Legendary Rugby League Reporter Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield Hangs Up His Boots

Published on: 30th January 2026 at 9:53 AM

David Hovenden

1 Min Read

Picture courtesy of News Corp Australia showing Rothfield holding up his first-ever company mug shot.

News Corp Australia’s 50-year veteran Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield has blown full time on his career and the rugby league world will be all the poorer for it.

Despite being a rugby league touchstone, Rothfield’s first-ever back-page story for The Daily Telegraph in 1978 was a report on a brawl at an AFL (Australian Rules) Sydney preliminary final. Although he is renowned as a premier rugby league journalist, this 1978 piece marked the beginning of his career as a sports reporter.

Rothfield began his career at News Corp in 1976 at the age of 16 as a copy boy.

His weekly column, ‘What’s The Buzz’ was a ‘must-read’ for rugby league fans interested in the inner workings of the code’s clubs and regularly broke news of signings, scandals and sackings.

He covered football World Cups, Super Bowls, and was the Olympics editor for News Corp during the 2000 Olympic Games.

He also served as the Sunday Telegraph deputy editor and was executive sports editor of The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph.

He remains a devoted Cronulla Sharks fan.

TAGGED: News Corp Australia

By David Hovenden

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David Hovenden is one of the co-founders of The Misfits Media Company and is B&T's editor-in-chief. He has been writing about advertising, marketing and media for more than 15 years. At the same time, he has also written for B&T's sister publication Travel Weekly on all matters travel related. Through this publication he can claim to have stepped foot on every continent in the world (now claimed to be eight, if you accept NZ is its own continent). He has also covered the business of law when he was editor-in-chief and publisher of Lawyer Weekly. Human Resources when he worked for that eponymously named title and a plethora of business and technology publications including, but not limited to PC Week, Australian Personal Computer, Web Week, Internet World, Factory Equipment News, Architecture Today and Building Product News. In his spare time David enjoys fishing, kayaking, fine dining and spending time with his family.