■By JON NEWCOMBE
BBC RADIO Newcastle rugby commentator Ian Smith celebrates a milestone today that modern-day professional players can only dream of – 500 games for one club.
Smith first picked up the mic in 2002 as an emergency summariser for a Heineken Cup tie away to Grenoble and has barely missed a game since.
“The commentator at the time, Kevin Williams, used to ask a player to summarise for him but all of them were either injured or running water so I volunteered my services”, Smith said.
“I really enjoyed doing it and that was it. It was a case of right ...