Matthew Johns

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Matthew Johns (born 27 July 1971 in Cessnock, New South Wales) is an Australian entertainer who had previously enjoyed a successful career in professional rugby league. He is the older brother of Andrew Johns, who is considered a great of the game.

Matthew Johns is an ambassador of The Sony Foundation, which in recent years has raised more than $6 million to support a number of charitable organisations, including Youth Off The Streets and Sydney Children's Hospital.

Johns is married with two young sons.

[edit] Rugby League career

Matthew Johns is the eldest son of coal miner and country rugby league player Gary Johns and his wife Gayle. After playing junior rugby league in Cessnock, he joined the Newcastle Knights in 1991.

He played as five-eighth for the Knights, playing outside his younger brother Andrew Johns at halfback for nine seasons. The highlight of his career with the Knights was the 1997 Australian Rugby League grand final victory over the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. Salary cap problems led to him leaving the Knights and Australia at the end of 2000 to play a season with the UK based Super League club the Wigan Warriors. He returned to the National Rugby League in 2002 to play a season with the Cronulla Sharks before a shoulder injury forced his retirement at the end of the season.

Johns was part of the Australian squad that won the 1995 Rugby League World Cup, playing eight matches for his country. He also played four State of Origin matches for New South Wales.

He considered playing for Wales at the 2000 Rugby League World Cup due to his Welsh heritage.^[1]

Johns is currently an assistant coach at the Melbourne Storm NRL club.

[edit] Entertainment career

Matthew Johns' first foray into entertainment began in 1999 when he adopted the persona of Reg Reagan in a low budget film In Search of the Holy Grail which appeared at the Newcastle Film Festival. The film also starred fellow Knights players Andrew Johns, Matthew Gidley and Robbie O'Davis. The Nine Network showed excerpts of the film on The Footy Show.

The Reg Reagan character was developed further in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2000 where Johns described the character as a late 1970s Australian (or ocker) who smoked only Winfield Reds and drank KB beer. Fans of Johns' new side Cronulla started wearing copies of the T-Shirt worn by Reagan with the slogan "Bring Back the Biff" to games.

Johns' father commented on his son's hobby of dressing up in various costumes as a child in an interview with The Footy Show in 2001. He commented that thanks to professional Rugby League his son, "he would probably have become a cross-dresser." This was in reference to a photo of Johns dressed in a female leotard.

In 2004 Matthew Johns released Reg Reagan's 'This Is My Life' through Pan Macmillan.

Johns is also a regular contributor to Channel 9's 20 to 1.

[edit] The Footy Show

In 2002, Johns became a regular on The Footy Show with Reagan and a new character, Trent, a gay flight attendant from San Francisco. After his retirement, Johns signed deals with the Nine Network and Sony Music Entertainment. He appears on The Footy Show and as a commentator on Nine's broadcasts of rugby league matches. He has recorded a DVD titled "All of Me" released in June 2004 featuring skits by Reg Reagan and Trent the flight attendant. Since then he has released a follow up entitled "Blood, Sweat and Beers" and also features on The Footy Show's Best Of DVD collection from 1994-2002 edition onwards.

As Reg Reagan, Johns recorded a song called "Am I Ever Gonna See the Biff Again?" in 2004 sung to the tune of The Angels' 1977 hit "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again?". The song is a humorous lamentation of the decline of on-field violence in professional rugby league. His backing band The Knucklemen featured John Brewster of the Angels and Kevin Borich of the Kevin Borich Express on guitars, Paul deMarco of Rose Tattoo on drums and Paul Christie of Mondo Rock and The Party Boys on bass. Released in June 2004, it made a top twenty debut on the Australian singles charts on 5 July 2004. The song was so successful it was nominated for an ARIA award.

In 2005 Johns introduced the persona Randy Discotelli, an American fitness freak of Yugoslav origin and at the start of the 2007 season Johns introduced his a newest character Warren Robson, a parody of Today Tonight reporter Naomi Robson.

[edit] Feature Films

Matthew Johns' first feature film appearance was in Footy Legends where he appeared as himself. The film was directed by the Khoa Do released on August 3rd, 2006. In 2007 The Final Winter presented Johns in his first feature film acting role where he starred as 'Jack', the 1980s coach of the Newtown Jets Johns will also appear in a film adaptation of You Wouldn't Be Dead For Quids by Robert G Barrett as 'Billy Dunne', a bouncer and main character Les Norton's best mate at the Kelly Club.

[edit] Works

[edit] Videos/DVDs

• All of Me (DVD) (2004)
• Blood, Sweat and Beers (2005)

[edit] Songs

• Am I Ever Gonna See the Biff Again? (2004)

[edit] Books

• This Is My Life (2004)

[edit] Films

• In Search of the Holy Grail (1999)
• Footy Legends (2006)
• The Final Winter (2007)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Reg Reagan web site
• Matthew Johns web site
• State of Origin Official website Rugby League Player Stats
• Wigan Warriors profile
• Matthew Johns Rugby League Tables