THE IPSWICH Jets will star on The Footy Show on Wednesday night with celebrity Beau Ryan arriving in the city on Tuesday to record items for the entertaining rugby league program.
A sold out function on Wednesday night at North Ipswich Reserve will feature crosses to the show with Ryan and Ipswich Jets personalities.
Jets CEO Wayne Wendt, who will remain in the role until the end of the week before moving into his new position as an Ipswich councillor, said the city was set to embrace Ryan and give him a two-day whirlwind taste of Ipswich.
The fun starts Tuesday with Ryan off to meet Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale.
“We are doing a visit with the mayor and he will introduce Beau to the city, then we will be going over to Riverlink,” Wendt said.
“Later on he is coming to Jets training and will probably be going to the leagues club at some stage.
“From 7pm on Wednesday we will be filming for The Footy Show on Channel Nine and we already have 300 people booked in to a function at the North Ipswich Reserve corporate centre. It is free but we had to have tickets and it sold out within hours.”
Wendt said he was not surprised Ryan’s visit was so popular, and added that the Ipswich Jets were now a national brand with plenty of appeal for broadcasters looking to cash in on ratings.
“It just shows you where we are on the footy map in Australia,” Wendt said.
“We’ve often said that we are the highest profile and most talked about rugby league club in Australia outside of the NRL.
“This just goes to prove it. It shows where rugby league is going in Ipswich and how professional we are with everything that we do.
“It is enormous to get this kind of support from The Footy Show and I’m so pleased at how many Ipswich people wanted to take part.”
Ryan, who played 126 NRL games for the Tigers and Sharks before retiring to focus on his TV career, will be bringing his mate Eric Grothe Jnr along with him.
Grothe, a former Test and NSW star, is also more than handy on the guitar and will be playing on Wednesday night with the same duo that had a gig at Cr Pisasale’s election celebration at the Ipswich Turf Club recently.
https://www.qt.com.au/news/beau-ryan-and-the-footy-show-to-visit-ipswich/2977833/