Craig, who preferred not to give his surname, pointed to a “staggering” hypocrisy from the schools, given that they were themselves broadcasting the games online through the subscription-based streaming platform, Sportway.
Craig told the Herald he was confused by the school’s stance.
“If you’ve got a no filming policy, fine. Like Auckland does, you have a blanket policy, that I get.
“What I don’t get is that it was alright last week. Wasn’t alright this week and then next week it’ll be alright again for a certain group of kids. I think there’s a hypocrisy there,” Craig told the Herald.
Onside Rugby, a channel with almost 3000 YouTube subscribers and 12,000 followers on its social media accounts, has been posting top-level First XV matches to YouTube regularly since 2024.
“Up until this season, no one seemed to have any issue with my work. And then the new South Island Boys’ School Network competition started. The headmasters of the new SIBS network decided to monetise schoolboy rugby,” Craig said.
Southland Boys’ High School in possession against Nelson College at “Magic Round” in Christchurch over King’s Birthday weekend. Photo / Supplied
He conceded he also made money from the channel’s videos.
“I do receive some money from YouTube, but it is such a very small amount and it’s not enough to cover costs of filming.”
Grocott argued not a dollar of Onside’s earnings went to the schools the players hail from and said the SIBS subscription model ensures greater control of the footage – and a return of revenue to the schools and their athletes.
“I think this guy from Onside sort of thinks he’s Robin Hood and he’s stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. I can see the public perception of that; I totally understand that. That’s not the issue.”
“Whatever revenue that they [SIBS broadcasters Sportway] are generating, yes, they’re getting a cut – they’re a business. They’ve got to make a profit, we get that, but they are also reinvesting back into the schools.
“All of our schools are getting an equitable share of revenue to help us participate in that competition.”
School Sport New Zealand Chair and Shirley Boys’ High School Headmaster, Tim Grocott. Photo / Supplied
He said the bigger issue is having control of what’s filmed, how it is broadcast and viewer engagement – something he believed Onside doesn’t understand.
“We don’t know what ads are on through that broadcast. We don’t know whether they align with secondary school sport values and in our schools and we’ve got no say over anything that’s on that channel.”
Grocott says putting it on YouTube “is the thing that gets really worrying”.
“This is being posted on YouTube, which is an open channel. No safeguards around anything, open comments, and very little management or oversight of what’s actually happening on that page.”
Try. Marlborough Boys’ College score against King’s High School of Dunedin at the neutral venue of St Bede’s College in Christchurch. Photo / Supplied
Whakaata Māori is the biggest broadcaster of First XV rugby in New Zealand with eight matches streamed live on YouTube each weekend across the Super 8 and Central North Island competitions. It does not allow comments in the videos.
Sky Sport has also posted First XV games to YouTube, and this season has broadcast games from the North Harbour competition. Auckland’s 1A competition is the only league with no coverage, after principals of major schools collectively voiced concerns over the broadcasts.
Onside’s most popular videos are of former St Thomas of Canterbury College student and current NZ Warriors NSW Cup player, Bishop Neal.
Neal is a prodigious talent who produced a number of incredible feats for his First XV. Singling out and glorifying those feats in short, shareable clips could risk placing unnecessary hype on a player like Neal – and potentially drawing criticism to his opponents, Grocott claimed. Allowing comments to be open invites both, he said.
Bishop Neal (front) Bishop signs an NRL contract at St Thomas’ – a way of honouring the school’s investment in him. Pictured (left to right): Head of sport Paul Burton, Steve Hart, St Thomas’ league coach and deputy principal Andrew Auimatagi and First XV coach Kieran Coll.
“I don’t think he [Onside Rugby] is fully informed around some of the risks that exist with what he’s doing and, when I say risks, I mean to the students, to schools, to school reputation, to students’ reputation and wellbeing. All of those sorts of things.”
However, Grocott said they are risks that educators were fully aware of.
“The risk that potentially exists for [school] boards around ensuring that we’re compliant with the harmful Digital Communications Act, the Privacy Act, all of those sorts of things, I think, have probably come to the fore with the increase in broadcasting of secondary school sport,” Grocott says.
Before their inaugural competition began, the South Island Boys’ Schools established a set of guidelines around broadcasting. Students from the participating schools play a role in presenting the coverage, offering opportunities to students beyond the pitch – and ensuring commentary is always positive.
“The basis of those [guidelines are] celebrating the educational nature of school sports. It’s actually not a professional experience; this is secondary school.
“It does have age protections. People who are under 15 are not able to be streamed or filmed. There’s an opportunity to opt out. So, if a school’s not comfortable to be filmed, then you can opt out if you wish.
“There’s an agreed level of broadcasting and commentary standards. You don’t zoom in on an injury, or you don’t showcase someone who’s scored a fantastic try, the commentary is about being kind to kids and not about singling out people or criticism,” Grocott said.
Powerhouse First XV Southland Boys were too strong for a gallant Nelson College at the SIBS “Magic Round” over King’s Birthday weekend. Photo / Supplied
Grocott would like to see a consistent level of regulation across all streamed school sport, something that SSNZ was working through.
“It’s ensuring that our students are being broadcast in a way that we can feel pretty comfortable with, and it’s going to be the same for other sports, particularly at a national level.
“Anything that’s going to be broadcast at national winter tournament week this year, whether it’s football, basketball, that the intent is that those guidelines will help support all of that work.”
Craig, for this part, said he would be supportive of some guidelines.
“If there is a charter that comes through for the younger kids, then yes, I would be very likely to follow that.”
It’s been more than three weeks since Onside posted its statement online.
“So, to all my fans involved in rugby at St Bede’s and Shirley Boys’ High School, I’m afraid your rector or headmaster has said no more Onside Rugby for you,” the channel said.
Otago Boys’ High on the burst against Marlborough Boys’ College at SIBS “Magic Round”.
But, despite the order not to film, Onside cameras were back in front of Shirley Boys’ High School’s First XV for their away clash at St Andrew’s College on Saturday. Craig’s presence was noted by Grocott.
“I spoke to him at halftime and asked him if he had consent to film Shirley Boys High School students and he told me that he had consent from [hosts] St Andrew’s College to film.
“I contacted the rector of St Andrew’s College on Sunday to ask whether or not that was correct, and why hadn’t we been asked to provide consent, because to my knowledge we hadn’t been. And he informed me that they had had no contact with Onside Rugby.”
Craig disputed this, saying he was contracted to film the games.
“I was approached by a parent associated with the First XV to film that game and the game the previous week.
“He approached me and actually hired me to film those two games and then he comes back to me a couple of days later saying that he’d been talking to the head of sport at STAC. As it was their club day, would I be interested in going along and filming some other games to provide them clips?
“Then I’ve had, not spoken to, but contact from subsequent staff members to get access to footage to use,” Craig said.
The Christchurch Boys’ High School v Christ’s College match resulted in a big win for the home side. Photo / Supplied
The channel’s cameras were also at Christchurch Boys’ High School, where principal Nic Hill said they have an understanding.
“We don’t have a school policy for Onside, but if we wanted something taken down from their pages, we’ve been assured it would be,” Hill said.
CBHS and St Andrew’s College are the only schools that Onside has filmed at since it issued its statement. Comments remain open on each video, and they continue to be filled with requests to film upcoming games.
“My phone just goes off the hook, notifications from these kids wanting me to come and to film their games.
“I’ve never come across anything negative up until these two principals turned up at Magic Round.
“Everybody’s always been positive,” Craig said.
The Herald understands Onside Rugby and Sportway are still in discussions about how both parties can work together.
Mike Thorpe is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.