''Wide World of Sports'' is an Australian sports television program. It was broadcast on the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

. The show originally aired from 23 May 1981, until the end of 1999. After a nine-year hiatus, it returned on 16 March 2008 and had its last episode in 2016 following

Ken Sutcliffe Ken Sutcliffe (born 15 November 1947) is an Australian sporting journalist and radio and television personality. Career Sutcliffe was born in Oberon, New South Wales and grew up in Mudgee. He started his radio career in 1966 in Mudgee, followe ...

's retirement. It was replaced by a new sport talk show

Sports Sunday ''Sports Sunday'' is an Australian sports television program currently broadcast on the Nine Network at 10.00am Sunday mornings. The show is hosted by journalist Roz Kelly, with a roster of rotating panelists including former Australian cricket c ...

airing its first episode on 5 March 2017.

History

1981-1999 - Weekly shows

Wide World of Sports (WWoS) is a long-used title for Nine's sport programming. All sports broadcasts on Nine air under the WWoS brand. It was also the name of a popular sports magazine program that aired most Saturdays and Sundays. This program filled many of the summer daytime hours. The program premiered at 1:00 pm on Saturday, 23 May 1981, and was initially hosted by Mike Gibson and

Ian Chappell Ian Michael Chappell (born 26 September 1943) is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. He captained Australia between 1971 and 1975 before taking a central role in the breakaway World Series Cricket organisation. Born ...

, before being hosted in the 1990s by

Max Walker Maxwell Henry Norman Walker (12 September 1948 – 28 September 2016) was an Australian sportsman who played both cricket and Australian rules football at high levels. After six years of balancing first-class cricket in summer, professional f ...

and

. Ian Maurice was the regular anchor at the WWOS Update Desk. The show ended in 1999, due in large part to the rise of

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

(which Nine's owner owned half of) and other subscription sport channels, but the show returned in 2008 on Sunday mornings. It was unrelated to the series ''Wide World of Sports'' aired by

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 ...

in the United States, which started in 1961. In the early 1980s, well-known hosts and presenters on Wide World of Sports included Mike Gibson and

, both the inaugural hosts of the Saturday afternoon program in 1981.

Billy Birmingham Billy Birmingham (born 1953) is an Australian humourist and sometime sports journalist, most noted for his parodies of Australian cricket commentary in recordings under The Twelfth Man name. Early career He wrote the pun-laden comedy hit " Au ...

in 1984 released a

comedy album Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

that satirized cricket "and in particular Channel Nine’s iconic commentary team with

Richie Benaud Richard Benaud (; 6 October 1930 – 10 April 2015) was an Australian cricketer who, after his retirement from international cricket in 1964, became a highly regarded commentator on the game. Benaud was a Test cricket all-rounder, blending l ...

the central figure," which became popular in Australia, A later album was called ''The Wired World of Sports.'' Among the hosts satirized were his friend Mike Gibson. The television show won "Most Popular Sports Program" at the Logie Awards in 1986. In 1990s, the Wide World of Sports marketed sports paraphernalia such as signed and framed bats, and items from the

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

. Paul Sheahan hosted Nine's ''Wide World of Sports'' program until 1999. Max Walker hosted until it ended in 1999.

2008-2020 - Show's return to TV

After a ten-year hiatus, it was announced that the ''Wide World of Sports'' weekly television program would return to Nine on 16 March 2008, using the same theme song as the old version, as well as accessing old footage for replays. This show was hosted by the previous host

, with footy show star

James Brayshaw James Antony Brayshaw (born 11 May 1967) is an Australian media personality and retired cricketer working in television for the Seven Network and radio for Triple M. For Seven Sport, he hosts and calls Test cricket during summer and Australian F ...

as well as former Australian cricketer

Adam Gilchrist Adam Craig Gilchrist (; born 14 November 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer and captain of the Australia national cricket team. He was an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keep ...

. Revolving co-hosts included former swimmers

Giaan Rooney Giaan Leigh Rooney, OAM (born 15 November 1982) is an Australian former competitive swimmer and television personality. As a member of the Australian team in women's 4×100-metre medley relay, she won an Olympic gold medal and broke a world ...

Nicole Livingstone Nicole Dawn Livingstone, OAM (born 24 June 1971) is an Australian former competitive swimmer. Since retiring from swimming Livingstone has had careers as a television sports commentator and media presenter and as a sports administrator. She wa ...

and former cricketer

Michael Slater Michael Jonathon Slater (born 21 February 1970) is an Australian former professional cricketer and former television presenter. He played in 74 Test matches and 42 One Day Internationals for the Australia national cricket team. Early life S ...

. The show originally aired for 90 minutes but was recently extended to two hours. It aired on Sunday mornings at 9am till 11am. In 2009,

Grant Hackett Grant George Hackett OAM (born 9 May 1980) is an Australian swimmer, most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him t ...

and

joined the team as co-hosts alongside Sutcliffe and Rooney. After she was fired in 2014 as a cost-cutting measure, in 2016

Emma Freedman Emma Freedman is an Australian television and radio presenter who grew up on the Mornington Peninsula. Freedman formerly co-hosted ''The Grill Team'' on Triple M Sydney. Prior to this, she was a weather presenter on ''Weekend Today'' and host ...

again signed up with Channel Nine's ''Wide World of Sports'' as an announcer. The weekly show was no longer airing as of 2017. ''

'' replaced the show in the Sunday 10am time slot. In 2019, it broadcast the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

with its own team of commentators. Macquarie Media in 2020 began airing an hour-long ''Wide World of Sports'' radio broadcast hosted by Mark Levy.

Hosts

Past

Lisa Curry Lisa Gaye Curry AO MBE (born 15 May 1962), also known by her married name Lisa Curry-Kenny, is an Australian former competition swimmer. Curry won seven gold, two silver and one bronze Commonwealth Games medals, and is the only Australian sw ...

Sally Fitzgibbons Sally Jayne Fitzgibbons (born 19 December 1990) is an Australian professional surfer on the Association of Surfing Professionals World Tour (2009–2013). In June 2019, she was ranked No. 1 in the world for women's surfing after winning the R ...

* Ian Maurice * Mike Gibson *

Tony Greig Anthony William Greig (6 October 194629 December 2012) was a South African-born Test cricket captain turned commentator. Greig qualified to play for the England cricket team by virtue of his Scottish parentage. He was a tall () all-rounder w ...

Yvonne Sampson Yvonne Sampson (born 21 July 1980) is an Australian television sports presenter and commentator. Sampson currently works for Fox Sports (Australia), Fox Sports. She has previously worked for Nine's Wide World of Sports and was weekend sports p ...

* Clint Stanaway *

John Steffenson John William Steffensen (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian former track and field athlete, who specialised in 200 metres, 200 and 400 metres. He won silver at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. His personal bests were 20.79 and 44.73. Biography ...

* Richie Calendar

Awards

The show won the

Logie Award 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 ...

for the Most Popular Sports Program in 1987, and was nominated for every year from 2009 to 2017.

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Wide World of Sports''
home page. Nine's Wide World of Sport 1981 Australian television series debuts 1999 Australian television series endings 2008 Australian television series debuts 2016 Australian television series endings English-language television shows Australian sports television series