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Rugby league coach, sports broadcaster and journalist

Edward Marsden Waring, MBE (21 February 1910 – 28 October 1986) was a British rugby league football coach, commentator and television presenter.

Waring was born on 21 February 1910 in Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire to Arthur Waring, an insurance agent, and Florence Harriet Waring (née Marsden). He grew up in Soothill Nether, and attended Eastborough Council School, and Wheelwright Grammar School.

Waring was never a noted rugby league player; he was more proficient at association football, and had trials with Nottingham Forest and Barnsley. He began work as a typewriter salesman in his home town of Dewsbury, but he gave up that career to join a local newspaper and report on rugby league matches. Alongside his fledgling journalism career he ran the local Dewsbury Boys Rugby League Club, renaming them the Black Knights (this foreshadowed how Super League clubs were branded some 60 years later). During the Second World War Waring managed Dewsbury RLFC as he was exempted from armed service with an ear condition. Recruiting men from a nearby military camp, he led the club to its second Challenge Cup victory in 1943 – the club's last ever success in the competition. Waring travelled on with the Great Britain national rugby league team on the first post war tour of Australia. Returning home via the United States, he met Bob Hope, who alerted him to the success of televised sport. This is believed to have convinced him that television would be crucial for rugby league's long term success. In the UK, he pushed this case harder with the BBC, having written to them as far back as 1931. After several rejections, he was given a chance as a broadcaster when the BBC began to cover the sport. He made his first televised appearance as part of the coverage for the 1949 Challenge Cup final.

The split in opinion regarding his contribution to the game, plus illness, led to a decline in Waring's popularity. A petition was organised by some hardcore supporters asking the BBC to remove him from commentary as he was perceived to be portraying a poor image of the game and its northern roots. The BBC stuck with him as their main commentator, though in the late 1970s they also brought in former Great Britain halfback Alex Murphy to work alongside him. Illness affected him over the next few years, and in January 1981, Waring announced that he would be retiring from commentary at the end of the 1980–81 season. His last game as commentator was the 1981 Premiership final on 16 May 1981. After his retirement, former dual rugby international Ray French became the BBC's chief rugby league commentator.

Waring's overall health declined very quickly after his retirement from the commentary box. He was diagnosed with dementia and was admitted into High Royds Hospital in Menston, West Yorkshire in late 1983. He died at the hospital on 28 October 1986. His funeral took place at St Giles Church in Bramhope.