Journalism
Masters is a columnist at The Sydney Morning Herald, 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. 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 John O'Neill, the Australian Rugby Union chief executive (and former Football Federation Australia CEO) who led the federation to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. However, Masters has criticised FFA chairman Frank Lowy 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. He also made an appearance in the 2007 rugby league drama film The Final Winter. In 2012 he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for services to sport and journalism.
Read more about this topic: Roy Masters (rugby League)
Famous quotes containing the word journalism:
“In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs for ever and ever.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)