John Wilson Kyle, (10 February 1926 – 27 November 2014), commonly referred to as Jack Kyle or Jackie Kyle, was a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player who played for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

, the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

and the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be les ...

during the 1940s and 1950s. Kyle is best known for leading Ireland to a grand slam in the

1948 Five Nations Championship The 1948 Five Nations Championship was the nineteenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugby ...

.Van Esbeck, Edmund
"A day and a team etched in the annals – 1948: Ireland's Grand Slam. The Ravenhill climax"
''Irish Times''. In 1950, Kyle was declared one of the six players of the year by the ''New Zealand Rugby Almanac''.Jackie Kyle bio at Lions web site
Kyle is a member of the

International Rugby Hall of Fame The International Rugby Hall of Fame (IRHOF) was a hall of fame for rugby union. It was created in 1997 in New Zealand and is run as a charitable trust with an address at Chiswick in London. Most of the trustees are also inductees. IRHOF acc ...

, and was inducted into the IRB Hall of FameBio at International Rugby Hall of Fame
Archive.is. Retrieved on 10 July 2018. before the two halls merged to form the current

World Rugby Hall of Fame The World Rugby Hall of Fame (formerly the IRB Hall of Fame) recognises special achievement and contribution to the sport of rugby union. The World Rugby Hall of Fame covers players, coaches, administrators, match officials, institutions and othe ...

. He was named the ''Greatest Ever Irish Rugby Player'' by the

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

in 2002. Kyle was educated at

Belfast Royal Academy The Belfast Royal Academy (commonly shortened to ) is the oldest school in the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a co-educational, non-denominational voluntary grammar school in north Belfast. The Academy is one of 8 schools in Northern ...

and studied medicine at

Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

. He graduated in 1951 and in 1991, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university. In 2007, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the ''Irish Journal of Medical Science'' and the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland."Medical 'Oscar' for rugby's Jack Kyle", Lesley-Anne Henry, 1 February 2007, Belfast Telegraph
/ref> He was awarded an OBE in 1959.

Rugby international

Ireland

Kyle first played for

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

in a friendly against a British Army XV. However, no caps were awarded. He made his official debut for Ireland on 25 January 1947 against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the

1947 Five Nations Championship The 1947 Five Nations Championship was the eighteenth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-third series of the n ...

in an 8–12 defeat

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...

. Between

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

and

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

, while playing for Ireland, he went on to make 46 full appearances and score 24 points, including 7 tries. The highlight of his Ireland career came during the

when, together with Karl Mullen and

Mick O'Flanagan Mick O'Flanagan (29 September 1922 – 13 September 2015) was an Irish former sportsman who represented his country at both soccer and rugby union. As a soccer player, O'Flanagan played for, among others, Home Farm, Bohemians and Belfast Ce ...

, he helped Ireland win a grand slam. Kyle played in all four games and he is often credited with masterminding Ireland's success. In

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

, he also helped Ireland win the Triple Crown and in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

, they won the title again. Kyle made his last appearance for Ireland against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

on 1 March

. Following a solo try against

at Ravenhill in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yugosl ...

, an impressed newspaper journalist parodied ''

The Scarlet Pimpernel ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title (co-authored with Montague Barstow) enjoyed a long run in London, having ...

'' with the lines:

''They seek him here, they seek him there''
''Those Frenchies seek him everywhere''.
''That paragon of pace and guile'',
''That damned elusive Jackie Kyle''.

British and Irish Lions

In 1950, Kyle also played for the British Lions on their tour to New Zealand and Australia. He played in 20 of the 29 games, including all six Tests. Among his tour highlights was a display that came in the first Test, a 9–9 draw with

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. Of the Lions' nine points, Kyle scored a try, created another for Ken Jones and won a penalty that was converted by John Robins. During the tour, he also scored a try in the 24–3 defeat of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Barbarians

Kyle made eight appearances for the Barbarian F.C.'s between 1948 and 1954, scoring three points in total.

Later years

After retiring from club rugby in 1963, Kyle embarked on humanitarian work in

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

. Between 1966 and 2000, he worked as a consultant

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

Chingola Chingola is a city in Zambia's Copperbelt Province, the country's copper-mining region, with a population of 216,626 (2010 census). It is the home of Nchanga Copper Mine, a deep-shaft high-grade content copper mining operation, which subsequent ...

, Zambia. He then returned to Northern Ireland and settled in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to th ...

. He remained involved in rugby and in 2001, established the Jack Kyle Bursary Fund in support of the Queen's University RFC Rugby Academy. Kyle died on 28 November 2014 after a prolonged illness and is survived by his son Caleb and daughter Justine."Ireland legend Jack Kyle dies at 88"
Rte.ie (28 November 2014). Retrieved on 2018-07-10.

Honours

Ireland * Five Nations Championship **''Winner'' (3):

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyle, Jack 1926 births 2014 deaths World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Queen's University RFC players North of Ireland F.C. players Ulster Rugby players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Barbarian F.C. players Rugby union fly-halves People educated at the Belfast Royal Academy Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Surgeons from Northern Ireland Officers of the Order of the British Empire Rugby union players from Belfast