''Sports Tonight'' is an Australian sports news and information program, hosted by Roz Kelly. The original series, which was developed by executive producer Steve Tucker, aired between 1993 and 2011, before it was revived in 2018 and axed again in 2020.

History

Original run

The show ran from 1993 to 2011. From 1993 until 2005, the show ran for half an hour on each weeknight after '' Ten Late News''. The two shows merged in 2006, but there was some criticism by viewers that ''Sports Tonight'' was not long enough, and that it should have remained the same. However, the Friday edition of ''Sports Tonight'' remained separate in order to recap that night's football results. In 2011 the weekend 5:30 pm editions of ''Sports Tonight'' normally seen on

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

were removed from those timeslots, due to the weekend news bulletins moving to 6 pm. To compensate for this, a ''Sports Tonight''-branded sports report was incorporated into these bulletins. This edition of ''Sports Tonight'' had been airing in the 5:30 pm weekend slot since 1999/2000. Towards the end of its original run, the program was branded as ''Toyota Sports Tonight''. In late 2006, the show was sponsored by

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

and its upcoming

Toyota Aurion The Toyota Aurion is a mid-size car produced by Toyota in Australia and parts of Asia from 2006 to 2017. In the two generations it was produced, the Aurion was derived from the equivalent Camry. Changes were mainly limited to revised front- an ...

, although only minor modifications were done to the on-air graphics to match those of the Aurion colours. In early 2007, the graphics were updated with a heavily sponsored on-air look. Since March 2009, a weeknightly 9:30 pm edition (started out at 7 pm) of ''Sports Tonight'' aired on One with a weekend wrap edition on Sundays. Since 8 May 2011 with the relaunch of One, it aired at around 10:30 pm weeknights (which varies if other programming is on) and at 11:00 pm on Fridays. In December 2010 ''Sports Tonight'' updated their on-air graphics. On 5 July 2011, it was announced that the show would be axed; the show continued to air until just before the conclusion of the football seasons. The final episode aired on 30 September 2011.

Revival

On 4 July 2018,

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

announced that the show would return after a seven-year absence, with Matt White to host alongside panelists

Josh Gibson Joshua Gibson (December 21, 1911 – January 20, 1947) was an American baseball catcher primarily in the Negro leagues. Baseball historians consider Gibson among the best power hitters and catchers in baseball history. In 1972, he became the se ...

and

Laurie Daley Laurie William Daley AM (born 20 October 1969), also known by the nicknames of "Lozza" and "Loz", is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and a former player who played as a and in the 1980s and 1990s. He represented Aus ...

. It originally aired weekly on Sunday nights at 9:15 pm from 15 July 2018; however, following the end of the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

and

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

seasons, the show shifted to a Monday night timeslot. As

CBS Studios International Paramount Global Distribution Group or Paramount Global Content Distribution is the international television distribution arm of American media conglomerate, Paramount Global, originally established in 1962 as the international distribution divis ...

had acquired Ten Network Holdings in 2017, the logo and on-air graphics were again updated to a package based around the standardised graphics package and title sequences from

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

that debuted in February 2016 as part of

Super Bowl 50 Super Bowl 50 was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2015 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) cha ...

. In March 2019, Network Ten announced that the show would return for 2019 and would be hosted by Roz Kelly alongside panelists Scott Mackinnon and Ant Sharwood. The show aired on Wednesday nights. The final episode was aired on 27 November 2019.

Hosts and panelists

Roz Kelly Roz Kelly (born Rosiland Schwartz on July 29, 1942) is an American actress, perhaps best known for playing Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli's ( Henry Winkler) girlfriend Carol "Pinky" Tuscadero on the television series ''Happy Days''. Career Before ...

(2019)

Panelists

*Scott Mackinnon (2019–present) *Ant Sharwood (2019)

Reporters

*Nick Butler *Lauren Markham

Former hosts

Tim Webster Tim Webster (born 15 December 1951) is an Australian television and radio personality and sports broadcaster. He held various presenting roles on Network 10 from 1981 until 2008. Career Early career In 1972, Webster started working for Ba ...

(first host, 1993–2004) – now on 2CH in Sydney * Bill Woods (alternative host, 1993–2005) – now on

Fox Sports Australia Fox Sports Australia Pty Limited (formerly Premier Media Group Pty Limited) is the division of Foxtel that owns and operates the Fox Sports television networks and digital properties in Australia. The group operates nine Fox Sports Channels as w ...

Leigh Diffey Leigh Diffey (born 3 March 1971) is an Australian American auto racing commentator. His career began calling motorcycle races in his home country before moving to the United Kingdom to cover other forms of motorsport. Diffey then moved to the ...

(weekend host during 2005 and 2006. Last appeared on Sunday 3 December 2006) *

Ryan Phelan Ryan Phelan is an Australian television journalist, media personality and presenter. Phelan has previously presented news updates on ''The Morning Show'' and was co-host of '' The Daily Edition''. Career Phelan’s television career starte ...

(last appeared on Thursday, 21 December 2006) *

Mark Aiston Mark Aiston is an Australian sports journalist and sports presenter. Aiston is currently a breakfast radio presenter on FIVEaa. He was previously a sport presenter on ''Ten Eyewitness News'' and breakfast radio presenter on Mix 102.3. Career A ...

(presented on 8 September 2007 due to

Brad McEwan Brad McEwan (born 28 April 1971) is an Australian television presenter and sports journalist. McEwan has previously been a sport presenter on the Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne editions of ''10 News First'' and is best known for his hosting du ...

, Rob Canning and

Neil Cordy Neil Cordy (born 8 April 1959) is a former Australian rules footballer and now television presenter. Football career Cordy was recruited from Traralgon, Victoria. He made his AFL debut with the Footscray Football Club in 1979, and went on t ...

being all unavailable, also presented during the 2007–2008 summer period) – now no longer at Network 10 *

(Sunday to Thursday presenter between 2007 and 2011) * Matt White (1993–2004, 2018) *Rob Canning – now no longer on television *

(fill-in) – now no longer working in the media

Former panelists

(2018) *

(2018)

Former reporters

Kelli Underwood Kelli Underwood (born 1977) is an Australian radio and television sports journalist and sportscaster specialising in Australian rules football, netball and tennis. She was the first woman to call an Australian Football League match on televisi ...

–

and Senior all sports reporter, including Tennis; based in Melbourne – now at the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and

* Amy Hetzel – Producer and reporter; based in Sydney *

Greg Rust Gregory Paul Rust (born 19 July 1970 in Sydney) is an Australian motor racing journalist and presenter. He has previously worked for Network Ten, the Nine Network and the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) as a freelance commentator/reporter/ ...

– Motorsports reporter; based in Sydney (also motorsports host and commentator) * Nathan Templeton – Sports reporter * Aimee McKay – Reporter, based in Sydney and Adelaide. Also hosted 'Seriously Footy' a Sydney Swans and Brisbane Lions AFL show, based in Sydney

Awards

''Sports Tonight'' had been nominated for the Most Popular Sports Program for the

Logies The Logie Awards (officially the TV Week Logie Awards; colloquially known as The Logies) is an annual gathering to celebrate Australian television, sponsored and organised by the magazine ''TV Week''. The first ceremony was held in 1959 as the ...

a total of 12 times. The show was nominated in every year from 1997 until 2010, with the exception of 1999 (not awarded in this year) and 2001 (sports programs included those of the Sydney Olympic Games the previous year).

References

External links

* * {{News & current affairs in Australia Network 10 original programming 10 Bold original programming 10 Sport 1993 Australian television series debuts 2011 Australian television series endings 2018 Australian television series debuts 2019 Australian television series endings Television shows set in New South Wales Australian television news shows 1990s Australian television series 2000s Australian television series Australian sports television series Australian television series revived after cancellation