Roy Masters (sport)
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Roy Masters born ?, is a well-known Australian Rugby League Football coach, sports administrator and sports journalist. He is currently a sports columnist at the Sydney Morning Herald. Masters is also a member of the Australian Sports Commission and is known for his appreciation of both rugby league football and football (soccer)[citation needed]. He was originally a school teacher with an interest in team psychology. Masters is the son of author and journalist Olga Masters and brother of prominent media notables including current affairs journalist Chris Masters.
[edit] Football coach
Masters began his career coaching at the Western Suburbs Rugby League Football Club (The Magpies) in the New South Wales Rugby Football League on 1978. He was appointed even though he had no experience as a professional player. He re-built the Magpies, who had been in decline they suffered after the three successive grand final losses to the St George Dragons Rugby League Club in 1961-63. He coached the Magpies to a minor premiership in 1979 and they were consistently high quality during this period. Many quality players were produced under his tutelage including Les Boyd and Tommy Raudonikis.
Masters was a master of psychology, famously terming the Western Suburbs the "fibros" (a type of asbestos sheeting commonly used in houses in the area) as opposed to the Manly-Warringah Rugby League Club (The Sea Eagles), whom he described as the "silvertails". This reflected both the socio-economics of the areas of Sydney and the financial situations of the clubs. He created this term after an exhibition match in Melbourne. The Sea-Eagles stayed at a luxury resort whilst Wests were at a two star hotel. Masters left Wests when it emerged that the Magpies' affiliated leagues club at Ashfield, New South Wales would no longer be able to support the incomes of his key "fibros" players.
Masters moved on to St George in 1982, reaching the Grand Final in 1985 but lost. Masters is regarded as the finest coach to have never won a premiership because he was seemingly able to help financially struggling clubs to perform above their ability.
[edit] Journalism
Masters is a columnist at the Sydney Morning Herald who is known for his traditionalist attitudes to Rugby League. [1]
He also appears on the ABC-TV sports panel show Offsiders.
Masters is well-known for his analytical skill, especially in regard to rugby league and he is genuinely highly regarded by current players, a rarity for a member of the media. [2]
He did not support Super League when it broke out in 1995 and believes in the traditions of rugby league as opposed to the Murdoch-run commercialised game that has emerged the eighties.
Masters also covers boxing and a variety of other sports, famously criticising American jingoism that occurred in the 2002 opening ceremony at the Salt Lake city Winter Olympic Games.
He is a strong supporter of John O'Neill, the former Australian Rugby Union chief executive and now Football Federation Australia chief executive who led Australia to the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Recently he has questioned FFA head Frank Lowy in a series of articles in which he detailed the Australian round ball game's financial problems amidst the relative success of the Socceroos at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Specifically he questioned whether Lowy, Australia's second richest man, would repay an Australian Sports commission loan of over 3 million dollars to help develop a national league. Lowy replied in a letter to the Sydney Morning Herald among other things that Roy Masters was a "Rugby League commentator". He further continued by insulting Master's journalistic credibility. Masters then revealed that his great uncle Jude Masters was a former captain of the Australian national team. [3]
