Life After Football
He returned to Sydney as coach of the Cronulla Sharks in 1975–76 commencing an association with that club later carried on by his sons Stuart Raper and Aaron Raper. He coached a Lane Cove Rugby Union Club team to victory in the Judd Cup suburban competition in 1977. Midway through the 1978 season he took over as coach of the Newtown Jets in a caretaker capacity after the resignation of Paul Broughton.
In retirement Raper for a time played a larger-than-life celebrity role making a record, appearing in commercials for a tyre company and the Liberal party and as an in-demand speaker and guest on radio and TV talk shows. Much higher honours were to follow: an award of a Member of the British Empire; selection in 1985 as one of the initial four post-war "Immortals" of the Australian game with Churchill, Gasnier and Fulton; appointment in 1988 as an Australian Test selector and representative of the New South Wales Rugby League.
Read more about this topic: Johnny Raper
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