Ashley Morrison

Ashley Malcolm Morrison (born 23 June 1964) is an Australian/ British commentator, broadcaster, MC, writer, voiceover and documentary maker.

Born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, he grew up in Purton, near Swindon. He was educated at Stowe School, Buckingham and played cricket for Wiltshire, but now lives in Perth, Australia.

He has written five books – Headingley Remembered – A Century of Ashes Cricket, Please Sir Can I have my Ball Back – about his battle with testicular cancer. The biography of three time World Champion boxer Azumah Nelson, titled, "The Professor – The Azumah Nelson Story." As well as "Australia's Hockey Grail", a book about the Australian Men's hockey team and their quest for Olympic Gold and "Into The Nest - The Story Behind WASPS Hockey Club."

Having worked at Wiltshire newspapers on moving to Australia he worked for Impact Publications publishers of Traveltalk magazine and AirCargo Asia-Pacific Magazine. He was also Cargo Manager Australia & New Zealand for South African Airways.

In 2008 he set up his own media business Ashley Morrison Media.

Broadcast work[]

Ashley has appeared on radio in Perth since 1991, first with 6NR covering the Perth Glory games in the National Soccer League, before moving to 6PR where he continued to be a part of the commentary team, and added Rugby to his portfolio. With the start of the Hyundai A league in 2004 he moved to 6RPH, the only station to broadcast the A League in Western Australia at that time, as well as the first season of the Western Force in Super Rugby. He has since commentated hockey, rugby, and football for the station.

In September 2006 he launched Not The Footy Show, a two-hour radio show that focussed on all sports except AFL. Original co-host was Darren Harper. "Not the Footy Show" is now regular podcast with co-host John Lee.

Ashley was part of the Fox Sports Australia A League coverage from 2006 to 2011. He has commentated sport for BT Sport, IMG, Star Sports, Astro Arena, Neo Sports, Dentsu, Medialuso, Spark NZ, NEP, Epicentre.tv, and the FIH. When it comes to hockey he has covered amongst others the FIH Pro League, FIH Women's World Cup, Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, the Sultan of Johor Cup, the Asia Cup, the Junior Asia Cup, Hockey World League, and Australian Hockey League finals in 2017. He has also commentated three editions of the Hockey India League for Star Sports and the first edition of Andrew Forrest's World Series Rugby(Now Global Rapid Rugby). He has also commentated at multi-sport events such as the Asian Games, South East Asian Games and the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. He has also worked for One World Sports and the World Sports Group commentating football. Other sports that Ashley has commentated are Badminton, Boxing, Floorball, Futsal, Gymnastics, Water polo, Volleyball, Pencak Silat Kabaddi and Rugby Union.

Documentaries[]

In 2010 he produced and directed his first documentary Standing at the Touchlines. A journey through Africa to see if the 2010 World Cup would unite a continent. This has aired in Africa and Asia and was part of the African World Documentary Film Festival screening in Jamaica, Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa, where it won an Audience Choice award.

It is a journey through Africa during the 2010 FIFA World Cup that shows how football has played such a key role in so many African communities, but also to see if the World Cup would in fact unite a continent as then President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki had said it would.

The film travels through, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Kenya, Zanzibar, Lesotho during the competition finishing in host nation South Africa.

In 2012 he produced and directed No Apologies, a film about two Aboriginal girls representing Australia at the Women's World Cup in Germany in 2011. It was also selected to be screened during NAIDOC (National Aboriginies and Islanders Day Observance Committee) week around Australia.

No Apologies tells the story of two Aboriginal female footballers, Kyah Simon and Lydia Williams and their journey to the FIFA Women's World Cup Finals in Germany in 2011. At the Finals Lydia Williams became the first Aboriginal male or female to play in goal at a World Cup Finals, while Kyah Simon became the first Aboriginal male or female to score in a World Cup Finals.

No Apologies won the award for Best Editing in a Documentary and Best Documentary at the Southampton International Film Festival.^[1] It also won an Award of Excellence and three Honourable Mentions awards at the International Film Festival for Health Environment and Culture^[2] and the International Film Festival for Peace Inspiration and Equality.^[3] The film was also selected for the Tiger Paw Sports Film Festival in New Delhi.

FourFourTwo magazine listed it as one of the one of its "Five Football Documentaries to see Before You Die" in its December 2012 edition.

In 2019 he produced and directed the documentary "Mark Our Place" the story of three rugby players who all played for the same club in Dublin, Wanderers went on to represent Ireland, and who were all awarded the Victoria Cross. Their names were Robert Johnston, Thomas Crean and Frederick Harvey.

References[]