From the Cape Flats to the Premier League: Our Julia Stuart blazing a trail for SA and women sportscasters

A familiar face greeted South African television viewers, and indeed millions around the world, when the new Premier League season kicked off in August.

Julia Stuart hosted the Premier League Productions show for the opening English top-flight match of the season between Manchester United and Fulham, less than a year after leaving Mzansi’s shores to find a new ceiling for her career after breaking the glass one back home.

The Cape Town-born broadcaster and presenter was a constant presence on our screens during the previous Premier League season. During the off-season, she also featured on Sky Sports, continuing to expand her in-demand presenter skills as a freelancer.

For Stuart, however, the journey from enthusiastic intern almost two decades ago at Independent Media’s tabloid, Daily Voice, to the Premier League Productions and Sky Sports is still surreal.

Especially for a woman of colour from the Cape Flats trying to make it in an industry where the old-boys’ club still gatekeeps who gets in and who doesn’t.

“It still feels surreal, every day. This week when I’ve been at home and in my family’s home, we reminisced about growing up in Hanover Park and Mitchell’s Plain,” Stuart told IOL Sport during her visit to Cape Town in July before the start of the season.

“To think that my life has become what it is, I actually can’t wrap my head around it. Obviously I haven’t done it alone, I understand that. I’m a woman of faith and I understand where to give thanks.

“But I’ve always had the same work ethic, and I’ve always understood, being a woman in this job ... it wasn’t built for us. When I started out there weren’t a lot of us, but now there are a lot more of us.

“The industry is changing ... obviously it’s not equal yet, but it feels like it’s changing. Opportunities have always opened up for me, because of me putting myself out there and putting in the work.”

Stuart started at the Daily Voice in the late 2000s while studying at the University of Cape Town, where she asked then editor Karl Brophy for an opportunity to job shadow in the sports department.

A few years later she became the Voice’s sports editor and was at the forefront of their 2010 Fifa World Cup coverage.

“I would go after class or on my off days, just seeing how they worked. I started freelance writing, starting with rugby interviews. My first interview was with former Stormers and Springbok scrumhalf Bolla Conradie,” said Stuart.

“Opportunities opened up in the newspaper industry, because people were changing jobs all the time.”

Stuart’s broadcasting career then took off after moving to ENCA, working as a sports reporter for six months before being promoted to the desk as a news anchor.

But the goal was always to do sport, especially live sport. And for that to happen she had to persuade South Africa’s biggest sports broadcaster to give her a chance to prove her worth.

Stuart believed she had the ability to do the job.

“I think when you are in a news environment at ENCA, sport is not a priority. And that’s why I hounded Alvin Naicker at SuperSport for almost a year,” Stuart said.

“Working in live sports broadcasting ... being a TV news presenter didn’t help me. My journalism background helped me.

“For the big broadcasters, you need to be the finished product. There is no school to become a sports presenter.

“I had a performing arts background, and that gave me the the confidence ... how to speak and how to use your voice. But I also watched people and blended in my own personality, getting in and out of add breaks and linking to interviews and stories.

“The technical aspect of broadcasting, you’re just supposed to know what to do ... you get thrown into the deep end and is expected to swim.”

Swim she did ...

Stuart became a fan favourite during her time at SuperSport as a pitch-side presenter, as she used her print journalism background to ask the right questions to spice up both pre-game and post-game interviews.

Not long afterwards she made her way into the studio to host big matches, culminating in an anchor role during the Fifa Men’s World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and the Women’s World World Cup in 2023.

“There is no doubt in my mind that it [journalism background] gave me the edge and continues to give me the edge. It’s thanks to my university education, because tertiary education teaches you how to construct an argument,” Stuart said.

“I never really thought about it until I was in a really dark place at work and needed to relook who I wanted to be as a presenter, constructing questions, how and when to ask the right questions. That is all journalism.

“It’s been the cornerstone of my presenting and given me substance as a broadcaster.”

But “substance” is not always enough for women in the broadcasting industry. Patriarchy and toxic masculinity is still very much a part of sport, sports journalism and broadcasting.

Over the years Stuart has learned to navigate it and when and quickly figured out how and when to pick her battles in an industry which can be very unforgiving, especially on television.

“I have absolutely experienced it, the toxic masculinity and some people’s sense of entitlement in the industry,” Stuart said.

“Even today, there are subtle things that get said and done. I remember being the only woman in a press conference room and people would wonder ‘why are you here, what is your motive’.

“It’s not only in the way people treat you, but you learn that people judge you very differently, especially on TV in South Africa.

“People will look at your weight, how you are wearing your hair, while it doesn’t matter what a male presenter looks like.

“You have to change people’s mindsets I guess, because we are still seen as ‘other’ in our work place as women. But we are slowly changing that narrative.”

Almost 18 months ago Stuart felt that she has reached her ceiling in South Africa and was keen on a new adventure. She was on the brink of going to Spain to work for La Liga before an opportunity of a lifetime came knocking.

After a few coincidental telephone conversations, Stuart found herself on the radar of the Premier League productions after she had done weekly live crossings and shows with them while at SuperSport for many years.

The rest, as they say in the classics, is history.

“It’s a very coloured thing to think if you work hard enough people will notice. But I had to learn it doesn’t necessarily work that way. Yes, you have to work very hard, but you have to network ... all the time.

“A lot of stuff had to work out and everything had to align pretty serendipitously. This time last year I was on my way to La Liga. I had a meeting with them in Barcelona and it was happening, and then suddenly I found myself packing for the Premier League.

“I was supposed to do some pitch-side interviews and in-person interviews, and then after one show they asked me to anchor. My first game was Burnley vs Luton and Lyle Foster scored. It just felt like fate.

“I’m not doing anything different to what I did here, I believed I have the skills and the ability, it was just about getting that opportunity.”

Stuart hopes her journey inspires more South African girls and women to follow their passion, especially when it comes to sports journalism and broadcasting.

She says it’s a lot easier to get into the space in 2024 then it was in the late 2000s. Social media has essentially given people a voice and platform to launch their careers.

“The world has changed so much since I started out. If I was an aspiring presenter or broadcaster, I would hit social media in a big way,” Stuart said.

“I’m seeing so many people get opportunities so soon - and huge opportunities - just because they focussed on using their platform.

“You don’t need a radio gig or TV gig anymore. You can just use your platform and focus on creating content. Everyone is unique and the power is in that.

“If you love Kaizer Chiefs for instance, build your social media around that. The broadcasters will come knocking. The template is there.”

Who knows, one day you can follow Julia Stuart’s footsteps to the Premier League and Sky Sports.

@JohnGoliath82