KEY POINTS:
Keith Quinn, for three decades the voice of sport on Television New Zealand, is stoic as he faces being silenced.
Still a TVNZ staff member for now, Quinn and his fellow commentators are under threat of being laid off as part of changes to the news and current affairs team. The man who has commentated on more than 200 All Black tests, seven Summer Olympics and nine Commonwealth Games is under no illusions as to what the future holds.
"In my case it looks like I'll be made redundant," Quinn, 61, says.
"What I'd like to do is put a fullstop on that, gently close the door, and carry on. If TVNZ wants me to come back as a freelancer and work on sports events, hopefully they will ask me and I'll be glad to come back.
"In an ideal world it would have been nice to have carried on and finished on my own terms, but I can't complain ... 31 years is a long run, and it can't go on forever."
Quinn's voice has been the soundtrack to hundreds of Kiwi sporting triumphs since his first TV broadcast, in 1968. Being a commentator was all the Wellington-based journalist wanted to be, ever since the 1950s when he started watching rugby at Athletic Park.
In those days Winston McCarthy was the voice of rugby, and his booming tones could be heard right around the ground as he described the match for the radio audience from his open air press box.
"I became fascinated by that and I used to go and watch him commentate as well as watch the game," Quinn recalls.
Eventually Quinn graduated from commentating on his own backyard games to describing major games at Athletic Park and rugby grounds around the world. His excited style of commentary and seemingly endless supply of trivia divided opinions, with hate mail an occupational hazard.
"It never used to worry me, but I was sometimes bemused by what people would write or get steamed up about. It's only a game."
The office at Quinn's Lower Hutt home is bulging with old notebooks and newspaper clippings, a treasure trove of material which he still mines for nuggets of information.
While Quinn will always be known for his rugby commentaries, he regards the Olympics as the pinnacle of his journalistic career.
"I just love the truly international flavour of the Olympics," he says.
"Everyone is there, of every race colour and creed, the lot. You can stand on the corner and you can see the whole world pass by, and it's great to be a part of that. My only regret is that I've only ever commentated on one New Zealand gold medal."
Keith Quinn
* First radio broadcast 1967; first rugby test commentary 1971, British Isles vs New Zealand.
* First TV rugby test commentary 1973, New Zealand vs England, Eden Park. Commentated on approximately 200 tests.
* Been to seven summer Olympics, nine Commonwealth Games and two Paralympics.
* Commentated at all five Rugby World Cups, been on 33 international tours with the All Blacks.
* Covered Hong Kong Sevens 17 times.
* Written 11 books, with a 12th to be published in August.
Career highlights
John Walker wins gold in the 1500m at the 1976 Olympics. "When he hit the line and won I had this pre-prepared headline about 'He's won in the tradition of Jack Lovelock and Peter Snell' - visualisation is allowable in commentary - and it worked, and it's been played a million times since and I'm very proud of it."
Jonah Lomu scores THAT try at the 1995 Rugby World Cup against England. "I stumbled and called out 'Oh, oh'. That was a pre-prepared line that didn't work out. Because I was searching for the headline I'd thought and bumbled and stumbled and I got it wrong. It's played over and over again and now I'm very proud of that too. One was a planned one, one was a complete cock-up, and they both work."
Most embarrassing moment
The last seconds of the commentary on the 2003 Rugby World Cup final, during English captain Martin Johnson's moment of triumph.
"It was the broadcasting equivalent of taking your eye off the last ball of the day in test cricket ... I'd commentated 28 games and I'd commentated the final, but along the way there had been some criticism from Martin Devlin on Radio Sport.
"The producer said 10 seconds to go, wrap it all up now Keith. So I said 'So there it is, the World Cup of 2003, won by England. And the last image we have is an appropriate one, holding up the World Cup for all to see, England's captain Martin Devlin. I looked at John Hart and Grant Fox, my co-commentators, and they were splitting their sides with laughter and I didn't know what had happened."
Worst match
1981, final test against South Africa at Eden Park, with a riot outside the ground and a light plane dive-bombing the stadium with flour bombs. "I didn't want to be there ... It was an awful day where everybody was moved to do things they will hopefully never, ever do again."
Worst ground
Athletic Park, Wellington. "The Millard Stand was so high you needed crampons to get up there, and you were exposed to the wind and the weather. Seagulls used to perch in there, and you used to get covered in birdshit."
Best ground
"In South Africa all the grounds are good. They understood very early on how to build a stand correctly."
