Stephanie Brantz

Stephanie Brantz
Born	Stephanie Brantz 1972 Brisbane, Queensland
Occupation	Sports Reporter for SBS (2000 - 06), Nine Network (2006 - 09), Fox Sports (2010) and ABC1 (2010 - present)
Spouse(s)	Simon Hill
Years active	2000 - present

Stephanie Brantz (born in 1972 in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian sports presenter. She began her television career in 2000 on SBS (2000 - 2006), and has since worked on the Nine Network (2006 - 2009) and Fox Sports (2010). She is currently seen on ABC1, where she has been since late 2010.

Personal life

Brantz, born in Queensland to Dutch parents, began a modelling career in 1985 while attending St Peters Lutheran College in Indooroopilly.

She is married to Fox Sports football commentator Simon Hill.

Career

Television Career

In 2000, she moved to television presenting with SBS where she became a presenter of On the Ball in 2000, before filling in as host of Toyota World Sports and later co-hosting the show in 2006 with Les Murray. She also became the face of SBS during their coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

In July 2006, just after the World Cup, Brantz was recruited by Nine CEO Eddie McGuire to front several sporting programmes, including Nine News, The Cricket Show, Sunday & The Footy Show.

During the 2006 / 2007 summer season, Brantz presented a weekly highlights show of the National Basketball League on the Nine Network, which began on October 15, 2006. She also did "analysis and roving reports" for the network's 2006-07 Ashes cricket coverage.

On the 19 February 2007, she was appointed the sports presenter on Nightline.

In 2010, she appeared on Fox Sports News reading sports news.

In late 2010, Brantz began her duties on ABC1. She became a sports presenter and reporter on ABC News. She was the 'side-line commentator' for the W-League (Australia), that aired on Saturday afternoons on the network (of the summer of 2010/2011), as well as the host for New South Wales viewers of the Shute Shield in 2011, also on Saturday afternoons.

Other Roles

As well as her on-air television duties, Brantz is presenter of a pre and post match function at the Sydney Cricket Ground and Sydney Football Stadium. At this event, she chats with various commentators from the sport being played at the time.

Stephanie Brantz is also an Ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation.

Issues with Channel Nine and cricketers

Brantz's role with Channel Nine came under the spotlight, as she was supposed to interview players during breaks in or at the end of play. Brantz was reported removed from the network's cricket coverage because the players were apparently reluctant to speak with her, preferring to speak to ex-players such as Mark Taylor or Ian Healy. Brantz said "I think the culture needs to change...I think this is perhaps a case of Channel Nine not being quite sure about what to do with a woman in sport." A Cricket Australia spokesman, replied "They [the players] don't have gender concerns and most of the players I know enjoy female company." Brantz later clarified her view: "[The media] made a big deal out of the cricketers not speaking to me. What I meant at the time was that the players said if they were losing they'd probably want to talk to someone that had been there before, which meant the commentary team, which was all male. It wasn't something that I thought was a slight or anything. It certainly wasn't a miserable time. I chalked it up to experience."

External links

• Stephanie's journey from soccer mum to the face of World Cup, Anthony Stavrinos The Sydney Morning Herald 26 February 2006
• Simon and Steph a real team
• Women get second shot at cricket, Annette Sharp The Sun-Herald 12 November 2006