Edward Thomas Bentley Jackson (born 2 December 1988) is an English former professional

rugby union player 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 ...

who played for a number of sides in England and Wales as a Number 8.

Background

Born in

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, Jackson attended

Millfield School Millfield is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding s ...

where he was captain of the 1st XV, coached by former

prop Jon Mallet. Upon graduation from the

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

, starting his senior professional career at the

Rec REC or Rec is a shortening of recording, the process of capturing data onto a storage medium. REC may also refer to: Educational institutes * Regional Engineering College, colleges of engineering and technology education in India * Rajalakshmi ...

, the academy manager Frank Butler commented "Edward is an intelligent footballer who understands and reads the game very well. I first saw him play for Somerset U16s three years ago, and he has been training with the academy ever since. We have liaised closely with Jon Mallett in Edward's development, and are delighted to have signed him full-time."

Club career

As one of the promising stars coming through

Academy where Jackson first gained experiences in the A League playing for Bath United, the powerful ball carrier signed a full-time contract with

in 2007 and made his senior debut for them against

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...

in the

EDF Energy Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

in October 2008. In 2009, he captained

at the

Middlesex Sevens The Middlesex Sevens was a Rugby Sevens tournament held annually at Twickenham stadium in London, England until 2011. It was first held in 1926, and started by Dr J.A. Russell-Cargill, a London-based Scot.Bath, ''Scotland Rugby Miscellany'', p82 T ...

. The backrow moved onto

Doncaster Knights Doncaster Knights Rugby Football Club ''(formerly, Doncaster RFC)'' are a professional rugby union club representing the city of Doncaster, England. The club play in the 2nd division of English rugby, the RFU Championship. Being the most prom ...

in the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

before making the move to

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club () was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from ...

in 2012. Jackson then signed for Wasps Rugby (Aviva Premiership) in 2014 where he spent two seasons. Having previously worked with

Dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

Director of Rugby

Lyn Jones Richard Lyn Jones (born 5 June 1964) is a Wales international rugby union former player. Originally playing as a flanker, Jones subsequently became a coach. He played most of his playing career for Neath RFC and started his coaching career at t ...

during his time at

, Jackson signed for Newport Gwent Dragons and made his debut in the

Pro12 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

match against

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

in September 2015.

International career

Jackson's leadership skills were recognised at international level in his early years, representing

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

he captained both U16 and U18 teams. He was part of the England U18 side that won the Four Nations title in 2006.

Spinal injury

In April 2017, Jackson had a

spinal injury A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. It is a destructive neurological and pathological state that causes major motor, sensory and autonomic dysfunctions. Symptoms of ...

, a fractured C6/C7 joint dislocation, after diving into the shallow end of a swimming pool. Despite the severity of the injury, Jackson is currently making a positive recovery progress, though he has been told that he will not play rugby professionally again. His previous rugby club

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

paid tribute to the former Number Eight with

standing ovation A standing ovation is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding, often after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim. Standing ovations are considered to be a special honor. Often they are ...

at the 8th minute during the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby u ...

match against

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

Post injury

In April 2018, less than a year after breaking his neck, Jackson climbed

Snowdon Snowdon (), or (), is a mountain in Snowdonia in North Wales. It has an elevation of above sea level, which makes it both the highest mountain in Wales and the highest in the British Isles south of the Scottish Highlands. Snowdon i ...

. Jackson's created a not-for-profit organisation, M2M, standing for the millimetres he moved his big toe to the mountains he now climbs. He and former Bath club mate

Olly Barkley Oliver John Barkley (born 28 November 1981) is a former English rugby union player who played for Bath, Gloucester, Racing Metro, Grenoble, Scarlets and London Welsh at fly-half between 2001 and 2016. Early career Barkley was born in Hammers ...

, the former England international, and are committed to raising £250,000 for a spinal injury rehabilitation unit in Nepal. Alongside his wife, Lois, they founded a mental health charity, calle
Millimetres 2 Mountains (M2M)
that helps people who have suffered physical and/or mental trauma through recovery utilising the outdoors and bespoke support. In 2018, Jackson joined

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

as a reporter for their European Rugby Champions Cup coverage and has also presented their highlights show 'The Big Tackle.' He been involved with their coverage of the Autumn Nations Cup, Autumn Nations Series and Irish Autumn Internationals and became a presenter of Channel 4 coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games & Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games also for Channel 4. During 2020, Jackson climbed

Mera Peak Mera Peak is a mountain in the Mahalangur section, Barun sub-section of the Himalaya and administratively in Nepal's Sagarmatha Zone, Sankhuwasabha. At it is classified as a trekking peak. It contains three main summits: ''Mera North'', ; ''Me ...

in Nepal to raise funds for a spinal unit. He has become and adventurer, motivational speaker and television presenter. The story of his injury, recovery and new-found love of

mountaineering Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...

was made into a documentary 'The Mountain within me' in 2024 by director Polly Steele. The film had its World Première on 16 August 2024 at the 77th

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all titles are World, international, European or UK Premieres), in al ...

. Its UK release date is 23 August 2024 Dogwoof films The Mountain within me
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References

External links

Newport Gwent Dragons Player Profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Ed 1988 births Living people Alumni of Northumbria University People educated at Millfield Rugby union players from Bath, Somerset Bath Rugby players English rugby union players Dragons RFC players Television presenters with disabilities English disabled sportspeople Rugby union number eights