- Willie John McBride
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Willie John McBride Full name William James McBride Date of birth 6 June 1940 Place of birth Toomebridge, County Antrim, Northern Ireland Height 1.92 m (6 ft 3 1⁄2 in) Weight 102 kg (220 lb) Rugby union career Current status Position(s) Retired Playing career Position Lock National team(s) Years Club / team Caps (points) 1962–1975
1962-1974Ireland
British Lions63
17(65) correct as of 4 June 2007. William James McBride, MBE, better known as Willie John McBride (born 6 June 1940) is a former rugby union footballer who played as a lock for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions. He played 63 Tests for Ireland including eleven as captain, and toured with the Lions five times — a record that gave him 17 Lions Test caps. He also captained the most successful ever Lions side which toured South Africa in 1974.
McBride was born at Toomebridge, County Antrim. Owing to his father's death when he was five years old, he spent most of his spare time helping out on his family farm.[1] Because of this he did not start playing rugby until he was 17. He was educated at Ballymena Academy, Ballymena and played for the school's First XV. After he left he joined the Ballymena R.F.C., and in 1962 was selected to play for Ireland national rugby union team. His first Test on 10 February 1962 was against England at Twickenham. Later that year he was selected to tour South Africa with the British and Irish Lions.
McBride continued to play for Ireland throughout the 1960s and played for Ireland when they first defeated South Africa (the Springboks) in 1965, and when Ireland defeated Australia in Sydney — the first time a Home Nations team had defeated a major southern hemisphere team in their own country. He was again selected for the Lions in 1966, this time touring New Zealand and Australia. He toured South Africa with the Lions again in 1968.
He was selected to play for the Lions in their 1971 tour of New Zealand. Despite being criticized by some as being "over the hill", McBride was made pack leader and helped the Lions to a Test series win over New Zealand; their first and last series win over New Zealand.
McBride's outstanding leadership qualities led to his appointment as captain of the 1974 Lions tour to South Africa. His partner at lock was the late Gordon Brown of Scotland. The Test series was won 3-0, with one match drawn — the first Lions series ever won in South Africa. It was one of the most controversial and physical Test match series ever played. The management of the Lions concluded that the Springboks dominated their opponents with physical aggression, and so decided to match fire with fire.[2] Willie John McBride instigated a policy of "one in, all in" - that is, when one Lion retaliated, all other Lions were expected to join in the melee or hit the nearest Springbok.[3]
At that time there were only substitutions if a doctor agreed that a player was physically unable to continue and there were no video cameras and sideline officials to keep the punching, kicking, and head butting to a minimum. If the South Africans resorted to foul play then the Lions decided "to get their retaliation in first." The signal for this was to call "99" (a shortened version of the emergency number in the United Kingdom — 999). This was a signal for the Lions to clobber their nearest rival players. In 1975 as his international career was ending he played his last game for Ireland at Lansdowne Road. The game was against France and near the end of the match, he scored his first ever Test try for Ireland. It was the crowning moment of a great playing career. His last international game was against Wales on Saturday 15 March 1975.[citation needed]
After retiring from playing the game, McBride coached the Irish team and was manager of the 1983 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand. Despite the test results being mainly poor, team camaraderie was high and some good wins were recorded in other games. In 1997 he was an inaugural inductee into the International Rugby Hall of Fame. He lives in Ballyclare. He has been asked to present Test jerseys and give motivational speeches to Lions players prior to matches. In 2004 he was named in Rugby World magazine as "Heineken Rugby Personality of the Century". He is a major supporter of the Wooden Spoon Society.[4]
He is remembered fondly by members and supporters of Stockport Rugby Club for attending the Glengarth Sevens with a lion cub from Longleat, helping to raise money for the charity and adding to the fantastic atmosphere and help upkeep the strong reputation of sevens rugby at Stockport
References
- ^ Matthews, Joe (2003-11-01). "Whatever Happened to Willie John McBride". The Independent. p. 9.
- ^ Great Lions rugby moments: Willie John McBride's '99' call Telegraph. Retrieved 20 October 2011
- ^ Small talk: PR Williams The Guardian. Retrieved 20 October 2011
- ^ "Happy Birthday" - Willie John McBride WoodenSpoon.com. Retrieved 21 October 2011
Bibliography
- Willie John: The Story of my Life by Willie John McBride and Peter Bills ISBN 0-7499-5024-2
- Encyclopdea of World Rugby published 1995.
Preceded by Irish national rugby coach
- 1984Succeeded by
Mick DoyleBritish and Irish Lions – 1966 Australia and New Zealand tour Forwards Backs Bebb · Bresnihan · Gibson · Hinshelwood · Jones · Lewis · McFadyean · Price · Rutherford · Savage · Walsh · D. Watkins · S. Watkins · Weston · Wilson · YoungCoach British and Irish Lions – 1968 South Africa tour Forwards Backs Coach Dawson; Manager: David BrooksBritish and Irish Lions – 1971 New Zealand tour Forwards Backs Coach British and Irish Lions – 1974 South Africa tour Forwards Backs Coach British and Irish Lions team captains To 1910 Apr-Aug 1888: Robert Seddon Note 1 • Aug-Oct 1888: Andrew Stoddart Note 1 • 1891: Bill Maclagan • 1896: Johnny Hammond • Jun 1899: Matthew Mullineux Note 2 • Jun-Aug 1899: Frank Stout Note 2 • 1903: Mark Morrison • Jun-Jul 1904: David Bedell-SivrightNote 3 • Jul-Aug 1904: Teddy MorganNote 3 • 1908: Boxer Harding • 1910: John RaphaelNote 4 •
To present Jun-Jul1910: Tommy SmythNote 5 • Aug 1910: Jack JonesNote 5 • Aug-Sep1910: Tommy SmythNote 5 • 1924: Ronald Cove-Smith • 1927: David MacMyn • 1930: Doug Prentice • 1936: Bernard Gadney • 1938: Sam Walker • 1950: Karl Mullen • 1955: Robin Thompson • 1959: Ronnie Dawson • 1962: Arthur Smith • 1966: Mike Campbell-Lamerton • 1968: Tom Kiernan • 1971: John Dawes • 1974: Willie John McBride • 1977: Phil Bennett • 1980: Bill Beaumont • 1983: Ciaran Fitzgerald • 1986: Colin Deans • 1989: Finlay Calder • 1989: Rob Andrew • 1993: Gavin Hastings • 1997: Martin Johnson • 2001: Martin Johnson • May-Jun 2005: Brian O'DriscollNote 6 • May 2005: Michael OwenNote 6 • Jun 2005: Martin CorryNote 6 • Jul 2005: Gareth ThomasNote 6 • 2009: Paul O'Connell •
Notes Note 1: Robert Seddon died on tour after a boating accident, Andrew Stoddart, became captain for the remainder of the tour.
Note 2: Matthew Mullineux decided that after losing the first test that he should withdraw from further test matches, handing on field captaincy to Frank Stout, but remained tour captain.
Note 3: David Bedell-Sivright was injured during the first test. Teddy Morgan took over captaincy on the field but Bedell-Sivright remained tour captain.
Note 4: The team that John Raphael captained was not selected by the four Home Nations governing body, but had been organised by Oxford University and billed as the English Rugby Union team. However, it was denoted as the Combined British team by its Argentine hosts because it also included three Scots.
Note 5: Jack Jones captained the first test only, but Tommy Smyth remained the tour captain.
Note 6: Michael Owen captained the Lions in the first tour game, the test vs. Argentina in Cardiff. Brian O'Driscoll was injured at the beginning of the first test. Martin Corry and Gareth Thomas took over captaincy on the field but O'Driscoll remained tour captain.Barbarian team captains - International Fixtures To 1999 Apr 1915: Edgar Mobbs(vs.Wal) • Jan 1948: Haydn Tanner(vs.Aus) • Jan 1952: Jimmy Nelson(vs.SA) • Feb 1954: Rex Willis(vs.NZ) • Feb 1958: Cliff Morgan(vs.Aus) • May 1958: Jim Greenwood(vs.East Africa) • Feb 1961: Ronnie Dawson(vs.SA) • Nov 1962: Ron Jacobs(vs.Can) • Feb 1964: Ronnie Dawson(vs.NZ) • Jan 1967: Noel Murphy(vs.Aus) • Dec 1967: Stewart Wilson(vs.NZ) • May 1969: John O'Shea(vs.Rhodesia) • Jan 1970: Gareth Edwards(vs.SA) • May 1970: John Spencer(vs.Sco XV) • Oct 1970: Frank Laidlaw(vs.Fiji) • Jan 1973: John Dawes(vs.NZ) • Nov 1974: Willie John McBride(vs.NZ) • Jan 1976: Mervyn Davies(vs.Aus) • Jun 1976: Phil Bennett(vs.Can) • Sep 1977: Gerald Davies(vs.Lions) • Dec 1978: Derek Quinnell(vs.NZ) • Jan 1982: Bill Beaumont(vs.Aus)cancelled • Mar 1983: Fergus Slattery(vs.Sco XV) • Dec 1984: Gareth Davies(vs.Aus) • May 1985: Colin Deans(vs.Ita) • Nov 1988: Philip Matthews(vs.Aus) • Nov 1989: David Sole(vs.NZ) • Sep 1990: Nick Farr-Jones(vs.Eng) • Oct 1990: Nick Farr-Jones(vs.Wales) • Nov 1990: [[]](vs.Arg) • Sep 1991: [[]](vs.Sco) • Jun 1992: [[]](vs.Rus) • Nov 1992: [[]](vs.Aus) • Dec 1993: Scott Hastings(vs.NZ) • Jun 1994: [[]](vs.Zim) • Dec 1994: Robert Jones(vs.SA) • 1996: [[]](vs.Ire) • Aug 1996: [[]](vs.Sco) • Aug 1996: Arran Pene(vs.Wal) • Dec 1996: [[]](vs.Aus) •
From 2000 May 2000: Ian Jones(vs.Ire) • May 2000: Zinzan Brooke(vs.Sco) • Aug 2000: [[]](vs.Ger) • Dec 2000: Lawrence Dallaglio(vs.SA) • May 2001: [[]](vs.Wal) • May 2001: Tim Horan(vs.Sco) • May 2001: Gary Teichmann(vs.Eng) • Nov 2001: Rob Howley(vs.Aus) • May 2002: Todd Blackadder(vs.Eng) • May 2002: Pat Lam(vs.Wal) • Jun 2002: Ian Jones(vs.Sco) • May 2003: Taine Randell (vs.Eng) • May 2003: Mick Galwey (vs.Sco) • May 2003: Mark Connors (vs.Wal) • May 2004: Taine Randell (vs.Sco) • May 2004: Matt Burke (vs.Wal) • May 2004: Anton Oliver (vs.Eng) • Jun 2004: Rob Baxter (vs.Por) • Dec 2004: Justin Marshall (vs.NZ) • May 2005: David Humphreys (vs.Sco) • May 2005: Corné Krige (vs.Eng) • May 2006: Raphaël Ibañez (vs.Eng) • May 2006: Will Greenwood (vs.Sco) • Jun 2006: Bobby Skinstad (vs.Geo) • May 2007: Hugh Vyvyan (vs.Tun) • Jun 2007: Hugh Vyvyan (vs.Esp) • Dec 2007: Mark Regan (vs.SA) • May 2008: [[]] (vs.Bel) • May 2008: Morgan Turinui (vs.Ire) • Jun 2008: Mark Regan (vs.Eng) • Dec 2008: John Smit (vs.Aus) • May 2009: Martin Corry (vs.Eng) • Jun 2009: Phil Waugh (vs.Aus) • Dec 2009: Victor Matfield (vs.NZ) • May 2010: Xavier Rush (vs.Eng) • Jun 2010: Xavier Rush (vs.Ire) • Dec 2010: Matt Giteau (vs.SA) • May 2011: Sergio Parisse (vs. Eng) • Jun 2011: Sergio Parisse (vs. Wal)
Categories:- 1940 births
- Living people
- Irish rugby union players
- Ireland international rugby union players
- Ballymena R.F.C. players
- Ulster Rugby players
- Irish rugby union coaches
- Rugby union locks
- Members of the Order of the British Empire
- People from County Antrim
- International Rugby Hall of Fame inductees
- IRB Hall of Fame inductees
- British and Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland
- Ulster Scots people
- Ireland national rugby union team coaches
- People educated at Ballymena Academy
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