Roy Masters AM (born 15 October 1941) is an Australian sports journalist and former

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

football coach. He is a sports columnist for the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

''. He was a school teacher with an interest in team psychology who enjoyed some success as a schoolboy coach before embarking on a professional coaching career in the

NSWRFL Premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sou ...

Family and early life

Roy was the eldest of seven children to author and journalist Olga Masters and her school teacher husband. His siblings include current affairs journalist Chris Masters, Ian Masters, a Los Angeles radio show host, Quentin Masters, a London-based film producer,

Sue Masters Sue Masters is an Australian television producer who is currently the executive producer of drama for Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). Family Master's mother Olga Masters was a journalist and writer. Her siblings Roy, Ian, Quentin, Chris and D ...

television Producer and Deb Masters.Apter ''The Coaches: The Men Who Changed Rugby League''

Coaching

Masters had little experience as a professional

footballer having played country football as a of, "only average ability " during his early teaching years at Tweed River High. He qualified as a teacher in 1963 and following posts at Tweed River and Armidale, Masters taught at

Tamworth High School Tamworth High School is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive secondary day school, located in Willis Street, South Tamworth, a suburb of the Tamworth Regional Council local government area in the New England region of New South Wa ...

and coached their rugby league side to victory in the prestigious University Shield schoolboys competition. In 1972 he was selected as coach of the inaugural Australian Schoolboys representative side which featured such future stars as Ian Schubert, Craig Young, Les Boyd and Royce Ayliffe. The side toured Great Britain, going undefeated on the tour and scoring 108 tries in their 11 games to their opponents one. Masters' senior coaching career in the

NSWRL The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

commenced with a minor role with the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrit ...

in 1974 as one of five members of the coaching panel. At the time he was still a social science teacher at Doonside High School. In 1976 he shifted to the

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly r ...

to coach their under 23s side when Don Parish was the head coach. In 1978 he was appointed as head coach largely due to the support of senior players Tommy Raudonikis and Les Boyd. Masters re-built the Magpies, who had been in decline since suffering three successive

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

losses to

St George Saint George ( Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

from 1961 to 1963. He coached the Magpies to a minor premiership in 1978 and they played with consistent high quality during this period. Many acclaimed players blossomed under his tutelage, including Boyd, John Dorahy and John "Dallas" Donnelly; while the tough, uncompromising halfback Tommy Raudonikis led the side on-field. Masters was a master of psychology, famously terming the Western Suburbs the "fibros" (a type of

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

sheeting commonly used in houses in the area) in contrast to their rivals of the period the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

, whom he described as the "

silvertail The English language expression silver spoon is synonymous with wealth, especially inherited wealth; someone born into a wealthy family is said to have "been born with a silver spoon in their mouth". As an adjective, "silver spoon" describes ...

s". This reflected both the socio-economics of the respective

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

suburbs and the financial situations of the clubs. He created this term after a fiery exhibition match between the two sides in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

when Masters was happy to spread a false rumour that the Sea Eagles had stayed at a luxury resort while Wests had to make do with a two-star hotel. "I've been a battler all my life. I can communicate with a team like Wests. I form a close personal relationship with each of my players because I'm one of their kind." Masters said of his time at the club. Masters left Western Suburbs when it emerged that the Magpies' affiliated leagues club at Ashfield would no longer be able to support the incomes of his key "fibros" players. Masters moved on to St. George Dragons in 1982, reaching the Grand Final in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

but losing to Canterbury-Bankstown 7-6. Masters is regarded as one of the finest coaches to have never won a premiership because he was seemingly able to help financially struggling clubs to perform above their ability. He was awarded the

Dally M The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. As well as honouring the player of the year, who received the Dally M Medal, awards are also given to the premier player in each position, the be ...

coach of the year in 1985. In September 2004 Masters was named as coach of the

team of the century.

Journalism

Masters is a columnist at ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', and also appears on the ABC-TV sports panel show '' Offsiders''. He was also a Rugby League Commentator for Channel Seven when the Seven network had the free to air TV rights for Australian Tests from 1990 to 1993. Masters did not support

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

when it emerged in 1995 and is well known for his support for rugby league traditions. He is also respected for his analytical skill, and is highly regarded by current players, a rarity for a member of the media. Masters also covers soccer, boxing and a variety of other sports, famously criticising American

jingoism Jingoism is nationalism in the form of aggressive and proactive foreign policy, such as a country's advocacy for the use of threats or actual force, as opposed to peaceful relations, in efforts to safeguard what it perceives as its national int ...

at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. He is a strong supporter of John O'Neill, the Australian Rugby Union chief executive (and former

Football Federation Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only establ ...

CEO) who led the federation to the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

. However, Masters has criticised FFA chairman

Frank Lowy Sir Frank P. Lowy ( ; born 22 October 1930) is an Australian-Israeli businessman of Jewish Slovakian-Hungarian origins and the former long-time Chairman of Westfield Corporation, a global shopping centre company with billion of assets under ...

in a series of articles detailing Australian soccer's financial problems, in spite of the Socceroos' success at the World Cup. He questioned whether Lowy, Australia's second richest man, would repay an Australian Sports Commission loan of over A$3 million, to help develop a national league. In a letter to the ''Sydney Morning Herald'', Lowy questioned Masters' journalistic credibility, saying among other things that Masters was a "Rugby League commentator". Masters then revealed that his great uncle James "Judy" Masters was a former captain of the Australian national team. In 2005 Masters gave the 7th annual

Tom Brock Lecture The Tom Brock Lecture is an annual scholarly lecture organised by the Australian Society for Sports History at the bequest of Australian sports historian Tom Brock. The topic of the lecture is the history of rugby league football. It has been give ...

. He also made an appearance in the 2007 rugby league drama film ''

The Final Winter ''The Final Winter'' is an Australian drama film released in 2007. It was directed by Brian Andrews and Jane Forrest and produced by Anthony Coffee, and Michelle Russell, while independently produced it is being distributed by Paramount Pictu ...

''. In 2012 he was appointed as a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...

for services to sport and journalism. Whilst continuing to write articles for ''

'', in 2010 Masters released a book, ''Higher, Richer, Sleazier: How Drugs and Money Are Changing Sport Forever''. In 2011, he was awarded Australian Sports Commission Media Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Published sources

* Apter, Jeff ''The Coaches : The Men Who Changed Rugby League'' (2014), The Five Mile Press Scoresby, Victoria

References

External links

Roy Masters
at rugbyleagueproject.org
Roy Masters at leaguehq.com.au
1941 births Living people 20th-century Australian journalists 20th-century Australian non-fiction writers 21st-century Australian journalists Australian columnists Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league journalists Australian sports journalists Australian television journalists Journalists from Sydney Roy Members of the Order of Australia Rugby league players from Sydney St. George Dragons coaches Western Suburbs Magpies coaches The Sydney Morning Herald people {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-stub