CBHS continues on Sky

Unwelcome publicity in the wake of a player being sent off for stomping won’t result in Christchurch Boys’ High School asking Sky TV to stop covering its 1st XV’s games.

Last Friday Sky’s cameras captured footage of a 16-year-old using his boot in a ruck, and then punching an opponent, in the dying moments of CBHS’s 31-12 loss to Napier Boys’ High School in a National Top Four match in Palmerston North. The incident has been replayed and reported on social forums and by multiple mainstream media outlets, placing the unnamed teenager in the spotlight.

Although CBHS had previously discussed whether to allow games to be televised, principal Nic Hill said it won’t reconsider its stance after the incident in Palmerston North.

"No. Actually the message to the boys is that this behaviour is not acceptable at any level," Hill said. "That the player did something wrong on the field is not a reason not to televise the game.

"But if televising of it led to more professionalisation, that we felt pressure to start offering scholarships and start paying coaches and things like that because it is being televised, then I think we are going in the wrong direction."

Auckland’s Mt Albert Grammar School is one of few schools to not allow Sky to film 1st XV games. Wary of the issues that could arise, the school declined the broadcast opportunities in 2015. Having to pay for extra security to cope with bigger crowds when hosting televised fixtures was also an issue.

"Let them be superstars in their own team, rather than being made into public material," MAGS principal Patrick Drumm said in 2017. Sky TV’s director of sport Richard Last said his company had an agreement that the coverage would not focus on unsavoury incidents, glorify or criticise individual players during 1st XV games.’’