Peter John Allen FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, and

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and has been the chair of the

Australian Republic Movement The Australian Republic Movement (ARM) is a non-party-partisan organisation campaigning for Australia to become a republic. ARM and its supporters have promoted various models of a republic including parliamentary republic and it is, again, revi ...

since 2015.

Early life

FitzSimons grew up in Peats Ridge, in the Central Coast of New South Wales. He was one of seven children. He attended Peats Ridge Public School and

Knox Grammar School , motto_translation = The Manly Thing Is Being Done , established = , founder = John Gilmore, William McIlrath, Robert Gillespie and Andrew Reid , type = Independent school, Independe ...

before going in 1978 to

Findlay High School Findlay High School is a public high school in Findlay, Ohio. It is the only high school in the Findlay City School District, and the second largest high school in northwest Ohio. Their nickname is the Trojans. They are members of the Three River ...

, Ohio, for a year as an

exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or university study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, but d ...

on an American Field Service Scholarship. He then completed an arts degree at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

, residing at Wesley College from 1980 to 1982.

Career

Rugby

FitzSimons first played club rugby with the

Sydney University Football Club The Sydney University Football Club, founded in 1863, is the oldest club now playing rugby union in Australia, although this date is disputed by historian Tom Hickie who argues that it was 1865. Sydney Uni was a member of the inaugural Sydne ...

and then with the

Manly RUFC Manly Rugby Union Football Club is a rugby union club based in Manly, a suburb of Sydney. The club was formed in 1883 and competes in the New South Wales Rugby Union competitions, the Charter Hall Shute Shield. Manly, known as the Marlins, p ...

in Sydney in the 1980s under the coaching of Alan Jones. Between 1985 and 1989 he played with CA Brive in France for four seasons as the club's first foreign player. He played seven test matches at

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

for the Australian national rugby union team between 1989 and 1990, debuting against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in Strasbourg in November 1989, on the Wallabies 1989 tour of Europe. His final Test match was against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

in Christchurch. Former Wallabies winger

David Campese David Ian Campese, AM (born 21 October 1962), also known as Campo, is a former Australian rugby union player (1982-1996), who was capped by the Wallabies 101 times, and played 85 Tests at wing and 16 at fullback. He retired in 1996 and was aw ...

criticised FitzSimons for starting a brawl in Australia's first Test against

in 1990. Campese labelled FitzSimons' actions "a disgrace to the good name of rugby" and asserted that "he was doing the game and its reputation enormous damage." Campese cautioned that if such fights "turn even one family away from the game, then they have been too costly". Former Wallabies backrower Willie Ofahengaue said of FitzSimons: "He's a big character. Funny guy. Talkative. One thing I remember about rooming with him was he used to get his suitcase, tip it up and pour everything out on to the floor. When it was time to go home he would chuck everything back in any old way. Fitzy was a real roughie, but he is married now so he must have changed."

Journalist

FitzSimons has written for ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' since 1988, and has been a sports columnist for that publication since 1987. He regularly appears on the Australian Foxtel program '' The Back Page'', formerly hosted by rugby league journalist Mike Gibson and now

Tony Squires Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

. For the Saturday edition of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', FitzSimons writes a column titled "The Fitz Files" which looks at all the happenings over the past seven days in sport. He writes a more general version of "The Fitz Files" in ''

The Sun-Herald ''The Sun-Herald'' is an Australian newspaper published in tabloid or compact format on Sundays in Sydney by Nine Publishing. It is the Sunday counterpart of ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. In the 6 months to September 2005, ''The Sun-Herald'' ...

'' on Sundays, focusing on community activities and events in Sydney. Andrew Denton has called him "Australia's finest sports journalist". On the 25 September 2001 he wrote a thought provoking opinion editorial piece titled Memo world: try saying sorry to avoid a sorry end. In August 2022 Fitzsimons threatened to sue Senator

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price Jacinta Yangapi Nampijinpa Price (; born 12 May 1981) is an Australian politician from the Northern Territory. She has been a Australian Senate, senator for the Northern Territory since the 2022 Australian federal election, 2022 federal election ...

for defamation when she complained that he had been rude and aggressive in a telephone interview. Price urged FizSimons and the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' to release the recording of the interview but they declined to do so.

Radio

In January 2006 FitzSimons began co-hosting a breakfast radio program with

Mike Carlton Michael James Carlton, (born 31 January 1946) is an Australian former media commentator, radio host, television journalist, author and newspaper columnist. He formerly co-hosted the daily breakfast program on Sydney radio station 2UE with Peter ...

on Sydney radio station

2UE 2UE is an all-music radio station in Sydney owned by Nine Entertainment Co and run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio. It currently broadcasts from its studios in Pyrmont, New South Wales. History 1920s 2EU Electrical Utilities applied to the ...

. He was brought onto the 2UE breakfast show in an attempt to boost the program's dwindling ratings. However, the ''Mike and Fitz Breakfast Show'' still trailed a long way behind the number one program on 2GB, hosted by FitzSimons' former coach Alan Jones. After two years, FitzSimons quit to become a stay-at-home dad and focus on his writing.

Author

FitzSimons is a prolific writer and is one of Australia's best-selling non-fiction writers. He has written books about subjects such as

Nancy Wake Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, (30 August 1912 – 7 August 2011), also known as Madame Fiocca and Nancy Fiocca, was a nurse and journalist who joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II, and ...

, the shipwreck of the Batavia, Sir

John Monash General (Australia), General Sir John Monash, (; 27 June 1865 – 8 October 1931) was an Australian civil engineer and military commander of the First World War. He commanded the 13th Brigade (Australia), 13th Infantry Brigade before the war an ...

Breaker Morant Harry "The Breaker" Harbord Morant (born Edwin Henry Murrant, 9 December 1864 – 27 February 1902), more popularly known as Breaker Morant, was an Anglo-Australian drover, horseman, bush poet, military officer, and war criminal who was co ...

, Charles Kingsford-Smith, and

John Eales John Eales AM (born 27 June 1970) is an Australian former rugby union player and the most successful captain in the history of Australian rugby. In 1999, he became one of the first players to win multiple Rugby World Cups. Early life Eales ...

Selected books

* * * * * * *

Community and political activity

FitzSimons is or was involved with a range of community organisations. At the

he was a fellow of the Senate from 2009 to 2013, as well as Pro-Chancellor, a

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

of The Russell Prize for Humour Writing, State Library of New South Wales, since 2015 and chairman of the

since 2015. Additionally he served on the council of the Australian War Memorial and founded the Cauliflower Club with

Nick Farr-Jones Nicholas Campbell Farr-Jones AM (born 18 April 1962) is a former Australian rugby union footballer. His position was scrum-half. He is probably best remembered for winning the 1991 Rugby World Cup with his team against England. He now works at ...

. In the lead up to

2019 New South Wales state election The 2019 New South Wales state election was held on Saturday 23 March 2019 to elect the 57th Parliament of New South Wales, including all 93 seats in the Legislative Assembly and 21 of the 42 seats in the Legislative Council. The election wa ...

, FitzSimons began a campaign to prevent the demolition of the Sydney Football Stadium and

Stadium Australia Stadium Australia, currently known as Accor Stadium for sponsorship purposes, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. The stadium, which in Australia is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Stad ...

. He began by launching a petition in late 2017 on Change.org that reached approximately 220,000 signatures prior to the election as well as numerous editorial articles decrying the demolitions. The stadium issue became a major element of the campaign with Labor leader Michael Daley calling the election a "referendum on stadiums". On 5 December 2017, FitzSimons remarked on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that the incumbent

Gladys Berejiklian Gladys Berejiklian (born 22 September 1970) is an Australian former politician who served as the 45th premier of New South Wales and the leader of the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party from 2017 to 2021. Berejiklian became a member ...

government could "bulldoze and rebuild three new stadiums, including Parra, for $3Billion – on no demand – or they can win the next election, but they can't do both." On 23 March, Berejiklian and her coalition were easily returned to government, with political commentators suggesting that the issue did not resonate with the wider community of the state. The campaign had a minor success however, as the Government changed the original plan for a complete knock down rebuild of Stadium Australia, and instead would go ahead with a billion dollar refurbishment. The refurbishment would also be cancelled, although no funds were allocated to any grassroots sports facilities as FitzSimmons wished, and later had a similar level of funding directed to a new stadium in Penrith.

Personal life

FitzSimons is married to Australian journalist and TV presenter

Lisa Wilkinson Lisa Wilkinson (born 19 December 1959) is an Australian television presenter and journalist. Wilkinson currently narrates ''Ambulance Australia'' and has previously co-hosted the Nine Network's breakfast television program, ''Today,'' with K ...

. They have three children and live in Sydney. FitzSimons has identified himself as an atheist and a

republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Bandana

Fitzsimmons is well renown for wearing a red bandana. He has explained his regularly wearing of the bandana due to his children giving it to him to wear, so he wears it for them. He is at times referred to informally as "Pirate Pete" due to his wearing of the headwear.

Honours

On 13 June 2011 FitzSimons was named a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Order (distinction), honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of Australia, Queen of Aus ...

for service to literature as a biographer, sports journalist and commentator, and to the community through contributions to conservation, disability care, atheism, social welfare and sporting organisations.

References

External links

Homepage for FitzSimons' columns
in ''