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Chris Masters' explosive 1983 Four Corners program, 'The Big League' led to the resignation of NSWRL president Kevin Humphreys and his conviction for fraud, along with the jailing of former Chief Stipendiary Magistrate of NSW, Murray ****uhar.
As producer Peter Manning later explained:
"Well, Chris and I started the 'Big League' really looking at corruption in sport.
"Chris had a sniff of some of the things that were happening in Rugby League.
"We set out to look at, in particular, the Parramatta/Manly battle and the actions of referees and the way the Rugby League administration seemed to be shockingly biased in favour of Manly.
"As it went on we seemed to be getting suggestions that it wasn't just the question of Rugby League, it was a question of a particular person in the Rugby League administration, namely Kevin Humphreys, and that he'd actually faced charges which had been dropped and there was some suggestion that these had been dropped in a slightly smelly kind of way.
"The second part of the story led on through the court case of Kevin Humphreys to whether magistrates under the direction of the chief magistrate, Murray ****uhar, had wrongly let this guy off and whether, thirdly, this had been done because the Premier, Neville Wran, had rung Murray ****uhar, which was what ****uhar had told his other magistrates."
Neil Cadigan of Rugby League Week conducted the follow-up interview (pictured) with Chris Masters in 1985. Some of the more notable excerpts include:
"But Masters revealed the program, which began as an investigation of corruption of sport but dramatically changed to an investigation of corruption in the administration of justice in NSW, was only the tip of the iceberg.
"And he confirmed strong rumours that there was much, much more material on corruption within the game in the late 1970s. Film which will stay in the ABC Archives, almost certainly never to be seen by the public.
"The ABC had more than eight hours of footage which dealt with refereeing, further corruption in officialdom, links with organised crime and the payola, or 'kickbacks' as Masters described them, within the sports media.
"He and Manning had on-the-record interviews with two former referees and a touch judge who had grave doubts about the refereeing of certain matches.
"Four Corners had pretty solid evidence on the taking of payola and also had enough information to raise grave doubts about some aspects of one particular grand final.
"And he claimed they had enough material to make three different programs. One on the events surrounding a late 1970s grand final, one about administration in Rugby League, particularly emphasising refereeing, or one on the administration of justice."
Neil Cadigan, Rugby League Week, September 19, 1985
Additional info:
Chris Masters interview
Peter Manning interview
As producer Peter Manning later explained:
"Well, Chris and I started the 'Big League' really looking at corruption in sport.
"Chris had a sniff of some of the things that were happening in Rugby League.
"We set out to look at, in particular, the Parramatta/Manly battle and the actions of referees and the way the Rugby League administration seemed to be shockingly biased in favour of Manly.
"As it went on we seemed to be getting suggestions that it wasn't just the question of Rugby League, it was a question of a particular person in the Rugby League administration, namely Kevin Humphreys, and that he'd actually faced charges which had been dropped and there was some suggestion that these had been dropped in a slightly smelly kind of way.
"The second part of the story led on through the court case of Kevin Humphreys to whether magistrates under the direction of the chief magistrate, Murray ****uhar, had wrongly let this guy off and whether, thirdly, this had been done because the Premier, Neville Wran, had rung Murray ****uhar, which was what ****uhar had told his other magistrates."
Neil Cadigan of Rugby League Week conducted the follow-up interview (pictured) with Chris Masters in 1985. Some of the more notable excerpts include:
"But Masters revealed the program, which began as an investigation of corruption of sport but dramatically changed to an investigation of corruption in the administration of justice in NSW, was only the tip of the iceberg.
"And he confirmed strong rumours that there was much, much more material on corruption within the game in the late 1970s. Film which will stay in the ABC Archives, almost certainly never to be seen by the public.
"The ABC had more than eight hours of footage which dealt with refereeing, further corruption in officialdom, links with organised crime and the payola, or 'kickbacks' as Masters described them, within the sports media.
"He and Manning had on-the-record interviews with two former referees and a touch judge who had grave doubts about the refereeing of certain matches.
"Four Corners had pretty solid evidence on the taking of payola and also had enough information to raise grave doubts about some aspects of one particular grand final.
"And he claimed they had enough material to make three different programs. One on the events surrounding a late 1970s grand final, one about administration in Rugby League, particularly emphasising refereeing, or one on the administration of justice."
Neil Cadigan, Rugby League Week, September 19, 1985
Additional info:
Chris Masters interview
Peter Manning interview
