Jimmie Ireland (10 December 1903 - 25 October 1998) was a

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international

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 became the 64th

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

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 ...

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Ireland was born in Sauchiehall Street and went to Garnethill Primary. He then attended Glasgow High School. He played for

Glasgow HSFP Glasgow HSFP are a former rugby union team that played their home games at Glasgow, Scotland. The team was founded in 1884 by former pupils of the High School of Glasgow. The team no longer exists. In 1982 it merged with the Kelvinside Academi ...

. The Jimmie Ireland stand at the Glasgow club was opened in 2000.

Provincial career

He played for Glasgow District in the 1924 inter-city match.

International career

He was capped at the age of 14 for Scotland Schools. He received ten caps for

from 1925 to 1927. He was the last surviving member of Scotland's first Grand Slam side of 1925. In 1996, he opened a block of hospitality suites at

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium (known as BT Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, or popularly as Murrayfield) is a Rugby stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has a seating capacity of 67,144 making it the largest sta ...

each one bearing a name of that famous XV. He swapped jerseys with Sam Tucker, the England hooker, after Scotland had beaten England at Twickenham in 1926. He was given a bill by the SRU for the loss of the Scotland jersey of 12 shillings and 6 pence.

Referee career

He was an international referee. He refereed 5 Home Nations Championship matches between 1938 and 1939.

Administrative career

He became President of

. He was a Chairman of the International Rugby Board. As Chairman, in 1949, he saw that Australia, South Africa and New Zealand were admitted as full members for the first time. He was

of the

for the period 1950 to 1951.

Outside of rugby

Ireland was an accountant. An anecdote he often told at rugby dinners was the time he asked his boss for Saturday morning off as he was playing for Scotland at Murrayfield. His boss replied: 'What? The whole morning?'.

References

1903 births 1998 deaths Scottish rugby union players Presidents of the Scottish Rugby Union Scotland international rugby union players Glasgow HSFP players Glasgow District (rugby union) players Scottish rugby union referees Barbarian F.C. players Rugby union players from Glasgow Rugby union hookers {{Scotland-rugbyunion-bio-stub