by For those who have written a word on rugby league, there is no one higher than Ian Heads, who died on Monday aged 81 after a long illness.
One of only two writers to be inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame, Heads helped shape the way rugby league is viewed for almost half of the code’s life in this country. Blacksmith’s historical books highlighted the history of the game and he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.
“Ian was one of rugby league’s great journalists and a true gentleman,” said former Rugby League Week editor Mitch Dale. “A peerless rugby league journalist, author and historian.”
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There isn’t a rugby league library in the world that isn’t filled with books written by Heads. These include True Blue, considered by many to be the best book on the game ever written, The Night The Music Died, a celebration of the West Division’s famous 1974 Amco Cup victory., and The Great Grand Final Heist, the definitive history of the controversial decision of 1969. He also wrote notable biographies of the likes of Brad Fittler, Wayne Pearce, Jack Gibson and Richie Benaud, a great friend of Heads.
Beginning his career in the early 1960s – the era of greats such as Tom Goodman, Bill Mordey and Ernie Christensen, when newsrooms were filled with cigarette smoke and the click-click of typewriters – Heads worked for the Sydney newspaper, the Daily Telegraph and for the referendum. Sydney Morning Herald.
When Rugby League Week was launched in 1970, Heads joined and by the early 1980s was editor. There was a time when the magazine’s circulation reached 100,000 a week, forcing Sydney newspapers to cover more of the sport. The rise of the magazine left an “indelible mark” on the game, according to Dale.
Heads wrote not only under his own name but under many pen names including “Sherlock”, the famous Rugby League Week “super snoop” who had his own column from 1984 to 2000. Heads finally admitted to the concern in the 1,500th issue of the magazine.
“It was a weekly staple of Rugby League Week that shone a light on the game as it chronicled the decision makers, written with Ian’s trademark flair,” said Dale.
Outside of mentoring a generation of sports journalists and writers, including this one, arguably his most important contribution to the game was the founding of the Immortals concept in 1981. In vain, Heads gave credit to what is now the honor the Australian game is now the “brainchild” of the three umpires Tom Goodman, Frank Hyde and Harry Bath who were “crammed at the front bar of the Wentworth Hotel with plenty to keep the trio hydrated”.
The Heads failed to notice that it was the person who organized the meeting of the three and who paid the bill for the drinks.
“Ian was never comfortable taking credit for the concept but I have no doubt that Immortals would not be the icon it is without his guidance,” said Dale.
Journalists are cynical by nature, but there wasn’t a story about rugby league that didn’t pique their interest. He may have been central to some of the biggest stories in the history of the game but he loved the yarns from every corner of the game.
“Ian was always so enthusiastic about any idea you might have for a story or book on the rugby league,” said author and former radio host Michael Croke. “I told him about the small town of Manildra being in the Group 11 final and he called me the next day and said he was on his way to write the story. He loved the country rugby league stories.”
Historian David Middleton told NRL.com in 2023 that the words he most associated with Ian were “integrity, decency and respect”. That integrity was needed in the heat of the Super League War. Working for the Daily Telegraph in 1999, Heads was stunned when a story he wrote about the upcoming march to keep South Sydney in the competition did not run. He decided he could no longer write for a paper that had missed a huge story and was willing to ignore a club of such stature and history. He had no trouble leaving the dance floor when he didn’t like the tune.
There is no respect for those who do not use the word noble. He was a fine, thoughtful, gentle man who had time for any intelligent writer, and never acted entirely as if any question were silly. He trusted the game’s toughest power brokers and respected anyone foolish enough to walk in his shadow.
The word that most comes to mind when you think of Heads, however, is humble. You could spend an hour having coffee with him and then curse that you had let him turn the conversation from the big stories in his memory to focus on you. The nobles never looked upon him as he was: rugby league’s greatest historian and journalist, the man who put together the highest honour, and peerless newscaster and storyteller.
