Sir John James Patrick Kirwan (born 16 December 1964) is a New Zealand

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental hea ...

advocate, 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 former

coach. A wing, he played for

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

in the 1980s and 1990s, when they dominated New Zealand rugby. He played in 63 tests for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and scored 35 tries, making him one of the highest try scorers in international rugby union history. He was part of the New Zealand team that won the first

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

in 1987. He also played rugby league for the

Auckland Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

in their first two seasons in 1995 and 1996. After retiring, he moved into coaching, and was the head coach of Japanese club

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

, the

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

national teams, and the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

in Super Rugby, until he stepped down in 2015. He has written two books on the subject of mental health, has spoken openly about his battles with depression and been honoured for his services to mental health.

Early life and family

Kirwan was born in

on 16 December 1964, the son of Patrick and Patricia Madeline Kirwan. He was educated at De La Salle College in Auckland. His paternal grandfather, Jack Kirwan, was a wing three-quarter/five-eighths originally from

Reefton Reefton is a small town in the West Coast region of New Zealand, some 80 km northeast of Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. Ahaura is 44 km south-west of Reefton, Inangahua Junction is 34 km to the north, Maruia is 63&nb ...

who played for the

rugby league team on 28 occasions.

Playing career

Rugby union

Kirwan played for

Marist Brothers Old Boys RFC Marist Brothers Old Boys Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Auckland, New Zealand. The club was established in 1908 and is affiliated with the Auckland Rugby Football Union and New Zealand Marist Rugby Federation. Along with cl ...

and

domestically, winning 142 caps with the latter during an era when the side dominated the NPC and

Ranfurly Shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...

. From 1985 to 1989 he also played in Italy, with Benetton Treviso, where he won the Italian championship in 1989. Also in the Treviso team was the

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

Craig Green, Kirwan's teammate in the 1987 World Cup won by New Zealand. After his spell in rugby league, he finished his rugby union playing career with

in Japan from 1997–1999.

International

Kirwan played 63 test matches for

from 1984 until 1994. Kirwan played a major role in the All Blacks’ 23-test unbeaten run from 1987 to 1990, including winning the 1987 World Cup. He scored 10 tries in five tests against Wales and Australia during 1988. In all he scored 35 test tries for New Zealand. He also scored 67 tries in all appearances with the All Blacks (including non test matches) which is still the national record. His total of 199 first class tries remains a New Zealand record. In 1986 Kirwan and

David Kirk David Edward Kirk (born 5 October 1960) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. He is best known for having been the captain of the All Blacks when they won the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987. Early years Kirk was born in Wellington an ...

were the only All Blacks not to join the 'rebel'

New Zealand Cavaliers The Cavaliers was an unofficial New Zealand rugby union team which toured South Africa in 1986. Because of the Apartheid policies of the South African government, the official New Zealand Rugby Union tour scheduled for 1985 was cancelled, and th ...

team that travelled to

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

-era South Africa after a New Zealand court held that the All Blacks' playing in that country would be inconsistent with their mission of promoting rugby. As a result, he and Kirk were the only ones not barred from playing with the All Blacks after the tour.

Rugby league

At age 30 Kirwan signed for the newly formed

club

for the 1995 ARL season, with a mutual option for 1996. Playing on the wing, Kirwan was the Warriors' top try scorer in the 1996 season. He was a staunch opponent of the ARL during the

Super League war The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s. Super ...

Coaching career

Kirwan coached

NEC Green Rockets NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu (formerly NEC Green Rockets) is a Japanese rugby union team in the Japan Rugby League One. The team's captain iRyota Asano The previous captain was Takuro Miuchi, who was also the captain of the Japan national rugby unio ...

in Japan, and in 2001 became an assistant coach with the Auckland Blues. In 2002, he moved to Italy to become the coach of the Italy national team, which under his guidance recorded two victories over Wales in 2003 and Scotland in 2004. After a winless 2005 Six Nations campaign, he was dismissed on 8 April 2005. He continued to work as a consultant with NEC. At the start of 2007 he was appointed the coach of the

Japan national rugby union team The Japan national rugby union team, often known as the Cherry Blossoms, Sakura, and more recently The Brave Blossoms (''ブレイブ・ブロッサムズ - Bureibu burossamuzu'') is traditionally the strongest rugby union power in Asia and has ...

. Kirwan said: "The level of rugby has improved greatly in Japan in the last ten years and they did well at the last World Cup. But their recent performances at national level have ot been good I want to find that 'Samurai Spirit' that all the players can identify with. And then that style of rugby can start to spread downwards throughout the country." At the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Japan drew 12–12 with Canada, breaking a 16-year, 13-match losing streak at World Cups. Kirwan remained head coach of Japan through the 2011 Rugby World Cup, when they again drew with Canada, but lost to New Zealand, France and Tonga. In July 2012, Kirwan was announced as the new coach of the

. In the 2013 and 2014 seasons, the Blues finished in 10th place. After re-applying for the role for 2016 and beyond, he was forced to step down following just three wins - an all-time franchise low - in the 2015 season. In 2018 he stated that he is not likely to coach again.

Mental health

Kirwan has openly spoken of his battle with depression, and is actively involved in mental health and depression awareness campaigns in New Zealand. He has written about his depression in the books ''All Blacks Don't Cry'' and ''Stand by Me''. He has established the Sir John Kirwan Foundation to help young people understand mental health. In 2020 he launched a mental wellbeing app called Mentemia.

Personal life

Kirwan is married to Fiorella, Lady Kirwan, and they have three children: Francesca, a

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

player;

Niko Niko may refer to: People The given name is sometimes a short form of Nikola, Nikolas, Nikolaos or others. * Nikō (1253–1314), Japanese Buddhist disciple of Nichiren * Niko (musician), American musician active from 2002 * NiKo (born 199 ...

, who has played football for the

All Whites The New Zealand men's national football team ( mi, Tīma hoka a-motu o Aotearoa) represents New Zealand in men's international football competitions. The team is governed by the governing body for football in New Zealand, New Zealand Footbal ...

, New Zealand's national team, and Luca, who has represented New Zealand internationally in rowing at under-23 level. Kirwan speaks fluent Italian and good Japanese, having lived in Italy and Japan. In 2016, Kirwan's DNA heritage was investigated for a television programme, in which links to the American

Kennedy family The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy beca ...

and Scottish mountaineer

Alexander Kellas Alexander Mitchell Kellas (21 June 1868 – 5 June 1921) was a British chemist, explorer, and mountaineer known for his studies of high-altitude physiology. He was born in Aberdeen, Scotland.Jill Neate, ''High Asia: An illustrated guide to the 7, ...

were shown.

Honours and awards

In the 1989 New Year Honours, Kirwan was appointed a

Member 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 ...

, for services to rugby. In the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours, Kirwan was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to mental health. In the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours, he was promoted to

Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to mental health and rugby. Also in 2012, Kirwan was inducted into the

New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame is an organisation commemorating New Zealand's greatest sporting triumphs. It was inaugurated as part of the New Zealand sesquicentenary celebrations in 1990. Some 160 members have been inducted into the Hall o ...

References

Bibliography

*''The outdoors cookbook: John Kirwan &

Annabel Langbein Annabel Rose Langbein (born 1958) is a New Zealand celebrity cook, food writer and publisher. She has published 25 cookbooks and fronted three seasons of her TV series, ''Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook'', which launched on the TV One ne ...

’s favourite barbecue and grill recipes'' (1989) *''Kirwan: running on instinct'' (1992) *''Why I am: a bag full of wisdom to take on the road'' (c1999) *''All Blacks Don’t Cry: A Story of Hope'' (2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirwan, John 1964 births Living people Auckland rugby union players Benetton Rugby players Expatriate rugby union players in Italy Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Italy national rugby team coaches Japan national rugby team coaches Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit Green Rockets Tokatsu players New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Italy New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Japan New Zealand international rugby union players New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire New Zealand people of Irish descent New Zealand rugby league players New Zealand rugby union coaches New Zealand rugby union players New Zealand Warriors players People educated at De La Salle College, Māngere East Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league wingers Rugby players and officials awarded knighthoods Rugby union players from Auckland Rugby union wings World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees Mental health activists