NSW AAGPS 2018

[bigmac]

Now that we are at the end of the season, there is something that I wanted to record because I know many of you will be interested. I also want to pay thanks,

Saturday at Shore I had a lovely chat with Kim McConville, Ken's daughter. I didn't know she was chair of the TAS Rugby club nor did I know that our captain, Dan Lethbridge was her son, Ken's grandson. It was, Kim said, the end of a 42 year connection with TAS rugby. Well, hopefully that's not true, but it is quite an historic moment.

We chatted a little about Ken, about the time the Firsts were being slaughtered by Glen .(the school was playing in the open comp) when Ken pulled on the jersey to play for the school. "Who is that boy", the head (AC) said. "He hasn't paid his fees"!"

The contribution of the McConvilles to TAS is not just in rugby but far beyond including the Music Hall. For those who did play rugby, I suspect there are many memories including the 84 tour of the UK and the 1985 team that beat Joeys earning icecream. Ken was killed in that tragic accident in 85, but his contribution lives on.

I said thanks. Few people know how much effort is required to get the weekly game reports across especially the GPS and CAS comps. A very small number of people share the load. Then we have the on-line commentary including Joker's remarkable knowledge of Star Wars and culinary tastes including the offerings for those who climb the mountain into the heart of Australia, the deep north!

Next year I expect to be back in Armidale again after a gap of 22 years. One side-effect is that I will be able to watch far less GPS rugby, although (hopefully) more teams will visit. I will be relying on you all to keep me in touch so that I can still contribute. And wearing the hat you have all awarded me, and recognising how bad my Latin is, gratias beneficiorum meorum.

Thanks for the 2018 season Jim. Great to see TAS battling with the sydney schools. Looking forward to 2019.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

 

[Black & White]

Now that we are at the end of the season, there is something that I wanted to record because I know many of you will be interested. I also want to pay thanks,

Saturday at Shore I had a lovely chat with Kim McConville, Ken's daughter. I didn't know she was chair of the TAS Rugby club nor did I know that our captain, Dan Lethbridge was her son, Ken's grandson. It was, Kim said, the end of a 42 year connection with TAS rugby. Well, hopefully that's not true, but it is quite an historic moment.

We chatted a little about Ken, about the time the Firsts were being slaughtered by Glen .(the school was playing in the open comp) when Ken pulled on the jersey to play for the school. "Who is that boy", the head (AC) said. "He hasn't paid his fees"!"

The contribution of the McConvilles to TAS is not just in rugby but far beyond including the Music Hall. For those who did play rugby, I suspect there are many memories including the 84 tour of the UK and the 1985 team that beat Joeys earning icecream. Ken was killed in that tragic accident in 85, but his contribution lives on.

I said thanks. Few people know how much effort is required to get the weekly game reports across especially the GPS and CAS comps. A very small number of people share the load. Then we have the on-line commentary including Joker's remarkable knowledge of Star Wars and culinary tastes including the offerings for those who climb the mountain into the heart of Australia, the deep north!

Next year I expect to be back in Armidale again after a gap of 22 years. One side-effect is that I will be able to watch far less GPS rugby, although (hopefully) more teams will visit. I will be relying on you all to keep me in touch so that I can still contribute. And wearing the hat you have all awarded me, and recognising how bad my Latin is, gratias beneficiorum meorum.

Hello Jim
I remember that day tragic well back in 1985, In a climbing accident where Ken died from the injuries he received. I had previous meet Ken as a teacher doing my first teaching practice.He was a tremendous influence on me in developing an understanding as what you should be as a in boys independent as a teacher.It was a Saturday when we received the tragic news. I was at Robb College, we were about to play a 1st Grade game, when we called for a minute silence in remeberance of Ken. It is here that that the real tragedy took effect. Some of the former TAS boys at Robb, weren't not aware of the accident and when they asked who it was for and I told them, there were real tears for his lost. Ken had been their Boarding/House Master, so many of us at Robb really felt his loss.
However, there was a light of happiness, that emerged that year for TAS, their 1st XV was undefeated with a 3-0 victory. With a field goal kicked by Richard Tombs who now is experiencing his own tragic injury. Sometimes, I think life with these events is grossly unfair to good and decent people.

 

[Jim Belshaw]

Hello Jim
I remember that day tragic well back in 1985, In a climbing accident where Ken died from the injuries he received. I had previous meet Ken as a teacher doing my first teaching practice.He was a tremendous influence on me in developing an understanding as what you should be as a in boys independent as a teacher.It was a Saturday when we received the tragic news. I was at Robb College, we were about to play a 1st Grade game, when we called for a minute silence in remeberance of Ken. It is here that that the real tragedy took effect. Some of the former TAS boys at Robb, weren't not aware of the accident and when they asked who it was for and I told them, there were real tears for his lost. Ken had been their Boarding/House Master, so many of us at Robb really felt his loss.
However, there was a light of happiness, that emerged that year for TAS, their 1st XV was undefeated with a 3-0 victory. With a field goal kicked by Richard Tombs who now is experiencing his own tragic injury. Sometimes, I think life with these events is grossly unfair to good and decent people.

That's really a lovely and very moving story, B&W. Life is not always fair, it just is I guess. I knew Richard had palyed then. I think, I haven't checked, that Sam Bailey war around that same cohort.

 

[Crackerjack]

Calling out here to Joker. (Not sure he’ll even pick this up before tomorrow, when the most boisterous of the JoeBoys’ celebrations should have passed!)

Joker, reaching out here.

Would you be happy to be included in the 2018 Season Review? An eager audience, and your unique talents almost scream out for it!

Pls reply here, or start as a Personal Message/ Conversation.

Hope you can.

Cheers, CJ

 

[Joker]

PM sent CJ. Still partying at Hunters Hill.

The last effort of "Joeys Rugby" images for season 2018.

 

[Show and go]

Match Report has been filed w/ the ‘powers that be’, SD. (But “They” don’t tell us mere scribes when publication up onto the Blog is/ might be!)

Yes, Charlie Savala did play yesterday. Looks tho’ like he may’ve hurt that shoulder of his again. Happened towards the end.

Despite all the injury conjecture pre-game, both teams looked to be at full, or near to full, strength.

Will be interesting if anything said about the conversion kick Scots missed in front off posts when referee deemed went under posts after linesman disagreed with each other. On replay the kick clearly goes well over and referee wasn’t watching and had to make a judgement on the linesmans split decision ,scoreboard said 17-3 then changed to 15-3.
Did this change how the game was played ? Certainly with 10 mins to go Kings led by 1 pt .
Probably glad for everybody’s sake Joseph scored a well worked try to score in corner to win game.

 

[Loose Carry]

It would appear that 5 maybe 6 of the Riverview players were punched by the pitch invaders. A few were visibly affected. Pitch invasion no big deal in my view. Assault of the players clearly not on.

Presumably, the accusation of assault is regarding conduct by others (not school students)? The first pitch invasion after the try was only old-boys and the second after the full-time whistle was predominately old-boys and some students who were very quickly moved back to their allocated area.

Like others, my observation was that security was severely lacking and this would appear strange as everyone knew that it was going to be a massive crowd. Because Riverview is not gated, checking bags etc for alcohol upon entry is not possible, therefore, security needs to be even better during the game.

If these issues did occur then that is abhorrent. Any abuse, physical or verbal, is unacceptable and unfortunately, yet again, abuse was hurled at the Joeys team warming up by arriving Riverview Old Boys.

The conduct of old boys is an ongoing issue that, from what I hear, all schools are working to improve. It is an issue across all schools, and to be fair is far too common in sports crowds in general.

As for the earlier time for the match. This was tried for a very very brief period (maybe two years) and only when played at Riverview. Joeys always maintained the 3:15pm start. One of the issues when this was done was that junior matches were then played after the First XV and then rowdy and drunk old boys were on the sidelines of younger matches with no security. The 3:15pm time (well, 4:15pm on Saturday) is the right time, but more can be done to assist in crowd control over at Lane Cove.

Issues should definitely not be ignored and I would be confident that both Joeys and Riverview would do everything possible to deal with these as they arise and we now leave it to them.

For us - let's just celebrate what was an incredible afternoon of rugby across all three venues. Rugby is criticised a lot these days (normally from rugby fanatics). What we have witnessed over the last few weeks is something to celebrate as rugby fans because it is a great game which has a lot of good things happening in it at the moment.

 

[Crackerjack]

Will be interesting if anything said about the conversion kick Scots missed in front off posts when referee deemed went under posts after linesman disagreed with each other. On replay the kick clearly goes well over and referee wasn’t watching and had to make a judgement on the linesmans split decision ,scoreboard said 17-3 then changed to 15-3.
Did this change how the game was played ? Certainly with 10 mins to go Kings led by 1 pt .
Probably glad for everybody’s sake Joseph scored a well worked try to score in corner to win game.

I saw the same 17 back to 15 change on the scoreboard, but didn’t have the benefit of any replay, sports-ears, or other means to confirm what had happened. I was “told” the reason for the ‘no conversion’ was that one of the charge-down Kings runners had got a touch on the ball. Maybe check your replay for that and let us know. Just for Match Report accuracy!

 

[Show and go]

I saw the same 17 back to 15 change on the scoreboard, but didn’t have the benefit of any replay, sports-ears, or other means to confirm what had happened. I was “told” the reason for the ‘no conversion’ was that one of the charge-down Kings runners had got a touch on the ball. Maybe check your replay for that and let us know. Just for Match Report accuracy!

Referee said went under posts to captain and also at half time,ball was not touched but even if it was would the kick still not count if it went over anyway?

 

[Loose Carry]

Referee said went under posts to captain and also at half time,ball was not touched but even if it was would the kick still not count if it went over anyway?

Being touched in flight does not change the result of a goal. Therefore, appears most likely either the referee judged that it went under or felt he needed both touch judges (not just one) to award a goal. Very unusual as rugby referees are taught to stand next to the post they are judging rather than a distance back like the league guys. This allows them to judge distance accurately.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Crackerjack]

^^^^^
ShowandGo, I always feel for the Refs, and espesh on occasions like this one; a fired-up grand final atmosphere, HUGE crowd, two (dare I say it) ‘crackerjack’ teams going hard at it, a couple of baying sets of Schoolboy cohorts. Pressure? Hey, what pressure?!!

That said, even with all those ‘distractions’, it’d be disappointing if, as suggested, “the referee wasn’t watching”. I certainly wasn’t at that moment! I was chatting to another patron, and I thought the conversion was an absolute ‘gimmee’, hence my surprise and confusion about what had actually happened when the scoreboard attendants rolled the score backwards!

I’ve amended my Match Report to reflect your one AR flag up, one down, observations, so thank-you for the heads up.

I suppose ‘Steppa can’t be at all matches, but gee his vids come in handy when there are controversy-corner moments in a game!

Am glad too, that the decision didn’t determine the final result.

 

[Wristman]

^^^^^
ShowandGo, I always feel for the Refs, and espesh on occasions like this one; a fired-up grand final atmosphere, HUGE crowd, two (dare I say it) ‘crackerjack’ teams going hard at it, a couple of baying sets of Schoolboy cohorts. Pressure? Hey, what pressure?!!

That said, even with all those ‘distractions’, it’d be disappointing if, as suggested, “the referee wasn’t watching”. I certainly wasn’t at that moment! I was chatting to another patron, and I thought the conversion was an absolute ‘gimmee’, hence my surprise and confusion about what had actually happened when the scoreboard attendants rolled the score backwards!

I’ve amended my Match Report to reflect your one AR flag up, one down, observations, so thank-you for the heads up.

I suppose ‘Steppa can’t be at all matches, but gee his vids come in handy when there are controversy-corner moments in a game!

Am glad too, that the decision didn’t determine the final result.

Let me first say that Kings won fair and square but it did affect the last few minutes.
Scots were a point down rather than a point up with a few minutes remaining and took a long penalty kick at goal which bounced off the post.
With a one point buffer rather than deficit they may well have chosen to kick into the corner and play the last few minutes camped on the Kings goal line.
For 3 officials to be unable to get a correct decision from a kick directly in front of the posts is mystifying.
1 got it right, 1 got it wrong and it appears that one wasn't even looking.
That's the way things go sometimes but it was frustrating for the boys on the pitch who watched it go over.

 

[Joker]

Rich_E....send me a PM please. Unable to send you one.

 

[Crackerjack]

^^^^
Good work, Joker. One for the GaGR Archives to settle future historical arguments!

 

[BRUMBIEJACK]

Aren't those two uniformed members of the constabulary to the right rear of the crowd ? Surely if there were assaults and kicking of prone players they would have picked it up, or at least concerned parents/school personnel would have reported it to them. As they say, the absence of evidence isn't evidence, but it does raise some queries about the validity of the claim.

From watching the match on YouTube today I glean the following from this incident.

There was from the perspective of the viewer a distinct lack of security located in the areas of most concern ie: The Old boys. In place there seemed to be only a few College staff who wielded no obvious sign of authority. Throughout the video I could only see a few yellow vested security people located behind the old boys. One was standing on the hill next to the scoreboard and there were was one 30m from the southern mob.

Here is my point. The southern section of old boys. Not one security vested person in sight late in the game.

Anyone who has been at Hunters Hill for the derby game will attest to the larger than usual number of security people and even police who monitor the old boys and leave the student/parent supporters alone. I was gob smacked watching both sets of Joeys Old Boys being left unattended and non monitored in such a highly charged game. If only Riverview spent some more money on security this could (and should) have been avoided. Happy to be proven wrong if evidence is produced.

BTW.I found them located bottom left after the final whistle.

 

[Rich_E]

Rich_E..send me a PM please. Unable to send you one.

Just tried and can't send you one either. Could you try sending to CJ or Rod Skellet and they could pass to me.

 

[Joker]

Just tried and can't send you one either. Could you try sending to CJ or Rod Skellet and they could pass to me.

Check your email mate. Cracker sorted me out.

 

[SonnyDillWilliams]

looks like it is back to normal programming ...namely Joeys are the evil empire AGAIN ... sorry Joker

and unless I am mistaken in 2018 ....Joeys won just about everything 1sts, 2nds, 16As, 15As etc ... really everything other than the 14As (Newington) , and the 3rds (Riverview)

although a View mate told me that View won every 14s game on the weekend ?! Could that be right ? That age group at Joeys will be in for some extra-curricular rugby indoctrination

in all seriousness ... think GPS rugby is doing all right ... and by and large think the one round comp is fine

and really my biggest complaint now is the way Nationals places too much of a burden on the Rep level players

and I think GPS should do away with Blue and White teams ... and at least restore some value in GPS Rep jerseys

 

[WLF]

looks like it is back to normal programming .namely Joeys are the evil empire AGAIN . sorry Joker

and unless I am mistaken in 2018 ..Joeys won just about everything 1sts, 2nds, 16As, 15As etc . really everything other than the 14As (Newington) , and the 3rds (Riverview)

although a View mate told me that View won every 14s game on the weekend ?! Could that be right ? That age group at Joeys will be in for some extra-curricular rugby indoctrination

in all seriousness . think GPS rugby is doing all right . and by and large think the one round comp is fine

and really my biggest complaint now is the way Nationals places too much of a burden on the Rep level players

and I think GPS should do away with Blue and White teams . and at least restore some value in GPS Rep jerseys

SDW,
Riverview won the 15as, they beat Joeys 19-12.

 

[Joker]

looks like it is back to normal programming .namely Joeys are the evil empire AGAIN . sorry Joker

and unless I am mistaken in 2018 ..Joeys won just about everything 1sts, 2nds, 16As, 15As etc . really everything other than the 14As (Newington) , and the 3rds (Riverview)

although a View mate told me that View won every 14s game on the weekend ?! Could that be right ? That age group at Joeys will be in for some extra-curricular rugby indoctrination

in all seriousness . think GPS rugby is doing all right . and by and large think the one round comp is fine

and really my biggest complaint now is the way Nationals places too much of a burden on the Rep level players

and I think GPS should do away with Blue and White teams . and at least restore some value in GPS Rep jerseys

• The storm is coming. The Marist mafia is once again brewing in the west.
• Joeys 13A undefeated as well. 15A lost one game. 20 teams /44 undefeated I think. 79% winning ratio?
• Under 14's at Joeys will now be placed in another pasture and fed up properly. Weakest age group.
• Love the one round comp. Every game is a grand final like the old days.
• Blue and White has to go hey hey, ho ho....next thing we know we have rep teams for the 14G's. (Joeys will dominant this)