King’s College celebrated their Auckland 1A First XV rugby win with a polished social media video.
King’s triumphed in a hard-fought 36–27 win over Saint Kentigern College.
The way Auckland’s 1A schools interact, or don’t, with media aims to protect players, while continuing to use their own social media sites for promotion.
Bruce Holloway and Adam Julian
The full-time whistle had barely been blown in this season’s Auckland 1A First XV rugby final and celebrations were just beginning when King’s College’s social media channels broadcast a slick video reel showing joyous scenes at Eden Park as their team claimed thetitle.
It concisely captured the moment, making it effective, instantaneous, topical media.
“What an afternoon at Eden Park! Our First XV have claimed the prestigious 1A title with a hard-fought 36–27 win over Saint Kentigern”, went the words accompanying this short, punchy video clip.
It was table-topping stuff, and almost as polished as the social media clip King’s had used to preview the 2025 final with video snippets from the stunning semifinal draw with Auckland Grammar.
A pithy match report soon followed on the King’s College’s website, while on LinkedIn head coach Ian Robinson posted a personal tribute (though curiously, the subject of his accolades was the headmaster rather than his players and management, but that’s LinkedIn for you).
Principals have appeared reluctant to use the term “media ban”, but when staff, coaches and kids won’t talk to the media when approached, the term seems appropriate to these writers.
While an Auckland 1A media ban is still in force, taken as a whole, King’s College’s seamless actions and quality content neatly illustrate the direction in which some schools are heading, with in-house media activities firing on all cylinders.
Auckland Grammar's media approach does not reflect the passion you find on the sidelines of its First XV matches. Photo / Bruce Holloway
And within this framework, in 2025 it’s undisputed that short-form videos have secured a permanent place on the First XV social-media landscape.
This widespread adoption of video as a critical media element reflects a dynamic shift in consumer preferences. Educational institutions globally have embraced this trend, employing the short-form video to enhance engagement with followers and capture attention.
But some may see all this as a being a teeny-weeny bit hypocritical in Auckland, given there is a three-year-old 1A media ban in force with the underlying premise being that such coverage can be harmful to players.
However while 1A schools purport to protect the well-being of players and shield them from societal pressure, unnecessary hype and commercial exploitation on the one hand, on the other handy many are now also quite happy to seize the initiative on social media and run with their own captive content.
King's players celebrate scoring in the final. Photo / Bruce Holloway
As a result they are leveraging social-media platforms more effectively, and embracing this form of concise storytelling to connect with an audience – while at the same time notionally arguing this can be bad.
They’re big on media studies at King’s College and annually their students proudly showcase their Cambridge and NCEA coursework on the big screen, which no doubt reflects countless hours of hard work, creativity, and collaboration.
But it’s perhaps a shame that navigating the incongruities of the Auckland 1A rugby media ban isn’t also part of the curriculum, because it’s all a bit tricky.
The 1A final was of course a fixture which Sky had historically broadcast prior to the media ban.
Some of the thousands of King's fans at Eden Park for the 1A final. Photo / Bruce Holloway
And this ban might be well-meaning but it remains a peculiar outlier nationally. No other body of schools has found the need for one. Somehow the rest of New Zealand’s schools remain hopelessly out of step with Auckland’s deeper grasp of what is good and bad for them.
Long-term, it remains to be seen if the ban has any effect in any regard, or even if it may work against the best interests of promising rugby players.
The ban has also been effective in making it more difficult to accurately report on schoolboy rugby and provide context to events which unfold quickly, potentially leading to a less-informed public.
But that’s hardly a victory for the code.
On the other side of the coin, the odd thing is you could even argue the proposition that despite the ban, the coverage of 1A rugby has never been more thorough and forensic, with an ever-thirsty audience fuelling media coverage.
On a media landscape of retrenchments, cutbacks and cancellations, somehow our own First XV round still makes sense to the personnel making the big editorial calls at the Herald.
At the other end of the 1A media spectrum from King’s sit their great rivals, Auckland Grammar, who take the opposite tack.
You have to stand back and admire Grammar for their steely resistance to anything that might promote their First XV in the public eye.
Even with the changing demographics at Grammar, where their 2700-student body seems more diverse than ever, rugby remains their most followed and loved sport. Sources say Grammar players and team management would jump at the chance to once again have one of their matches broadcast on Sky Sport.
Nevertheless there is an official staunchness to their attitude to media coverage of First XV rugby that few could match. Headmaster Tim O’Connor is on record as saying he prefers to see all sports covered equally, and perhaps he deserves credit for pursuing such an egalitarian approach in a school known for meritocracy.
Media-wise the sports stars on Grammar’s website this year were their premier squash team (Auckland champions for the fourth successive year) while on the cultural front there was far less reticence in publicly hyping the achievements of students in the Auckland-wide Pat Hanly Creativity Awards, where seventh former Conor Davidson-Ladd, was particularly praised for his “Personal Landscapes” painting.
The judges liked “his creativity, his authenticity, his skill”, we learned.
Might there not have been similar creativity, authenticity and skill on show that was also worth reporting at Grammar’s First XV matches, attended by thousands? We certainly took it on the chin as some miffed Herald readers criticised us for not reflecting such qualities enough in our coverage of their tight home loss to St Kentigern.
You never like to criticise a fellow scribe – it’s not easy knocking this stuff out – but it read as if it had been written by a retired colonel in the 1890s, with a pistol held to his head.
It ran without pictures – despite this having been one of the most photographed games of the year and Grammar having some wonderful student photographers whose work deserves to escape the digital closet.
Players were only identified by their initials rather than first names, as was the pre-war fashion. (“A well-executed contestable kick from halfback B. R. T. Neels, was won in the air by Form 6 student N. J. Stanley who raced away to score.”) Nobody does Grammar quite like Grammar.
Auckland Grammar were approached for comment, and the offer remains open.
As is their habit, beaten 1A finalists St Kentigern also favoured the minimalist approach to First XV rugby with their social media. Following their final loss they did post 30 captionless photos on Facebook – which attracted no comments – with the bare 16-word text: “Auckland 1A Final today at Eden Park. Tough battle for the boys with Kings winning 36-27.”
By contrast the St Kentigern girls’ Year 7 & 8 speech finals report the same day at least got 100 words with photos (the girls all showed remarkable poise, creativity and conviction) while a report from Night Two of the College Music Gala 24 hours earlier (their musicians showed precision and passion) was worth at least 90 words with photos.
St Kentigern's fans show their support for their First XV. Photo / Bruce Holloway
To be fair, St Kentigern’s 1A final loss did score a mention on the bottom of Page 77 of the August edition of the college magazine, Piper – just below the term two orienteering report.
The report quite reasonably summarised the First XV’s season as “one of immense pride, resilience and achievement”. But it was all very amorphous and impersonal. And unlike, say, the duathlon, triathlon or orienteering coverage above it, not a single player was worthy of mention by name.
It was completely at odds with the vibrant passion you will see on the sidelines of any St Kentigern match.
However the really breathtaking move from a St Kentigern media perspective this year was their double standard with football coverage.
While they fully subscribed to the 1A notion of needing to shield their First XV from media, it was a different story for their First XI football team. St Kentigern were quite happy to promote and publish a link for Facebook livestreaming of their team losing to Scots College in the New Zealand premier football tournament final in Palmerston North.
Is this just a back-handed way of saying other codes aren’t as important as First XV rugby?
Because it’s a delicate dance, assuming the dual position of opposing the broadcast of First XV rugby – while spruiking broadcasts of other codes.
But this was at least a stance that had been successfully pioneered earlier in the season by De La Salle College.
Whereas De La Salle principal Myles Hogarty had spoken so passionately about the need to protect students from the dangers of media back in 2022, the college had no problem promoting a live broadcast feed as their premier rugby league team qualified for the grand final this year.
Admittedly Herald reader feedback largely gave the college a pass on this double standard with the prevailing sentiment being the comparison was unfair, particularly given De La Salle teams were run by volunteers doing a sterling job in a low-decile environment. But the same argument may not fly in the sprawling grounds of the private school on the banks of the Tamaki.
To try and better understand the thinking here, last week we emailed James Bentley, St Peter’s College principal and chairman of Auckland school rugby. We invited him to restate and update the aims of the 1A media policy, and make any other comments he felt might better inform readers of the objective situation faced in administering the code at this level.
James Bentley, St Peter’s College principal and chairman of Auckland school rugby. Photo / Supplied
Regarding the 1A media ban, we specifically sought a response to questions on whether it has had the desired impact, whether there had been any unintended consequences, and whether he could envisage a time when Sky Sport would again be allowed to broadcast 1A matches.
However he did not respond. Bentley is very media-proactive on other fronts, so possibly he was just busy fine-tuning one of his own Herald columns on the education sector. But the offer remains open.
St Peter’s own Facebook feed has been dialled back a bit from 2024, when it was excellent and offered interesting First XV player profiles and previewed matches by offering a historical perspective. However coach Richie Harris did at least manage one short Facebook interview.
Elsewhere, Sacred Heart old boys run a private Facebook group which features some unique and detailed summaries of their First XV matches, which often run to 1000 words. Further, these ever-so-slightly jaundiced accounts are filed within minutes of the final whistle as a service to the college’s broad global diaspora. But there is no general public access, which is often a shame given some of the laconic observational nuggets on offer.
Kelston Boys’ High’s Instagram account is all about the vibe. You won’t get a lot of factual detail or context, but there are some arty video clips accompanied by rappy tunes. It’s very tribal. The music is not for everybody, but there is a lot of passion about it and a real sense of community.
The best of school rugby media
Feilding High School finished as runners-up at this year’s (boys) National Top Four. However in terms of employing social media to promote the code they were runaway winners nationally with their comprehensive, cogent coverage and reporting.
So much so that they even had All Blacks legend Aaron Smith marketing a pair of school-branded budgie smugglers mid-season.
Feilding’s coverage is clearly a labour of love by rugby media manager Blair Rogers. His level of detail is supremely authoritative. We are not aware of anybody facilitating the spread of rugby information online to the same degree at any other New Zealand school.
As an example, last week Feilding’s Facebook feed advised how First XV hooker Alani Fakava (Feilding’s 1288th player, no less) finished his career on 76 matches, having played his first game as a 14-year-old in preseason and scored a try in his first starting match. However in terms of appearances Fakava was still 24 matches short of Josiah Maraku’s (player No 1187) 100 matches which he played from 2014-18. This is anorak heaven.
Neighbours Palmerston North Boys’ High School were more earnest with their social media coverage but no less helpful, while Wellington College maintained their high standards.
Meanwhile at provincial newspaper level we should also acknowledge the fine First XV coverage done by reporters Logan Savory, at the Southland Tribune, and Peter Jones, with the Marlborough Weekly.
Broadcast media
Sky Sport made a welcome return to broadcasting First XV rugby this season, offering generally polished production with an in-studio commentary team, which was widely embraced outside of Auckland (where it could not gain permission to cover matches).
However Sky were not always considerate of others. After the Wellington Premiership final, Huddy Sports – a Wellington-based streaming service that broadcasts with the authorisation of College Sport Wellington, the governing body for high school sports in the region – received a copyright notice, resulting in the removal of the final’s footage from YouTube.
This prompted a public backlash, leading Sky to withdraw its complaint and restore the footage. It is important to note that nobody technically owns the rights to these First XV rugby matches, which is why multiple providers can cover the games.
On the subject of match broadcasts, former Otahuhu College principal Gil Laurenson suggested a better approach for Sky in Auckland might be to seek to cover a couple of matches each season from outside “elite” ranks. Perhaps a tasty 1B clash.
Laurenson, no fan of the media ban, recalled how a historic televised match between Otahuhu College and De La Salle College had been great for players and his school.
To take this idea a step further, how about a “lucky dip” approach, with less high-profile schools nationwide invited to put their names in the hat at the start of the year for a one-off live broadcast?
Meanwhile Whakaata Māori (Maori TV) again produced a substantial amount of broadcast coverage, most notably Super 8 matches and National Top Four. This was mostly excellent and there were no reports of post-traumatic stress from anyone filmed.
However the commentary ranged from those with absolutely no idea – “Number 15, it’s tekau [10], tu meke, bro,” – to some genuinely entertaining kōrero. Pick of the commentators was Dale Husband, who typically brings big energy.
