John Cameron Robbie (born 17 November 1955) is a former 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 who played scrum half, and a well known

radio presenter A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

702 __NOTOC__ Year 702 ( DCCII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 702 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era b ...

. His previous rugby career has also seen him take up the role of rugby commentator, both on television and at

Independent Newspapers Independent Newspapers Limited (INL) was a newspaper publisher in New Zealand. Started as the Wellington Publishing Company in 1906 to publish ''The Dominion'', it began taking over other newspapers in the 1970s and was renamed Independent New ...

. He is a

Laureus Sport for Good Foundation The Laureus World Sports Awards is an annual award ceremony honouring individuals and teams from the world of sports along with sporting achievements throughout the year. It was established in 1999 by Laureus Sport for Good Foundation foundin ...

Ambassador.

Life and career

John Robbie went to

The High School, Dublin The High School is a 12–18 mixed, Church of Ireland, independent secondary school in Rathgar, Dublin, Ireland. It was established in 1870 at Harcourt Street before moving to Rathgar in 1971 and amalgamated with The Diocesan School for Girl ...

, where he was a member of the Leinster Schools Cup winning side in 1973. He then attended

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

and

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

, and was captain of the rugby teams at both universities. He received his first cap for Ireland against Australia in Lansdowne Road on 17 January 1976, and went on to receive 9 caps for Ireland. He toured

in 1980 with the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

playing in one test match, and at the time played club rugby for

Greystones RFC Greystones Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team based in Greystones, County Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland, playing in Division 2B of the All-Ireland League. The club was formed in 1937. They won their first trophy in 1944 when the ...

; see

1980 British Lions tour to South Africa In 1980 the British and Irish Lions rugby union team toured South Africa (including one game in Windhoek, South West Africa, the future Namibia). The tour was not a success for the Lions, as they lost the first three tests before salvaging some ...

. He moved to South Africa in 1981. He was later picked twice for the

South African rugby team The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

but never received a cap, at the time he was playing for

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

. As a talkshow host, he has "interviewed a range of important figureheads, from heads of government and key players in the political arena, to sporting heroes, business gurus..." and is "not afraid to ask the difficult questions. He's hard-hitting, while remaining fair and honest." He became known for his motto "Cut the Slush!", pushing the other party to get to the point. After a career in talk radio spanning 30 years, he has announced his retirement from radio with his farewell segment being his usual morning slot on 15 December 2016.

References

1955 births Living people South African people of British descent Irish emigrants to South Africa Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players South African rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Dublin University Football Club players Greystones RFC players Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge South African radio presenters Rugby union journalists People educated at The High School, Dublin Rugby union players from County Dublin Rugby union scrum-halves {{Ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub