John Jeffrey (born 25 March 1959 in Kelso in the Scottish Borders) is a former

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

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 it ...

player. He is an administrator for

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

Rugby Union career

Amateur career

Jeffrey was educated at St. Mary's School, Melrose and

Merchiston Castle School Merchiston Castle School is an independent boarding school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has around 470 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 18 as either boarding or day pupils; it was modelled ...

. His nicknames were "The Great White Shark" and "JJ", the former widely thought to be because of his blonde hair, though in a 1990 book called 'The Grudge' by Tom English, it is a nickname that was given to him because of his very white skin.Bath, p141 He played for Kelso.

Provincial career

He played for South of Scotland.

International career

He was capped by Scotland 'B' 3 times between 1983 and 1984. He won forty caps for Scotland between 1984 and 1991, making him, at the time, Scotland's most capped flanker. Often known to be first to the breakdown point, first with the tackle, or first with an inspired counter, Jeffrey had the ability to score important tries, of which he scored 11, another Scottish record at the time, shared with back-row colleague Derek White. Journalist, Richard Bath, described him as "one of the most galvanising sights in Five Nations rugby throughout the 1980s and early 1990s." He was an outstanding performer in the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

season of

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

. In 1988, after playing football with the

Calcutta Cup The Calcutta Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the rugby match between England and Scotland played annually in the Six Nations Championship. Like the match itself (England–Scotland), the Calcutta Cup is the oldest trophy contested be ...

along Princes Street in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

with England's Dean Richards, Jeffrey received a six-month ban from 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 ...

. Richards received a one match sentence from the English Rugby Football Union. The trophy was severely dented, and cost hundreds of pounds to repair. Jeffrey later admitted to having been drunk at the time of the incident: "There was no doubt it was us. It was a mix of alcohol and high jinks. I think I had sobered up a bit by the time I got back to the hotel. I remember looking at the cup and thinking, 'hmmm, we could be in a spot of bother here'." Jeffrey had been a British and Irish Lion on the 1989 Tour of Australia, ironically being kept out of the Test side by his national team-mates Finlay Calder and Derek White, and Englishmen

Mike Teague Michael Clive Teague (born 8 October 1960) is a former England and British Lions rugby union footballer. Early life Teague was born and raised on a farm a few miles outside Gloucester. He attended Churchdown School. Personal life Teague mar ...

who would be on the losing side against Jeffrey in the

match the following year. During the 1990

Hong Kong Sevens The Hong Kong Sevens () is an rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competition, the Hong Kong Sevens is currently the s ...

, Jeffrey played for Scotland 7s, but when they were knocked out, he went on to play for Wales 7s as they were suffering from too many injuries.

Coaching career

He has been involved in coaching the Scotland youth teams.

Administrative career

He has been a member of the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international ru ...

(Now called World Rugby) Council and head of referees since 2010. In December 2020 Jeffrey was appointed as Chairman of the Scottish Rugby Board. In December 2022 Scottish Rugby announced that Jeffrey would stand down as Chairman in May 2023 but would remain on the board.

Farming career

Jeffrey's "day job" was his Borders farm, of which he had only one regret: "If I stand on a hill I can see England."

Broadcasting career

He commentates at rugby games on

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...

's ''Sportsound'' programme.

References

;Sources # Bath, Richard (ed.) ''The Complete Book of Rugby'' (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 )

External links

John Jeffrey on Sporting HeroesA tribute to John Jeffrey in ''The Scotsman'' newspaper
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffrey, John 1959 births Living people British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Scotland Kelso RFC players Male rugby sevens players People educated at Merchiston Castle School People educated at St. Mary's School, Melrose Rugby union flankers Rugby union players from Kelso Scotland 'B' international rugby union players Scotland international rugby sevens players Scotland international rugby union players Scottish rugby union coaches Scottish rugby union commentators Scottish rugby union players South of Scotland District (rugby union) players