''The Back Page'', also known as ''Back Page Live'', is an Australian sports television show broadcast on

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

on Tuesday nights between 1997 and June 2025. The show was hosted by

Tony Squires Tony Squires (born 22 June 1961) is an Australian media personality of radio and television and published author. He is perhaps best known as the presenter of the comic sport news show '' The Fat'', which ran on ABC television from 2000 to 20 ...

, with a roster of panelists including retired Australian professional ironwoman

Candice Warner Candice Ann Warner (née Falzon; born 13 March 1985) is an Australian retired professional ironwoman and surf life saver. Ironwoman Candice first competed professionally at the age of 14 in the Ironman series. At 16 she was a NSW state iron ...

, cricket writer Robert 'Crash' Craddock, broadcaster

Ryan Fitzgerald Ryan James Fitzgerald (born 16 October 1976) is an Australian radio personality, television presenter, comedian and former Australian rules footballer. After being drafted from the South Adelaide Football Club, he made his Australian Football ...

and former Australian cricketer

Kerry O'Keeffe Kerry James O'Keeffe (born 25 November 1949) is an Australian former cricketer and a current cricket commentator for Fox Sports. O'Keeffe played 24 Test matches and two One Day Internationals between 1971 and 1977. Due to his comedic anecdotes ...

. The main content of the weekly show featured a round-up of the previous week's sporting news, and featured interviews with sporting personalities. It also covered all major Australian sports as well as international sports.

Current panelists

Former panelists

* Mike Gibson (host, 1997–2012) *

Billy Birmingham Billy Birmingham (born 18 January 1953) is an Australian humorist and sometimes 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 comed ...

(regular panelist, 1997–2012) *

Peter FitzSimons Peter John FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian author, journalist, and radio and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and was the chair of the Australian Republic Movement from 2015 to 20 ...

(regular panelist) * Tracey Holmes (regular panelist) *

Peter Frilingos Peter Frilingos (1944–2004) was a sports journalist and commentator, best known for his work as a rugby league writer. Frilingos started his career in journalism in February 1962 at the Sydney ''Daily Mirror'' and within two years he wrote h ...

(regular panelist) *

David Hookes David William Hookes (3 May 1955 – 19 January 2004) was an Australian cricket player and coach. He played for the Australia national cricket team and domestic cricket for South Australia, later coaching Victoria. An aggressive left-handed ba ...

(regular panelist) *

Matt Shirvington Matt Shirvington (born 25 October 1978) is an Australian former athlete and television presenter who held the Australian 100m national sprint title from 1998 to 2002. Shirvington is the third fastest Australian sprinter of all time. He qualifi ...

(co-host, 2013) * Kelli Underwood (co-host, 2013–2021) *

Mark Bosnich Mark John Bosnich (; born 13 January 1972) is an Australian former professional association football, soccer player who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper, and sports pundit. He played in England for Premier League clubs ...

(regular panelist, 2013–2021) *

Julian Schiller Julian "Jules" Schiller is an Australian TV and radio personality. Schiller currently hosts ''Breakfast'' on ABC Radio Adelaide. He previously worked at Nova 91.9, Triple M, Fox Sports, and The Project. Radio In 1993 Schiller started w ...

(regular panelist, 2013–2017)

History

Launched in 1997 as ''The Back Page'', the show was originally hosted by journalist Mike Gibson and comedian

. In 2012, Gibson announced that he was leaving the show after 16 years and 720 episodes. Soon after, Birmingham announced he would not be returning to the show the following year after being informed he'd been demoted to a part-time panelist. In 2013, presenter

and athlete

took up the role of hosting the show. Shirvington left the show the same year, and was replaced by journalist Kelli Underwood. From 7 October 2017, the show moved from its traditional Tuesday night time slot to air live at 7.00pm Saturday nights on the

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

channel

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, classified as the shows "Summer Series". Subsequent repeats are shown on Fox Sports throughout the week following. The episodes were shortened from a 1-hour to 45 minutes run time, and the title was changed to ''The Back Page'' as it was previously called when it originally launched. This run was short-lived however, ending on 25 November 2017 after just eight episodes. The show returned to its traditional Tuesday night slot on

on 27 February 2018. ''The Back Page'' celebrated its 25th year on air in 2021. In June 2025, the show was cancelled and the final episode aired on 24 June 2025, with Underwood returning.

References

External links

* * * 1997 Australian television series debuts 2010s Australian television series Australian English-language television shows Australian sports television series Australian television talk shows Fox Sports (Australian TV network) original programming {{Australia-tv-prog-stub 2025 Australian television series endings

Current panelists

Former panelists

History

See also

References

External links