Why Roz Kelly believes sport will unite the world
After six years living as an expat in Cape Town supporting her cricketer husband, sports presenter Roz Kelly is back home. And this time, she’s the one in the spotlight.
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Arias Morkel loves his new life down under.
The three-year-old son of sports presenter Roz Kelly and former South African cricketer Morné Morkel now calls Australia home and has taken to the Sydney beaches and his first bike like a duck to water.
It’s a sea change of sorts for the little boy born in South Africa who, by his first birthday, had travelled to 11 countries, living a nomadic cricket life with his parents.
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Now Arias, four-month-old brother Leo and his parents have settled, with Kelly returning home to front the 10 News First Weekend sports bulletin and co-host a revamped version of Sports Tonight, which launches this Wednesday.
“It’s really special immersing Ari in the classic Australian lifestyle,” Kelly tells Stellar. “For so long he’s been contained in airports and hotel rooms. He’s really flourishing.
“When I fell pregnant, Morné was still representing his country and we decided we’d try and create a family environment wherever we were in the world. We’d spend months on end living out of a suitcase — but that’s why we became such a close family. It was just the three of us.
“There were times I felt really guilty dragging Arias around the world because he didn’t have any structure or routine and was eating chips in airports and licking suitcase wheels. I tried to remind myself we were in such a fortunate position to show him the world. Hopefully it makes him a better person, being exposed to so many different cultures and people.”
But, she adds, “It reached a point last year where it got to be too much. We were feeling burnt out from all the travel, and I could tell Ari needed more stability, to settle and start forming friendships. That was a big factor in Morné’s decision to retire from international cricket and for us to come home, be around family and put roots down.”
Kelly, 33, and Morkel, 34, have been together for six years and married for four.
Her hectic life covering events around the globe as a sports reporter and presenter for the Nine Network changed when Kelly took what she calls “a professional leap of faith” and uprooted to Cape Town in 2013.
Soon she was working with Network 10 to cover the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the Big Bash in 2014—2015. After a break to give birth, she was back for two more seasons of Twenty20.
She says she is glad to be working — praising not only the environment to which she has returned, but also the content she is getting to cover.
“To get the opportunity to come back in a capacity that works with family life is fantastic. I have the best of both worlds — working in the newsroom and closely with the sports team on major broadcasts. There’s so much negativity in the world these days, but sport continues to unite and uplift people.”
So, too, did one of her first onscreen encounters, a moment last month that became an instant career highlight. “It was really special to sit on and share the desk with Chris Bath,” she tells Stellar.
“When a journalist of her calibre walks into the newsroom, her presence inspires everyone to be, and do, their best.”
Reflecting on her years in South Africa, Kelly — who was born in Mackay, Queensland — believes they overhauled her perspective.
“South Africa was a period of significant growth. I really learnt about compassion, kindness and generosity,” she says.
“Every day I crossed paths with people living in poverty, whose main concern was feeding their family that day. I’ll never forget those encounters; I would like to think those experiences made me a better person, mum, friend and hopefully journalist as well, because it’s given me more empathy.”
But motherhood has done plenty of that, too. “I’m a lot more patient, softer and kinder,” says Kelly.
“Some days I feel like I’m winning and doing a really good job, and other days I’m failing spectacularly. But that’s motherhood — it’s a constant struggle. And it’s important for mothers to speak honestly about it because there’s no right way of doing it. You’ve just got to find the way that works best for your family.
“We live in the most beautiful country in the world, we’re very lucky, and when you grow up in Australia it’s so easy to take all of the opportunity we have for granted. Now I’m home, I want to ensure my boys maintain a strong connection with South Africa and its heritage because it will make them better human beings — better men from being exposed to the struggles of other people.”
The family of four is now etching out a new chapter in Sydney, living in an Airbnb rental and driving a hire car while they seek out a new home.
Morkel will head to the UK in April to play county cricket for Surrey for five months, then will explore his options as a Twenty20 gun for hire.
Kelly, meanwhile, “can’t wait to be together as a family and do normal things, like grocery shopping! I took a step back and slowed down professionally to support my husband when he was at the peak of his career.
“Now he is my rock and I’m getting back into the swing of work. It’s an exciting period for us. Now we can really begin a proper family life.”
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Originally published as Why Roz Kelly believes sport will unite the world
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