John Jeffrey (born 25 March 1959) is a Scottish former

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 ...

player, coach and administrator. He won 40 caps for Scotland, and was part of the team that won the Grand Slam in 1990. After retiring as a player he was a coach and administrator.

Early life

Jeffrey was educated at St. Mary's School, Melrose and

Merchiston Castle School Merchiston Castle School is an independent boarding school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has around 470 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 18 as either boarding or day pupils; it was modelled ...

. Jeffrey owns a farm in the Borders. His nicknames were "The Great White Shark" and "JJ".

Playing career

Jeffrey played for Kelso and South of Scotland. He was capped by Scotland 'B' 3 times between 1983 and 1984. He won forty caps for Scotland between 1984 and 1991, making him, at the time, Scotland's most capped flanker. He scored 11 tries, another Scottish record at the time, shared with back-row colleague Derek White. Journalist Richard Bath described him as "one of the most galvanising sights in Five Nations rugby throughout the 1980s and early 1990s."Bath, p141 In 1988, after playing football with the

Calcutta Cup The Calcutta Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the rugby match between teams of England and Scotland played annually in the Six Nations Championship. Like the match itself (England–Scotland), the Calcutta Cup is the oldest trophy con ...

along

Princes Street Princes Street () is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three quar ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

with England's Dean Richards, Jeffrey received a six-month ban from the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; ) is the Sport governing body, governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Now marketed as Scottish Rugby, it is the second-oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league sys ...

. Richards received a one match sentence from the English

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

. The trophy was severely dented, and cost hundreds of pounds to repair. Jeffrey later admitted to having been drunk at the time of the incident: "There was no doubt it was us. It was a mix of alcohol and high jinks. I think I had sobered up a bit by the time I got back to the hotel. I remember looking at the cup and thinking, 'hmmm, we could be in a spot of bother here'." Jeffrey was selected for the British Lions' 1989 Tour of Australia. He was a part of the Scotland team that won the Grand Slam in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. During the 1990

Hong Kong Sevens The Hong Kong Sevens ( zh, t=香港國際七人欖球賽, link=no) is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competiti ...

, Jeffrey played for Scotland 7s, but when they were knocked out, he went on to play for Wales 7s as they were suffering from too many injuries.

Later career

Jeffrey was involved in coaching the Scotland youth teams. He has commentated on rugby games for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. He was a member of the (now

World Rugby World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

) Council (previously the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

) and head of referees since 2010. In December 2020 Jeffrey was appointed as chairman of the Scottish Rugby Board. In December 2022 Scottish Rugby announced that Jeffrey would stand down as chairman in May 2023 but would remain on the board. In 2024 Jeffrey put himself forward as a candidate for the charirmanship of World Rugby. His candidacy was not supported by the Scottish Ruby Union, and he subsequently resigned as president of the Six Nations and as a board member, council member and vice-chairman of World Rugby.

References

;Sources # Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 )

External links

John Jeffrey on Sporting HeroesA tribute to John Jeffrey in ''The Scotsman'' newspaper
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffrey, John 1959 births Living people British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Kelso RFC players Male rugby sevens players People educated at Merchiston Castle School People educated at St Mary's School, Melrose Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Kelso Scotland 'B' international rugby union players Scotland international rugby sevens players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union coaches Scottish rugby union commentators Scottish rugby union players South of Scotland District (rugby union) players 1987 Rugby World Cup players 1991 Rugby World Cup players