BBC commentator announces retirement and addresses ‘bias’ controversy | Rugby | Sport
Brian Moore in the commentary box alongside Eddie Butler (Image: BBC)
Brian Moore has revealed he is stepping down from live rugby commentary. The former England and British and Irish Lions rugby union international will take to the microphone for the final time this weekend as France face the Red Roses in the Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam decider.
It will draw the curtain on a remarkable 26-year career behind the microphone, with Moore hinting that details of his next venture are likely to surface in the near future. Breaking the news in the Daily Telegraph, Moore looked back on his nearly three-decade spell in the commentary box, paying tribute to his relationship with the legendary Welshman Eddie Butler. The pair became the iconic voices of the Six Nations, forging a deep bond both behind the microphone and beyond it.
Moore announced: “This week I will be co-commentating on the Grand Slam-deciding game between France and England in the finale to this year’s Women’s Six Nations. And after roughly 26 years behind the microphone, I have decided it will be my last broadcast.”
He reflected on his partnership with Butler, who sadly died in 2022 at the age of 25.
“I have been extraordinarily lucky to have worked with some of the best commentators in the business,” Moore said.
“My long-time partnership with the late Eddie Butler was a relationship which affected me more personally than I ever imagined when it began.
“Through Eddie’s passion I got an insight into the preternatural and emotional world of Welsh rugby fandom, that could in turns be savage and destructive but also effusive and communal in a way that few outside the country can appreciate.
“The sight of three middle-aged Welsh fans in tears behind me in Cardiff for their first Grand Slam win of three under Warren Gatland (2008) brought home to me the depth to which rugby was woven into the soul of Welsh fans.”
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However, despite his evident admiration for the fervour of Welsh rugby supporters, Moore frequently became a lightning rod for criticism from many, with supporters in Scotland and Ireland occasionally accusing him of favouritism.
Brian Moore will not be commentating on any more live rugby. (Image: Getty Images)
“Of course, I made mistakes and not everybody rated my efforts positively,” he continued.
“I think it took me about a decade to persuade most Celtic fans that I was not irredeemably biased towards England, but I eventually gave up trying to gauge this issue when the BBC complaints log against me for a Calcutta Cup game had equal complaints of bias from both Scottish and English fans.
“You have to accept that some people will not like anything you say and much though I yearned to protest about it, everybody is entitled to their opinion.”
He did, however, urge greater protection for pundits and broadcasters who face harassment in today’s social media landscape. “That freedom of expression should however come with some boundaries in a civil society, which I accept is probably impossible,” he said.
“The last 15 years of this career have been against the background of social media and the ability for anybody to post virtually anything they want in public. Libel and public disorder offences cover the internet in extremis, but I do not accept that personal abuse comes with the job and broadcasters should support their commentators when this happens.”
