Tony Johnson (broadcaster)
Tony Johnson (born 29 August 1959) is a New Zealand rugby commentator and presenter for SKY Television.
Johnson hailed from Picton and played for the Queen Charlotte College 1st XV as a lock and loose forward before playing club senior reserves.
At the age of 19 he was forced to give up contact sport and was captivated by radio where he started his broadcasting career.
During his radio career, Johnson covered Rugby World Cups and Commonwealth Games before becoming a sports presenter for TV3 then moved to SKY in the early 2000s. He has been to every Rugby World Cup expect the 1999 tournament as either a fan, reporter or broadcaster.
Johnson is now a highly respected commentator during New Zealand's coverage of Super Rugby and the ITM Cup during the winter and regional and national sevens competitions throughout the summer. He has commentated a handful of All Black test matches – as SKY's main commentator is Grant Nisbett but mainly hosts the pre-match and post-match shows. He was a commentator during the 2011 Rugby World Cup and 2015 Rugby World Cup for host broadcaster SKY and ITV respectively.
He covered equestrian for SKY during the 2012 Commonwealth Games coverage.
He also hosted a weekly Tuesday evening rugby analytical show Re-Union for over a decade before that was replaced by the shortened Sunday highlights show Rugby Nation screened on Prime TV and SKY in 2014. Johnston has contributed to Newstalk ZB's sports feature on a Monday morning with Mike Hosking and Andrew Saville.
Johnson currently resides in the Auckland suburb of Northcote with his wife and daughter.
References
- ↑ "Broadcaster Tony Johnson's passion for rugby runs deep". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
- ↑ "Sky Sport launching new shows and personalities • Throng". Throng.co.nz. 2014-02-20. Retrieved 2016-02-16.