William James McBride CBE, better known as Willie John McBride (born 6 June 1940), is a 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 ...

footballer from

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who played as a

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for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

. He made 63 appearances for Ireland, including eleven as captain, and toured with the Lions five times; a record that earned him 17 Lions Test caps. He also captained one of the most successful Lions sides, which returned undefeated from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in 1974. McBride, inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2009, is regarded as one of the most influential figures ever to play the game.

Youth

McBride was born in Toomebridge,

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

. Owing to his father's death when he was four years old, he spent most of his spare time helping out on his family farm. Because of this he did not start playing rugby until he was 17. He was educated at Ballymena Academy and played for the school's First XV. After he left he joined

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

Playing career

In 1962 McBride was selected to play for

. His first Test on 10 February 1962 was against

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. Later that year he was selected to tour South Africa with the

. McBride continued to play for Ireland throughout the 1960s and played for Ireland when they first defeated

(the ''Springboks'') in 1965, and when Ireland defeated

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in Sydney — the first time a Home Nations team had defeated a major southern hemisphere team in their own country. He was again selected for the Lions in 1966, this time touring New Zealand and Australia. He toured South Africa with the Lions again in 1968. He was selected to play for the Lions in their 1971 tour of New Zealand. Despite being criticized by some as being "over the hill", McBride was made

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leader and helped the Lions to a Test series win over

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; their first and last series win over New Zealand. He received an MBE in 1971 for services to rugby football.

1974 Lions tour to South Africa

McBride's leadership qualities led to his appointment as captain of the

in their 1974 tour to South Africa. The Test series was won 3–0, with one match drawn; the first Lions series ever won in South Africa. It was one of the most controversial and physical Test match series ever played. The management of the Lions concluded that the Springboks dominated their opponents with physical aggression, and so decided to match fire with fire. Willie John McBride instigated a policy of "one in, all in": that is, when one Lion retaliated, all other Lions were expected to join in the melee or hit the nearest Springbok. At that time there were only substitutions if a doctor agreed that a player was physically unable to continue and there were no video cameras and sideline officials to keep the punching, kicking and head butting to a minimum. If the South Africans were to resort to foul play then the Lions decided "to get their retaliation in first." The signal for this was to call "99" (a shortened version of the emergency number in Ireland and in the United Kingdom: 999). This was a signal for the Lions to clobber their nearest rival players.

Retirement

In 1975 as his international career was ending he played his last game for Ireland at

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) 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 the Aviva Stadium on ...

. The game was against France, and near the end of the match he scored his first test try for Ireland. It was the crowning moment of a great playing career. His last international game was against Wales on Saturday 15 March 1975. After retiring from playing the game, McBride coached the Irish team and was manager of the 1983 Lions tour to New Zealand. Despite the test results being mainly poor, team camaraderie was high and some good wins were recorded in other games. In 1997 he was an inaugural inductee into 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 accepted ...

. He lives in

Ballyclare Ballyclare () is a small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 10,850 according to the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, and is located within the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It is part of, and ...

. He has been asked to present Test jerseys and give motivational speeches to Lions players prior to matches. In 2004 he was named in Rugby World magazine as "Rugby Personality of the Century". He is a major supporter of the Wooden Spoon Society. McBride was awarded a CBE in the 2019 New Year Honours list for services to Rugby Union.

References

Bibliography

* * ''Encyclopdea of World Rugby'' published 1995.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McBride, Willie John 1940 births Living people Ballymena R.F.C. players Barbarian F.C. players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Ireland international rugby union players Ireland national rugby union team captains Ireland national rugby union team coaches Irish rugby union coaches Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Ballymena Academy Rugby union locks Rugby union players from County Antrim 20th-century sportsmen from Northern Ireland Ulster Rugby players World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees People from Toome