he told once, he told us a million times that Apollo was brought up on a diet of sweet potato in the 96 cup final.

Did I read somewhere that Eddie Waring, Ray French and Dave Woods all called their first Wembley Challenge Cup Final at the same age?

As David Coleman might have said: 'Remarkable.' 'But at least you've won the Lance Todd Trophy so you must be delighted with that.'

Excellent print journalist, author and public speaker.

Terrible commentator.

Hopefully this will give him more time to focus on the areas where he does excel and allow the BBC to bring their presentation of the game into the 20th century.

Do they still do those wide aerial shots before games looking for some back-to-backs with washing strung between them?

Why on earth would they do that? They replaced Waring with French, who helped emphasise the stereotype Eddie had created, so I see no reason why they'd change now.

LOL

No it won't. It'll be better MUCH MUCH BETTER.






NOW, HAS HE GOT THE LEGS?

I fail to see how Dave woods will improve things.

a couple of posters have taken the p1ss out of him for telling us which amature clubs players came from but i for one think it's great that he does/did at least he's giving the clubs that brought these players up a mention we wer'e all amatures wern't we?

Ray French has forgotten more than most people on here know about the game of RL, and should be respected.

Sorry but that whole professional northerner style is cringemakingly awful. When Waring went we had a chance to modernise the image of the game, but with Ray French the whole flat cap and whippets view of the sport was further embedded.

He is responsible for the "dark ages" view of RL for anyone South of Sheffield.

Hopefully he will take his Flat Cap, Terrier and drive as far as he can before falling into the sea.

LMFAO!!

They're all awful from the BBC crew to the Sky massiv'.

I either watch it at home with the sound down or with some music on.

AFAIK he doesn't put it on, so I'd baulk at calling him a "professional northerner". It's just who he is.

The logical choice some years ago was John Champion, before ITV lured him away with European football commentary.

He's no more stereotypically northern than Barrie & Terry on Sky's Championship coverage.

Like it or not, its a northern sport.

More than likely anyone who has a good understanding of the game (theoretically an important quality) will be from these parts

By "Modernise" do you mean get someone with a posh accent to commentate so we can pretend RL is not primarily a northern sport?

If Joanna Lumley did the CC coverage, it would not make more kids down south want to play RL.

We ARE a northern sport. That is the strenth of our game.

I am all for expansion but lets not be pretentious about who or what we are.

The steretype of our players turning up for training on dark Northern Nights wearing flat caps, smoking woodbines and their faces smudged with coal is frankly a much more attractive stereotype than Tarquin and his chums turning up for traininng at their club after an afternoon at the golf course to find a pleasant bubndle of £50 notes stuffed into their boots (wink wink)

What about Clair Balding, she's possibly changed the image of the game somewhat

How & in what way?

Don't get me wrong I like her on the TV and she seems to show a genuine interest in RL but what has changed in actual RL matters since she started doing the CC coverage?