Bruce McAvaney's Horoscope

An impish grin lights up the face of popular Australian sports broadcaster, Bruce McAvaney OAM, whenever you speak to him on his favourite subject of sport.

Bruce has been calling prestige sports events here in Melbourne ever since he arrived from Adelaide in 1983. I first met him in the spring of 1984, at the Mornington racecourse. He was part of a media contingency on cup eve, sent to follow the time trial of the 1983 Melbourne Cup winner, Kiwi, to see if he was fit to run or not.

Who would ever forget Kiwi’s 1983 cup run on that magic day. With about 100 metres to go he was in last place, but like a whirl wind, he circumnavigated the field and went on to win by 1½ lengths, so no wonder the owners were anxious to have their horse run again the next year, to prove his prowess on the race track.

Much controversy surrounded the decision by steward to test his fitness once again on cup eve. Around 6.00 am, track watchers including myself, watched the horse run the distance in excellent time but we still had to wait until 11.00 am for the official announcement.

After chatting with several journalists including Bruce, I said that I would go home and cast a chart (no portable computers back then) and let them know in advance what the outcome would be. Unfortunately for Kiwi and his connections the chart did not look good and so I duly reported back to anyone who would listen that at 11.00 am Kiwi would be scratched.

This prediction proved correct and so my credibility in the racing world was established. The cup chart was very heavily weighted under the transits of Neptune (deception) which was interestingly, as a girlfriend of mine in another sector of the racing industry rang and told me a few days before the running of the cup, that Black Knight would win, which he did.

Only a few weeks before the cup, he was quoted as 100/1. Even as a young naïve astrologer, I could see how Neptune was working on that day. Not only was I able to predict the out come of Kiwi’s fitness test, but I was also able to predict the success of Bruce McAvaney’s career path.

For many years if I ever needed a date of birth for a sports person, Bruce was very helpful in getting that information for me. There was a time when I had nearly every jockey’s date of birth in Australia and New Zealand. Today with all the privacy business it is not as easy. Thank goodness for Wikipedia. Speaking to Bruce on that day, he told me he was born in Adelaide on 22nd June 1953 at 2.00pm and once I cast a chart, I could see many indications that he was on an accelerated path to success.

The job of sports calling is a very unusual and highly skilled occupation. Bruce was always a sports fan and even as a child, practised his phantom race-calling at the bottom of the garden. Good perception and an excellent memory are needed.

This gift comes through Mercury in Cancer, very close to the Mid Heaven. People with this position have a first-rate memory and there is a depth to this sign that enables them to sum up a person or situation just by looking and observing. Venus is at home in its own sign of Taurus, which gives a practical, down to earth view and the need to follow an artistic path of some sort. Mars, also in the sign of Cancer compliments Mercury in the same sign and has produced over the years, many fine thinkers.

Saturn, traditionally placed in the sign of Libra, gives patience and good judgement for calling sporting events. The trained eye has great accuracy. The double water sign with Sun in Cancer and Moon in Scorpio is a very ambitious combination and usually sees success coming without too much effort.

There are several ways to read a chart, but sometimes just by delineating the chart, we can see the success in the horoscope. Sun in Cancer, semi-square to Venus in Taurus. (planets across the dial,) gives popularity, the beloved man, the artist.

Even so; he has to work hard for success as he is one of many people was born under the Saturn/Neptune of 1953. This usually indicates a sacrifice which can come through ones life in the spotlight. British Prime Minister, Tony Blair was born around the same time.

His big break into the world of radio and television came by a chance meeting with Adelaide race caller, Keith Hillier, who asked him to help out back in 1976. With local experience he moved to Melbourne in 1983 and joined a major Television network to read the sports news. McAvaney went on to host various major sporting events but it wasn’t until 1988 when he co-hosted the 1988 Olympic’s is Seoul that the seal of approval was stamped all over him.

Chart two shows the solar arc for 1988 when the Sun across to Venus came to the Moon’s Node. In Ebertin’s, “Combination of Stellar Influences,” he says that with this combination, it is the beginning of a love relationship and in his case it was with the public.

Over the past 20 years he has become the most respected sports presenter in the country. In 1990 he moved back to Adelaide with his second wife Anne, and their two children. He commutes to Melbourne for his role with the Seven Network. This year he called the Olympic Games in Beijing with the same inimitable style that won him acclaim in 1988.

On Saturday 27th September he will be calling the Australian Football Grand Final here in Melbourne. Around 100 thousand people will pack the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) to watch the Geelong and Hawthorn teams slug it out in a match promoted as bigger than, “Ben Hur”.

In 1984 when I first wrote about Bruce McAvaney, I said that astrologically it will be interesting to see what is in store for this young man over the next few years. My file for Bruce is full to overflowing from all the newspaper articles collected over the years. A sure sign of success, I would say.