Sandy Roberts

Last updated

Sandy Roberts
Born (1950-02-22) 22 February 1950 (age 74)
Lucindale, South Australia, Australia
OccupationSport presenter & commentator
Years active1971–2019
Employer(s) Fox Footy and Crocmedia

Sandy Roberts (born 22 February 1950) is an Australian veteran sports presenter and commentator formerly working on television for Fox Sports Australia and radio with Crocmedia. He was a long-time personality of the Seven Network for four decades, notably part of the Seven Sport Olympics coverage as a host for more than 20 years.

Contents

Career

Roberts' career started at Perth radio station 6PM, after a short stint as a copyboy for the Adelaide News. Roberts then travelled extensively throughout Europe for two years, before returning to Australia, where he joined Radio 3CS Colac as an announcer. In 1971, he switched to television station BCV8-TV in Bendigo as a news presenter. He later joined the Seven Network in Adelaide in 1973 as a general announcer and presenter.

In 1980, Roberts was asked to be one of the commentators for the 1980 Moscow Olympics telecast after which Roberts moved to Melbourne to work for the Seven Network in Melbourne. [1]

In his time with the Seven Network, Roberts commentated over 700 Australian Football League (AFL) games. Roberts also commentated on NBL games, the Australian Open, the Spring Racing Carnival and many major golf tournaments. He has also been involved in the coverage of every Summer Olympic Games from Moscow 1980 to Beijing 2008, including Sydney 2000, as well as many Winter Olympic Games.

Roberts hosted the Seven Network's Bathurst 1000 coverage four times: in 1991, 1993, 1994 and the 1997 Super Touring 1000.

Alongside Dennis Cometti, Roberts was a commentator during the famous AFL match between Sydney and St Kilda in 1993 in which a pig was released onto the ground by a Sydney member with a number 4 and the nickname "Pluga" spray-painted onto it (in reference to then St Kilda player Tony Lockett). Roberts became famous for his call of the incident, exclaiming: "There's a pig at full-forward!".

In January 2005, Roberts joined Seven News Melbourne after Beverley O'Connor resigned.

Outside of sports broadcasting, Roberts was an annual contributor to Seven's telecast of the Good Friday Appeal [2] and also hosted the game shows It's Academic and The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime .

Despite this impressive résumé, Roberts is often remembered for his gaffe in introducing the 1981 Miss Australia, Leanne Dick as "Leanne Cock" during a Mount Gambier Cup meeting. (Ironically, Dick's surname after marriage is Cockerill). [3]

In early February 2013, Roberts was the subject of media speculation that he was leaving the Seven Network to work at another channel, Fox Footy. [4] In November 2013, Roberts confirmed that he would be leaving the Seven Network after 40 years with Seven in Melbourne and Adelaide to work at Fox Footy as a host-commentator. [5] Tim Watson took Roberts' place as the weekday sports newsreader. Roberts last day reading sport news was Friday 29 November 2013, and he finished his hosting duties for Seven at the Australian Open golf tournament on Sunday 1 December 2013. [6] Roberts retired from television in 2018.

Personal life

Roberts grew up on a sheep farm in Lucindale, South Australia.

Roberts is married to Carolyn, a former Vice President of international sports management company IMG, and they have a son, Angus. A previous marriage broke down following the death of a 15-year-old son from that marriage. He also has another son from his first marriage, Ben. Ben is married to Jane, and they have three daughters. [7]

In May 2023, Roberts stated that he was diagnosed with the blood cancer multiple myeloma in May 2022. [8] He is now an ambassador for Myeloma Australia. [9]

Community work

In addition to his ambassadorship for Myeloma Australia, Roberts has, since July 2013, been an ambassador for the non-profit organisation The Beehive Foundation, a charity that runs free programs to develop resilience and coping mechanisms for youth via junior sporting organisations. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie McGuire</span> Australian media personality and television host

Edward Joseph McGuireAM is an Australian television presenter, journalist and Australian Football League commentator. He is also an occasional Herald Sun newspaper columnist. He hosts Channel Nine’s Millionaire Hot Seat, Wednesday night episodes of Footy Classified, and Network 10’s coverage of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox Footy Channel</span> Channel dedicated to Australian football

The Fox Footy Channel was a channel exclusively dedicated to Australian rules football. It was owned by Foxtel and operated out of their Melbourne-based studios. From 2002–2006 it was available on Foxtel, Austar, Optus Television, TransTV and Neighbourhood Cable until transmission ceased on 1 October 2006. The channel was revived as Fox Footy for the 2012 AFL season after a new broadcast agreement was reached between Fox Sports and the AFL.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Voss</span> Australian rugby league commentator (born 1966)

Andrew Voss is an Australian rugby league commentator and radio and television personality who works for Fox League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Brayshaw</span> Australian cricketer and media personality

James Antony Brayshaw 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 Football League during winter.

Nicole Dawn Livingstone, OAM 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 was known for a period as Nicole Stevenson, when she was married to Australian cyclist Clayton Stevenson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce McAvaney</span> Australian sports broadcaster (born 1953)

Bruce William McAvaney OAM is an Australian sports broadcaster with the Seven Network. McAvaney has presented high-profile events including the AFL Grand Final, Melbourne Cup, Australian Open, Test cricket and both Winter and Summer Olympics, as well as annual special events such as the Brownlow Medal. McAvaney is well known for his commentary of AFL matches as well as covering every Summer Olympic Games from Moscow 1980 to the Tokyo 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke Darcy</span> Australian rules footballer, born 1975

Luke Darcy is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL) and now works for the Seven Network and Triple M covering the AFL and the Olympics.

Timothy Lane is a veteran Australian sports broadcaster and journalist who works at the Seven Network and Fairfax. He currently calls Australian rules football (AFL) matches for 3AW radio on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and writes for The Age newspaper. Additionally, beginning in 2018, he is a lead commentator for the Seven Sport test cricket coverage. Between 2003 and 2011, he was also an AFL commentator for Network Ten.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew White (journalist)</span> Australian journalist

Matthew White is an Australian sports broadcaster, television executive, television presenter and journalist at Network 10, where he returned to in 2014. He has previously been Network 10's Head of Sport and host of the motorsports panel show RPM.

Shane John Russell known as Dwayne Russell is a former professional Australian rules footballer and currently a commentator of the sport.

Stephen William Quartermain is an Australian television personality, journalist and presenter.

Seven Sport is the brand and production department under which all sporting events on the Seven Network are broadcast. It broadcasts some of Australia's most prominent sporting events, such as the AFL and cricket, as well as horse racing and motor racing.

Nick McArdle is an Australian TV sports presenter with a career spanning 20 years in the media industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cameron Williams</span> Australian journalist

Cameron Williams is an Australian television journalist and presenter, most notably with the Nine Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Basheer</span> Australian football commentator

David Basheer is an Australian sports commentator and presenter. He is best known for presenting football (soccer) commentary, in particular on The World Game on television network SBS from 2007 to 2018. Basheer was engaged by the Seven Network to commentate the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Mark Readings is an Australian sports journalist and commentator. He is formerly a reporter for Seven News and Nine News and also commentates Australian rules football matches on 6PR.

Kelli Underwood is an Australian radio and television sports journalist and sportscaster specialising in Australian rules football, netball and tennis.

The King's Birthday match is an annual Australian rules football match between the Melbourne Football Club and Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on the King's Birthday public holiday in Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamish McLachlan</span> Australian sports broadcaster

Hamish Angus McLachlan is an Australian sports broadcaster with Seven Sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yvonne Sampson</span> Australian television sports presenter

Yvonne Sampson is an Australian television sports presenter and commentator.

References

  1. ↑ Sandy Roberts, Yahoo!7, Retrieved 2 November 2013. Archived 16 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ David Knox (19 March 2013). "Seven ready for 2013 Good Friday Appeal". TV Tonight. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  3. ↑ Geoff McClure, Just names, Sandy, The Age, 16 April 2007.
  4. ↑ Jane Lee (11 February 2013). "I'm not off to Fox: Sandy". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  5. ↑ Pierik, Jon (5 December 2013). "Roberts welcomes new role". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  6. ↑ David Knox (30 November 2013). "Seven farewells Sandy". TV Tonight. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  7. ↑ Sandy ends silence on son, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 Jan 2006
  8. ↑ Sandy Roberts in the fight of his life but locked out of using new treatment offering hope | 7NEWS , retrieved 6 November 2023
  9. ↑ "Broadcasting legend in frightening health battle with incurable disease". 15 May 2023.
  10. ↑ "Ambassadors". The Beehive Foundation. Beehive Foundation. 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2014.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.