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Billy Sheehan (19)
Joker, wasn't it Kings v Joeys in 98? I also remember that they could not interview the players post match.Back in 1998 the ABC decided to fill in a blank weekend of Shute Shield coverage with a AAGPS game. It was a no brainer so they choose Joeys v Riverview which was to be the big game then. The broadcast worked well (I watched from Perisher top station) and it was well received. What wasn't though was the constant highlighting of students which sort of goes against what Joeys and the swamp monsters were about. (St Joseph's 31 defeated St Ignatius 0) The boy in particular focus was Peter Playford and Joeys did not like it. As Brother Henry said, "Joeys does not make champion players, they make champion teams".
The ABC did it again with Joeys v Kings in 2002 with Kings coming away with a good win that day securing the premiership as champions. Again the sticking point was the ABC insistence to "pump up" players. In the 2002 AAGPS Headmasters meeting and the AAGPS Sportsmasters meeting the decision was taken that school rugby is for the schools and if people want to watch then come and join the community. To help the country families, in 2012 Joeys were the first school to introduce Joeys Rugby on twitter which has been a great success as it JUST REPORTS SCORES and does not promote players. The 2018 SIC v SJC game that was streamed was because of a major fundraising effort you will recall. Cluch jumped in when the the pandemic hit which made for very weird viewing as there was next to nothing crowd noise. Imagine the noise from the swamp if fans were allowed there in 2020 with this incredible finish after the bell.