What’s the Buzz: The Back Page show set to finish after 29 years on Fox Sports
After 29 years, The Back Page is set to finish with just three more episodes to air. Fox Sports boss Steve Crawley explains to Phil Rothfield why it’s time to wrap up Australia’s longest running television sports show.
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Australia’s longest running television sports show is closing down after 29 years.
Fox Sports’ The Back Page started in 1997 when the late and great Mike Gibson launched a panel show that included a bandana-less Peter FitzSimons, Billy Birmingham, Tracey Holmes and columnist Jeff Wells.
The show will finish up after three more episodes.
Tony Squires took up the hosting role 12 years ago and says he’s not shocked by the decision.
“Ironically, I wrote a story in 2021 saying television shows don’t usually last 25 years,” he said. “They’re like animals on the Savannah — very few of them die of old age.
“There’s always something young and exciting with big nasty teeth, coming to get them.
“Well, The Back Page is now 29 years old, I’ve been hosting it for almost 13 years ... and we’ve been got. To be honest, it wasn’t a shock.”
Squires is expected to stay at Fox Sports in another role.
Previously he worked on the popular ABC show The Fat and is one of the great survivors of TV sports broadcasting.
“It’s been a privilege to host a show once run by the legendary Mike Gibson,” he said.
“But most of all it’s been fun — like sitting at the pub with your mates pretending to know a shitload about sport.
“I’m going to miss it; not because it was a job, but because it was my social life. I got to hang out with Kelli Underwood, Ryan Fitzgerald, Kerry O’Keeffe, Candice Warner, Brad Johnson, Ben Dixon and Robert Craddock — the most enthusiastic man on the planet.
“We’ve interviewed hundreds of sporting superstars over the years. From Rod Laver to Gout Gout – a 17-year-old kid who lit up the screen on his first live TV interview show just a few weeks ago.”
The decision to cut The Back Page comes just months after DAZN purchased the pay TV network from Foxtel.
But Fox Sports boss Steve Crawley denies it was a cost-cutting move under the new owners.
“At Fox Sports we have introduced a number of new shows in recent times and we have more in final planning,” he said. “The Back Page has been entertaining audiences for nearly three decades; there are very few shows that can claim that.
“Entertainment programming is a tough business in that it’s like life itself, how everything has a lifespan. Even the great shows like Hey Hey It’s Saturday and The Back Page.
“In a big country with different codes of football and unique tastes, it’s extremely rare for a sports show to survive, let alone for almost 30 years.”
He paid tribute to Squires and the team.
“Host Tony Squires, panellists Crash and Fitzy, Candice Warner and Kelli Underwood and producer Matt Parslow have put in so much hard work,” he said. “We’ll celebrate Back Page over the final three weekly episodes.”
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