Joey Champness departs Newcastle Jets to pursue music career

Newcastle Jets have confirmed young striker Joey Champness will remain in the United States to pursue his hip-hop dreams.

The 22-year-old, who performs under the stage name JOWIC (pronounced Joey-Cee), missed the first month of pre-season for the Hyundai A-League club to spent time in Los Angeles.

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He has since signed a distribution deal with industry powerhouse label Creative Music Group (CMG) and will remain stateside indefinitely chasing his musical ambitions.

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Champness will not return to the Jets or to football in the immediate future, but a formal agreement has been reached with the club that should the Australian U-23 international come back to football before the end of the Hyundai A-League 2021/22 campaign, Newcastle will be his destination.

“We allowed Joey to head to the United States to pursue a dream in music at the start of last month,” Jets CEO, Lawrie McKinna told the club website.

“He’s made inroads in the business and the opportunity to remain in LA to chase those dreams is one that’s too big for him to pass up.

“That being said, Joey’s value as a footballer is clear for all to see and we’ve come to an formal agreement that should he return to football in the next three years, he will return to the Jets.”

Champness made his Hyundai A-League debut for the Jets against rivals Central Coast Mariners in October 2017.

He has scored eight goals in 36 league appearances for the Hunter Valley club.

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This article was originally published on the Hyundai A-League website.
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