Howdy Cowboy!by Graham Bicknell, pictures by Brett Stevens (Sports Weekly September 1996) Ian Roberts, one of rugby league's gun players, is a gentle giant. But now he's wild — and let's his bosses have it with both barrels as he rides off inot the sunset for a new life as a Cowboy. There's a photograph of giant rugby league prop Ian Roberts which regularly appears in promotions for the game and has for quite a few years now. It typifies the hardness of rugby league, but not necessarily of the man himself. In the shot, an obviously aggrieved Roberts is standing over a fallen opponent, his right fist clenched and he is clearly screaming at his victim, Roberts' chiselled, granite face contorted in rage. More than anything else the captured moment typifies not just the game of rugby league but specifically the game in Sydney because Ian Roberts is about as Sydney as you can get. There would be few people in the town who don't know him by sight, fans or not. A first-grader since 1985 he is as identifiable with Sydney as the Harbour Bridge.
Now he's leaving. Next season Roberts, 31, former Rabbitoh, former Sea Eagle, is going to be a Cowboy. Raiders coach Tim Sheens, who also moves north next season to take over the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville, put out the feelers for Roberts and the big guy took it as a compliment, went up for a look and, if all goes well, will be there for the next three years. Sydney can wait, the career isn't over yet, despite what many might have thought. Just getting back to that photo, it doesn't really do the man justice. It makes him appear to be mad, bad and dangerous, and is therefore misleading. He must be, as many will testify one of the most professional and obliging sports people to grace an arena in many a long year. Nothing is too much trouble, he goes out of his way to help and, if by chance he turns up late, apologies are profuse and genuine. When he does eventually retire he might think about delivering seminars to other so-called professionals on how to promote themselves and their particular sport, such is his uniqueness. He's also not afraid to tell it like it is. And he does, Ian Roberts does not like the Australian Rugby League or the people who run it. The face may not be black as thunder, the fist may not be clenched, but Roberts is still angry about the way he and others were treated when the battle between the ARL and Super League became bloody last year. And the end result is a move to the tropics and a Cowboy jumper. Roberts arranges to meet for a chat at a pasta joint in Sydney's Darlinghurst. Even from 50 metres away he is easy to spot at a sidewalk table. Even if his size doesn't give him away, the head-turning by passers-by does. It takes little time at all to rev him up. The opening question was basically: "How did it all come about? and he immediately vents the spleen. "After the whole Super League-ARL thing blew up and they neglected to pick any of the Super League players for any representative games I was really angry," says Roberts. "I'd been playing with a knee that was just gone but I kept going on because I thought Manly were a chance of making the final, and with that sort of club commitment I didnft think they'd leave any of the Super League players out. But once they did my thought was, 'Well, ....you'. "At Manly that meant that myself, Matthew Ridge and Owen Cunningham were out in the cold as far as rep games went. I remember being absolutely filthy that they didn't pick any Super League players for the Kangaroo tour, and when that happened I made up my mind that I'd never play with an ARL team again. It wasn't about money - it wasn't about anything other than principle." To the outsider, it seemed at that stage that Roberts and Matthew Ridge were sent to Coventry at Brookvale Oval. Not so, says Roberts. "Relations between us and Manly were fine, they still are. I wasn't dirty on Manly, only the ARL. There's no animosity towards me from any of the people associated with Manly, neither the administration, players nor supporters. Really, leaving Manly was the hardest decision I've ever had to make. But if you do certain things then you have to stand by those decisions, and things such as money shouldn't be an issue. Anyway, that's the way I feel. I couldn't pull on a Manly jumper again because to do so would have made me feel like a hypocrite because they're playing under the ARL banner. Last year I wasn't eligible to play for any of the ARL representative sides but they still wanted me to promote their competition." Roberts stops to ponder when asked if the underlying feeling he had for the whole situation was one of disgust, then he nods. "Well, yes, I just didn't think they'd do it. And then this year they picked all the Super League guys to play in the Origin series. I saw that as a slap in the face. If they were going to get it right then they should have got it right in the first place and not messed around. They should have been more professional than that and I fail to understand what the turnaround was about. Last year we weren't good enough - this year we are. As far as I was concerned there were no second chances because I didn't do anything wrong in the first place."When I first signed with Super League I was fully obliged to honor my Manly contract and everything that went along with it as long as they honored their part. And that's what it came down to. It was never about coming back for more money because I wasn't interested." To the dismay of Manly fans Roberts was as good as his word and sat out most of last season. For a while it looked as if we may not see him in action again. The knee that had troubled him for four years was finally put under the knife and the operation and recovery were pure, unadulterated agony. Many careers have ended for less. Roberts, though, was never in doubt, and when former Manly coach Graham Lowe told him that Tim Sheens was interested in finding out if... becoming a Cowboy, Roberts began the trips to Townsville which convinced him he had another three years at the top. He laughs when it's suggested it will be such a change in lifestyle... that a Sydney boy will find it difficult adapting to a country town, even if it is a very large one with a really good climate. "Leaving Sydney is fine, it's always going to be here when I get back. You know it's quite strange. People say to me that all my family and friends are here and what on earth am I going to do up there? To me it's quite funny because I haven't been worried about it at all, life goes on and you make the best of it wherever you are. We're not talking about an isolated, uninhabitable place — it's a nice town. But I don't party and do all that much anyway. People think I'm a crazed nightlife person, but I'm not. I might go to the movies once or twice a week and that's it. I've got my sporting memorabilia business to run and that keeps me busy enough. With training as well, there isn't time anyway." There are probably a few aspects of being a high-profile sportsman in Sydney that Roberts won't miss. As rugby league's only open and honest gay he has had to endure some headlines he could have done without, but now that his revelation no longer shocks he is philosophical about it. So, was the invasion into his private life any worse than what has happened to other sportsmen? "Yeah," he says finally, not all that keen about the subject. "I suppose it might have been because it was something new. But it probably wasn't much worse than others have had to endure. It's just that my profile was a bit different than most." Now, in the process of packing up and heading north, Roberts says there are certainly a few good memories of Sydney he's taking with him: playing Origin for NSW, missing Brookvale and the guys at Manly, and the Sydney football culture in general. The rotten memory he will take is the exclusion from rep. football and the actions of the ARL. For the first time, his eyes narrowed: "I won't forget that episode easily." |
