Roger Miles Uttley (born 11 September 1949)

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

is a former English

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player.

Career

Uttley played 23 games for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

both in the second row and the back row, five times as captain, and four tests in the Lions back row on the undefeated 1974 tour to South Africa. Roger was born in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and ...

, attended Montgomery High School, and

Blackpool Grammar School Blackpool Aspire Academy is a secondary school located in the Layton area of Blackpool, Lancashire, England. The school was formed in 2014 by merging Collegiate High School with Bispham High School Arts College. It was temporarily located on ...

and played first for Fylde then

Gosforth Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish ...

before finishing his career at

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 ...

. He was a member of the famous North team which beat the All Blacks at Otley on 17 November 1979 and went on to play in the England team which won the Grand Slam in 1980, retiring from international rugby later that year. He coached the successful London and South East Divisional side in the mid to late 1980s before working with Geoff Cooke to coach and guide the England XV captained by Will Carling to the final of the 1991 World Cup He was also assistant coach to the victorious 1989 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia. In 1997 he was asked to manage the England XV, a job he enjoyed doing despite it coinciding with the infamous tour to hell. Due to cutbacks within the RFU the post of manager became financially unviable and he lost his position along with 30 other RFU employees. His day job has always been in teaching physical education and for 20 years he was Director of that subject at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (sc ...

. In 2008 he retired to look after his wife and was succeeded by Jesse Coulson. He also taught at Cramlington High School for some years in the 1970s. He is a former president of

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and a current council member of the same charity. He is an honorary member of Wooden Spoon the charity for disadvantaged children and young people. In August 2014, Uttley was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.

References

External links

ESPN Scrum Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Uttley, Roger 1949 births Living people British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England England international rugby sevens players England international rugby union players English rugby union players Fylde Rugby Club players Male rugby sevens players Newcastle Falcons players Officers of the Order of the British Empire Rugby union locks Rugby union players from Blackpool Wasps RFC players Teachers at Harrow School