- Ronnie Dawson (rugby player)
A. R. "Ronnie" Dawson (born
June 5 , 1932 inDublin, Ireland ) played hooker for Ireland and was captain of the British Lionsrugby union team on their 1959 tour to Australia and New Zealand.Ronnie was educated in St. Andrew's College in Dublin,
Dublin Institute of Technology Bolton Street (where he qualified as anArchitect and worked as such for theBank of Ireland for most of his professional career) and played club rugby for Wanderers F.C. He played 28 times for Leinster between 1958 and 1964 (during which he Captained the side) and won the first of his 27 Irish caps in 1958 (against Australia, a game which Ireland won) - subsequently Captaining the side on 11 occasions and retiring from International rugby in 1964. He captained the British Lions on their 1959 tour to Australia and New Zealand (playing in 6 Tests) and was Assistant Manager in 1968 for the Lions tour to South Africa. In captaining the Lions in 6 tests he established a record, which has been subsequently equalled byMartin Johnson .Following his retirement from playing rugby union at the highest level, Ronnie was instrumental in developing coaching of the game in Ireland, setting up coaching structures and was the first Irish coach in 1971. Ronnie also moved into administration and was the Irish representative on the
International Rugby Board for many years. He was President ofWanderers F.C. and of theIrish Rugby Football Union prior to his retirement from administration in 1990. He is presently a Trustee of the IRFU.His lifetime contribution to the game of rugby union was acknowledged in 2004, when he was awarded the
International Rugby Board Vernon Pugh Award for Distinguished Service.External links
* [http://statistics.scrum.com/rugby_stats_05.asp?ID=IDA12 Scrum.com] rugby statistics site
* [http://www.irb.com/IRBWeb/SearchClickHandler.aspx?LinkClick=%2fcgi-bin%2fMsmGo.exe%3fgrab_id%3d0%26page_id%3d23819%26query%3dronnie%2520dawson%26hiword%3dDAWSONS%2520dawson%2520ronnie%2520] IRB 2004 Vernon Pugh Award for Distinguished Service
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