George Jack is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

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 ...

player. He was the 120th President of the Scottish Rugby Union; and the first President to be elected in a three-way vote.

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

He played for

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

. He became club captain.

Provincial career

He was capped by Edinburgh District. He was selected for Edinburgh District to play against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in their 1975 match at

Myreside Stadium Myreside Stadium is a sports ground in Edinburgh, Scotland. Often simply known as Myreside, Watsonians RFC have used this venue on the east side of Myreside Road as their home ground for rugby union matches since 1933. Edinburgh Rugby used it fo ...

Administrative career

Jack became the 120th President of the

Scottish Rugby Union The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...

. He served the standard one year from 2007 to 2008. In the first ever three way vote for President, Jack secured 57 votes; and his rivals for the job - Peter Brown and Jim Stevenson - polled 56 votes each. This meant that for the second round of voting Brown and Stevenson - since tied - had to cut cards to determine who would go forward for the final ballot against Jack. Peter Brown decided to pull out of the vote to let Stevenson go forward without cutting cards. Jack won the second and final round by 91 votes to 75 votes. During his presidency Jack defended the SRU's financial position. He stated that that would vigorously defend in court the claims of

Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...

if needed. The Edinburgh side had claimed that they were owed a six fugure sum from the

. Jack stated:

"As we have continually reminded the new Edinburgh owners, the agreements between the union and
Edinburgh Rugby Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...
form a binding contract and we expect Edinburgh to honour its obligations. This means, for example, that we expect Edinburgh to release players for Scotland duty. If they choose not to do so we will defend the union’s position and as necessary protect our rights in the best interests of the game. Ultimately, this means that if Edinburgh decides to press its claims through the courts we will, albeit with a heavy heart, defend our position vigorously."

However set against this robust defence of the SRU finances was the closure - during Jack's presidency - of Scotland's third professional side: the

Border Reivers Border reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border ...

. The closure cost was estimated at £1.76 million, though this was less than the annual budget to run the club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jack, George Scottish rugby union players Presidents of the Scottish Rugby Union Leith RFC players Edinburgh District (rugby union) players Rugby union hookers