Festival crowd thirsty for laughs

Mr Masters played country football as a hooker, worked as a coach for the Western Suburbs Magpies and St George Dragons, before becoming a columnist at the Sydney Morning Herald. 

He was in town for the Olga Masters Festival, which celebrated the life of his mother, and entertained the crowd in the hotel as a fundraiser for Bermagui Cancer Research Advocate Bikers.

The pub was full as around 100 people showed up to listen to stories from Mr Masters’ days in rugby and as a journalist. 

He was interviewed by ex-Wallaby Gary Pearse, who also gave some amusing stories from his days in the game. 

Mr Pearse said as Mr Masters was very creative, every time he answered a question he had to use a word picked by the audience with “thirsty” the one that was chosen.

“I was a hooker, and hookers are always as thirsty for as much information as they can get,” Mr Masters began. 

Aside from sporting stories, he talked about such times as when his journalist brother Chris was investigating corruption in rugby league for a program called The Big League. 

“Chris was very good to me because he didn’t pump me too much for information,” he said. 

“He kept me out of it, which I thought was very good.” 

When the program aired he said he began to feel and air of “awe and apprehension” about its importance, and while he didn’t speak to his brother about the issues raised in the show he did “cop a bit” afterwards from some people in the rugby industry who thought he had. 

He also talked about how he began a career in media after coaching in rugby because he was “always very keen on journalism and writing”. 

For more on the Olga Masters Festival, click here.