Augustus Beverley Walter Risman (born 23 November 1937) is an English former

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 ...

and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

player and rugby league coach. A dual-code international, he played rugby union 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 b ...

and the British Lions, and rugby league for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Background

Bev Risman was born in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. Risman is the son of the rugby league player Gus Risman, the older brother of the rugby league player

John Risman John V. Risman (birth registered fourth ¼ 1944) is the President of Scotland Rugby League, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played at representative level for Wales, and at club level for ...

, and the father of John M. Risman, who was the first open double Blue. He achieved his double Blue at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, in both the rugby union

Varsity Match A varsity match is a fixture (especially of a sporting event or team) between two university teams, particularly Oxford and Cambridge. The Scottish Varsity rugby match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh at Murray ...

, and the 1984

rugby league Varsity Match The Rugby League Varsity Match is an annual rugby league match between Cambridge University and Oxford University. The first Varsity match took place on Sunday 26 April 1981 at Craven Cottage. Past winners See also * Student Rugby Leag ...

Playing career

Bev Risman played rugby union at fly-half for

(8 Test appearances) and for the British Lions (4 Test appearances). His international début was in 1959 for England against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. His last international rugby union appearance was in 1961. Switching codes, he played for

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

( Heritage No. 694),

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

and

. He won both the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

and

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

with Leeds and represented

in 5 Test appearances. He captained the Great Britain squad in the

1968 Rugby League World Cup The 1968 Rugby League World Cup tournament was the fourth staging of the Rugby League World Cup, and was held in Australia and New Zealand during May and June in 1968. Contested by the men's national rugby league football teams of the two host ...

where he earned three of his caps. After retiring he became involved in coach education, the development of the game in the South of England and the organisation of student rugby league. He was inducted to the rugby league Roll of Honour in 2005, and was elected President of the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

in 2010. He was replaced by Jim Hartley in 2011. Risman was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire 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 ...

(OBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to rugby league.

References

External links

*(archived by web.archive.org
Profile at leedsrugby.dnsupdate.co.uk''Rugby league's generation game'' – article at telegraph.co.ukRugby Cup Final 1968
{{DEFAULTSORT:Risman, Bev 1937 births Living people British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England British rugby league administrators Dual-code rugby internationals England international rugby union players England national rugby league team players English people of Welsh descent English rugby league coaches English rugby league players English rugby union players Great Britain national rugby league team captains Great Britain national rugby league team players Lancashire rugby league team players Leeds Rhinos players Leigh Centurions captains Leigh Centurions players London Broncos coaches Loughborough Students RUFC players Officers of the Order of the British Empire Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Salford Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union players from Salford