Ian Heads
Media
Player Bio
- Inducted:
- 2023
- Date of Birth:
- 15 February 1943
- Birthplace:
- Sydney, NSW
- Nickname:
- -
Career
Milestones
- Commenced career as cadet journalist with Sydney’s Daily Telegraph in 1963
- Chief rugby league writer for Daily and Sunday Telegraphs from 1969 to 1980
- Managing Editor of Rugby League Week from 1981 to 1987
- As a freelancer, wrote regular columns for the Sydney Morning Herald, the Sun-Herald and countless other journals and magazines
- Authored over 40 rugby league biographies and histories
- Highly respected for his knowledge and dignified coverage of the game
- Honoured with OAM in 2010 for service to the media as a sports journalist, author and mentor
- Inducted into the Sydney Cricket Ground Media Hall of Honour in 2014
- Inducted into NRL Hall of Fame 2023 (Contributor category; media)
Biography
Heads was considered one of Australia’s foremost sports writers in a career that spanned over half a century. Born in Sydney in 1943, Heads covered many sports, including Olympic Games, but specialised in rugby league. His love for the game was fostered by his attendance as a young boy at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1950 when Australia regained the Ashes from Great Britain after a 30-year drought.
He wrote for Sydney newspapers the Daily and Sunday Telegraph and later the Sydney Morning Herald and Sun Herald. It was during his tenure as managing editor of Rugby League Week in the 1980s that Heads played a central role in the development of the Immortals concept, which continues to this day to be the highest level of recognition for elite players.
Heads wrote over 40 rugby league books and biographies, including ground-breaking histories of the Kangaroos and New South Wales Rugby League.
Highly respected for his integrity and dignified coverage of the game, Heads was honoured with an OAM in 2010 for service to the media as a sports journalist and mentor and was inducted into the Sydney Cricket Ground Media Hall of Honour in 2014.
Hall of Fame Inductee: Ian Heads OAM
Honourable, ethical, dignified, engaging and a superman of sports journalism
Dean Ritchie Daily Telegraph
Hall of Fame Contributors
National Rugby League respects and honours the Traditional Custodians of the land and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future. We acknowledge the stories, traditions and living cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on the lands we meet, gather and play on.
