Roy Masters (rugby league)

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Roy Masters
Personal information
Full nameRoydon John Masters
Born (1941-10-15) 15 October 1941 (age 82)
Newtown, New South Wales, Australia
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
1978–81 Wests Magpies 94 56 2 36 60
1982–87 St. George Dragons 156 86 8 62 55
Total 250 142 10 98 57
Source: RLP

Roydon John Masters

NSWRFL Premiership
.

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 television Producer and Deb Masters.[1]

Coaching

Masters had little experience as a professional rugby league footballer having played country football as a hooker of, "only average ability "[2] 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 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.[1]

Masters' senior coaching career in the

NSWRL commenced with a minor role with the Penrith Panthers 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.[2] In 1976 he shifted to the Western Suburbs Magpies to coach their under 23s side when Don Parish
was the head coach.

"People say that Roy was a motivator and not a tactical coach, but that is very wrong. He was both, but he was the best motivator I played under. He was one of us. He was like a father to us all."

−Tommy Raudonikis[3]

In 1978 he was appointed as head coach largely due to the support of senior players

St George 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

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, whom he described as the "silvertails". This reflected both the socio-economics of the respective Sydney suburbs and the financial situations of the clubs. He created this term after a fiery exhibition match between the two sides in Melbourne 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.[1]

"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.

leagues club at Ashfield
would no longer be able to support the incomes of his key "fibros" players.

Masters moved on to

Dally M
coach of the year in 1985.

In September 2004 Masters was named as coach of the Western Suburbs Magpies team of the century.

Journalism

Masters is a columnist at The Sydney Morning Herald,[4] 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 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.[5] Masters also covers soccer, boxing and a variety of other sports, famously criticising American jingoism at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games.

He is a strong supporter of

Australian national team.[6]

In 2005 Masters gave the 7th annual Tom Brock Lecture.[7] He also made an appearance in the 2007 rugby league drama film The Final Winter.[8] In 2012 he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for services to sport and journalism.[9]

Whilst continuing to write articles for The Sydney Morning Herald, in 2010 Masters released a book, Higher, Richer, Sleazier: How Drugs and Money Are Changing Sport Forever.[10]

In 2011, he was awarded

Australian Sports Commission Media Award for Lifetime Achievement.[11]

Published sources

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

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9781743465660
  2. ^ a b c Tony Stephens (24 June 1979). "The league coach who swears by the bard". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  3. ^ Joel Gould. "Legend Q&A: Tommy Raudonikis". nrl.com.
  4. ^ "NSW kept at heel by sense of tradition - League - Sport". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 July 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
  5. ^ "Coaches fall into two categories: perfectionists and the pragmatists - League". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 July 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
  6. ^ "Let's be frank, code needs all the help it can get - Football - Sport". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 July 2006. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
  7. ^ Tom Brock Lecture Archived 18 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine at the Australian Society for Sports History's website
  8. ^ FitzSimons, Peter (20 October 2007). "The Fitz Files". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australia: Fairfax Media. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  9. ^ "Member (AM) in the Order of Australia" (PDF). gg.gov.au. Governor-General of Australia. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  10. ISBN 9781459613195
    . Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  11. ^ "ASC Media Award Winners 2011". Australian Sports Commission at Pandora website. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Harry Bath
1977–1981
 Coach
St George
1982–1987 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Coach

Western Suburbs
1978–1981 		Succeeded by

External links

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