Benjamin John Harvey (born 26 June 1974) is 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 its m ...

coach and former player from

Redruth Redruth ( , kw, Resrudh) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also inc ...

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 b ...

Playing career

Harvey played rugby as a

Fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

. During his career he played for

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

under the captaincy of future

and

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 ...

captain, Martin Corry. In 1996, he left Bristol for

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

before leaving after the 1997–98 season. After his time at Richmond, Harvey moved to

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in Administration (law), administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top ...

. Harvey then moved to Stourbridge RFC in 2001. During his playing career, he also played for the

England national rugby sevens team The England national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games. England's best finish in the Sevens Series is second place, which they have achieved four times, most recently i ...

. During his time at

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...

Ben became a regular scorer in

National League 1 National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

and is one of the top scorers in the division of all time.

Coaching career

In 2004, Harvey coached the

Kenya national rugby sevens team The Kenya national rugby sevens team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games. They are currently one of the 15 "core teams" of the World Series, with a guaranteed place in all 10 events each ...

. In 2005, Harvey left Stourbridge to move to

Pertemps Bees There have been three rugby clubs, each one a separate legal entity, that have borne the ‘Birmingham & Solihull’ name: ◆ Birmingham & Solihull Rugby Football Club Ltd ('the first club'), founded in 1989 -as an industrial and provident ...

as a player/coach. He became the coach of the backs. In 2007, after the head coach was made redundant, Harvey was appointed as the head coach of Pertemps Bees however he was removed from his position after fifteen games because of poor results. In 2008, Harvey was appointed as professional head coach to Jersey and later became Jersey's director of rugby as well as head coach after the incumbent stood down to become the vice-president of Jersey. During Harvey's time at Jersey, he coached them through five consecutive promotions to 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 ...

from

London 2 South {{Use British English, date=May 2015 London 2 South is an English league of Rugby Union teams, representing the second level in the Rugby Football Union's London & South East Division, making it a Level 6 league in the RFU's league hierarchy. The ...

. In 2011, Harvey led calls for the

States of Jersey The States Assembly (french: Assemblée des États; Jèrriais: ) is the parliament of Jersey, formed of the island's 37 deputies and the Connétable of each of the twelve parishes. The origins of the legislature of Jersey lie in the system o ...

to construct a new sports centre in Jersey in order to improve sports facilities in Jersey. In 2012, he was awarded the "Coach of the Year Award" in the CI

Sports Personality of the Year Athlete of the Year is an award given by various sports organizations for the athlete whom they have determined to be deserving of such recognition. Definition of "athlete" *In many nations, an "athlete" primarily refers to someone who participat ...

awards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Ben 1974 births Living people Birmingham & Solihull R.F.C. players Bristol Bears players English rugby union coaches English rugby union players Kenya national rugby union team Male rugby sevens players Richmond F.C. players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from Redruth Stourbridge R.F.C. players Worcester Warriors players