Joseph Ward Roff (born 20 September 1975) is an Australian former professional

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer who played on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

or at fullback for ACT Brumbies and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. He also had a spell at the French club Biarritz and in 2005–06 at Kubota Spears in Japan's Top League Of his 86 caps, 62 were won in consecutive games from 1996 to 2001. His final game saw him captain

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

against

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in the 2007 Varsity Match.

Early life

Roff's early schooling included a stint a St Lawrence's Infant School Dubbo. For a time, he attended The Armidale School in Armidale,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. He was also a student at Marist College Canberra, during which time he represented the Australian Schoolboys in 1992 and 1993. Roff's father, Glenn Roff, was Principal of St John's College, Woodlawn.

Rugby career

After a successful junior career he was selected at age 19 for Australia's 1995 Rugby World Cup squad, making his debut against Canada and scoring a try, followed by another 2 against Romania. By 1996 he was a more regular feature in the starting test side before becoming a firm test player for the 1999 Rugby World Cup win and the back to back Tri Nations wins of

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. He was also a capable goal kicker, kicking 18 penalties and 20 conversions in his test career. Roff scored the intercept try from Jonny Wilkinson's pass in the second British Lions Test in 2001. This turned the test in Australia's favour before they went on to win the game with Roff scoring a second try, squaring the series at 1-1. They went on to win the series 2–1. Until March 2007 he was the top try scorer in

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

before he was overtaken by Doug Howlett. He also holds the record for most tries in a Super 12 season, scoring 15 in 1997. Midway through the super 12 season of 2004 he announced that he would retire at the end of the domestic international season. He was just 29 years old and had spent 10 years playing Test rugby and amassed 86 test caps and 244 points. He farewelled the Brumbies in 2004 as the team took the Super 12 Final.

Education

Roff's secondary education was at The Armidale School in Armidale, New South Wales, and Marist College Canberra that has a proud rugby tradition. Roff was awarded a Bachelor of Applied Finance from the University of Southern Queensland.

Oxford University

Roff matriculated at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, UK in October 2006 to read Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Harris Manchester College. He was also involved in the Oxford Union. He also made a return to amateur rugby by playing for the

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

(OURFC), colloquially known as the Dark Blues, representing the Blues in their traditional fixture against

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham, and for sponsorship purposes known as the Allianz Stadium Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, London, England. It is owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the English rugby u ...

on 12 December 2006. Oxford lost this match 15–6. On 6 December 2007, he captained the Blues to their third successive Varsity loss, losing 22–16 to Cambridge, before hanging up his boots for the last time.

Later career

In June 2012, the University of Canberra Union (student body) announced that Roff had been appointed as its CEO with effect from July 2012, noting that Roff was leaving a management position with Lifeline Australia and had previously been a consultant with The Nous Group.UCU appoints Joe Roff as CEO
Amanda Jones, University of Canberra, 14 June 2012

Other

In January 2007, he won the "United Kingdom-based Young Australian of the Year for 2007" for his services to Australian Rugby in general.Australia Day Foundation Party 2007 (includes award photograph)
In 2018, Joe joined Canberra social mixed netball team 'A New Hope'. The team was runner up in the division 3 finals. He was voted Most Valuable Player for the season. During his years with the Wallabies, the

rhyming slang Rhyming slang is a form of slang word construction in the English language. It is especially prevalent among Cockneys in England, and was first used in the early 19th century in the East End of London; hence its alternative name, Cockney rhymin ...

term "Joe Roffie" gradually worked its way into the Australian

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

, being an abbreviation for

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References

External links

itsrugby.co.uk stats

Rugby-Heroes.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roff, Joe 1975 births Living people Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players ACT Brumbies players Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks Australian expatriate rugby union players in Japan Biarritz Olympique players Oxford University RFC players Alumni of Harris Manchester College, Oxford Australian Institute of Sport rugby union players University of Southern Queensland alumni Rugby union players from Armidale, New South Wales Australian expatriate rugby union players in France Rugby union players from New South Wales 1995 Rugby World Cup players 1999 Rugby World Cup players 2003 Rugby World Cup players People educated at The Armidale School People educated at Marist College Canberra