Once famous for his frosted tips, rugby commentator and 81-Test All Black halfback Justin Marshall turns 50 in nine days’ time. The man who’s added new expressions to New Zealand’s vocabulary talks to PHILIP CHANDLER about how they came into play and why he changed his view on Zinzan Brooke
He’s just about Queenstown’s most high-profile personality, but if it wasn’t for the terrifying Christchurch earthquakes he probably wouldn’t be here.
Sky Sport rugby commentator and former All Black great Justin Marshall says he and his young family came to Queenstown immediately after the big 2011 quake, spending two weeks with incoming ABs’ coach Scott Robertson’s family.
‘‘We found how easy it would be for the family and for my travel to settle in Queenstown, so, obviously, when things got worse [for his children] in Christchurch it helped the decision.’’
Growing up in Mataura, ‘‘Queenstown was the absolute ultimate to go to, whether it was an overnight visit which was sometimes spontaneous, or a family holiday’’.
Marshall, who’s just had his Sky contract renewed despite missing out on their commentary team going to the Rugby World Cup in France, says having the airport handy has been pivotal.
Unlike the other commentators who often get ‘home’ games, however, he can’t get home till the next day — ‘‘I actually don’t mind getting away for the odd night’’.
He says, just as in his playing days, he gets nerves before a big game.
‘‘Your voice is going out to millions of people — we broad cast globally — so you’ve got to be on point.
‘‘You’re going to say the odd wrong thing but you can’t say something really, really wrong.’’
And, due to social media, it’s easier to be criticised than during his playing days.
‘‘You pick up your phone and you’ll see someone’s called you a dickhead and you can’t do anything about it.
‘‘Back in the day they probably had to find you at a pub or a supermarket to let you know you’re a dickhead.’’
Marshall suggests those critics meet him before passing judgement.
‘‘I learnt this as a player.
‘‘The first [All Black] roommate I had was Zinzan Brooke, and it was really intimidating having to spend a week with a guy I didn’t like, but I only didn’t like him from what I had seen on the periphery.’’
Turned out Brooke couldn’t have been more welcoming and accommodating — ‘‘he taught me more than I think any other player in the three years I was with him’’.
As to his trademark ‘boomfa!’ and ‘me oh my’ expressions, Marshall says they weren’t premeditated.
‘‘I remember ‘boomfa’ came from when we were watching my dad play rugby down in Mataura, and when there was a big tackle or someone knocked someone over, all the kids would go ‘boomfa!’’’
After it slipped out a couple of times, ‘‘people mentioned it, and I thought, ‘I don’t actually think that’s a word, it can make me look a little bit, I don’t know, simple’’’.
As for ‘me oh my’ (famously once extended to, ‘me oh my I have enjoyed that, yes boy’), Marshall says, after watching a superb piece of play, he meant to say ‘oh my God’.
‘‘Then I thought, ‘I don’t know if I can say that on TV because you get the religious fallout, so I just went, ‘oh me oh my’.’’
‘Boomfa’ later became his own beer label.
Knowing he’d have spare time during lockdown, he got some brewing equipment delivered just in time, then, after eventually perfecting a lager, had it brewed by Altitude Brewing.
He then had cans delivered to as many essential workers as responded to a social media post he put out.
Marshall says he’s always happy to support charities, and he and his wife Nicolle have a special affiliation with the CatWalk Trust.
His rugby career ended ignominiously in Queenstown, after cracking an AC while playing at No 10 for the Waka tipu Premiers, aged 39, but he’s continued to play golf.
His squash days finished early last year after pulling a calf muscle and being reminded by his physio she’d also seen him for five or six other squash injuries.
Marshall says Queenstown’s been a great place to raise their three children — Lachlan’s at Lincoln University and also in the Crusaders’ rugby academy, next-youngest Fletcher’s at Otago Uni and Lucia’s still at Wakatipu High.
And if he hadn’t become a rugby commentator, he thinks he’d have been involved in building or even property development — he and Nicolle got a lot of enjoyment overseeing their Jack’s Point house-build.
‘‘I think probably down that path is where I would have gone — not to say that’s not where I won’t end up.’’
