Ian Heads | |
|---|---|
 Heads in 2015 | |
| Born | Ian John Heads 15 February 1943 Rose Bay, Sydney, Australia |
| Occupation | historian, journalist, author, sportswriter |
| Language | English |
| Education | Sydney Boys High |
| Website | |
| www | |
Ian John Heads OAM (born 15 February 1943) is an Australian historian, journalist, commentator and author. He is described as "Australia's foremost rugby league historian" by the National Museum of Australia.[1]
In the reconstruction period following World War II sport was exceptionally prominent in Australian society. Like many of his contemporaries, Heads was a sports-mad preteen and teenager. After completing high school he began work as a copy boy in the early 1960s for the Sydney Daily Telegraph, but soon rose through the ranks to become the main journalist covering rugby league for most of his long career. At times he also wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald and the Herald-Sun.[2] He also spent some years as the much praised editor of the magazine Rugby League Week.
He has written more than 50 books, mostly on rugby league personalities, but also significant books on other sports, and some books of general interest. He has also written a comprehensive history of Australian sport since 1788, histories of rugby league in general, and chronicles of several sporting clubs.
Most of his sport articles and reports on events such as the Olympic Games, Kangaroo and Rugby League World Cup, national and international swimming, Davis Cup and international tennis have been in newspapers and magazines. He has also contributed to other works in collaboration with David Middleton, Gary Lester, Norman Tasker and Geoff Armstrong.
Ian John Heads was born on 15 February 1943 in Rose Bay, a suburb of Sydney. It was the midst of World War II. He was brought up during the war and in the postwar reconstruction years, a period of recovery, rationing and deprivation. His father, Flight Lieutenant George Heads of the Royal Australian Air Force, was killed in action. His plane crashed over Milne Bay New Guinea on 7 June 1944 while transporting supplies to the troops fighting the Japanese.[3]: 22–30/474
In his semi-autobiographical essay "The Accidental Sportswriter", Heads describes how, fathered by his uncles, Ken and Cecil Appleton, the seven-year-old was taken to the Sydney Cricket Ground to watch the deciding test match of the 1950 rugby league "Ashes". To the great joy of the spectators, Australia defeated Great Britain, the first win they had had for 30 years. In this match, Heads witnessed the famous try by Ron Roberts, described as "arguably the most famous try in Australian rugby league history". He recalled the day as an inspiring and memorable event in his young life.[3]
Dave Sands, the indigenous middleweight boxing champion, was a motivating hero to the sports-mad teenager in the years up to Sands' early death on 12 August 1952. The death affected Heads deeply.[3]
In 1951 his uncle Cecil Appleton took his eight-year-old nephew to the Davis Cup, Australia versus America, when the Australian tennis player Frank Sedgman defeated Vic Seixas in the deciding match. When he was thirteen years of age another significant contribution to Ian Heads' sporting orientation occurred. At great financial sacrifice by his mother, he travelled by bus from Sydney to Melbourne for the 1956 Olympic Games. Heads attended Sydney Boys High School where he gained his Leaving Certificate at the end of 1960.[3]
Ian Heads began his sports journalistic career at the Daily Telegraph in the early 1960s. In 1970 he joined the newly established Rugby League Week, a successful magazine which at one stage sold 90,000 copies of each issue. From 1981 to 1987 he occupied the position of editor, a challenge in which he was most successful.[4]He is described in the Hall of Fame wall plaque in his honour as "a superb mentor for many aspiring journalists".[5]Leading rugby league historian David Middleton told how he was among dozens of young journalists inspired and mentored by Heads over a long period. Said Middleton, "The words I most associate with Ian are integrity, decency and respect".[6]
In 2008 he attended the Olympic Games in Beijing in China as editor of A.S.P.I.R.E., the official newsletter of the Australian olympic team. A.S.P.I.R.E. was published daily for the duration of the games.[7]He also led the Australian Olympic Committee Media office in Atlanta and Sydney.[5]
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