Robert Harold George Weighill,

CBE 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 ...

DFC (1920–2000) was a

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 ...

international who represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the

Five Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

in 1947 and 1948.Bob Weighill Profile on scrum.com
/ref> He also captained his country, and later became Secretary of the Rugby Football Union. Weighill served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

and rose to the rank of Air Commodore.Rugby mourns passing of RFU Secretary Weighill
/ref>

Life

Bob Weighill was born on 9 September 1920 in

Kings Norton Kings Norton, alternatively King's Norton, is an area of Birmingham, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Worcestershire, it was also a Birmingham City Council ward (politics), ward within the Government of Birmingham, Engl ...

. He was educated at Wirral Grammar School for Boys and was the freestyle swimming champion of Cheshire in 193536. Weighill served with

Cheshire Constabulary Cheshire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the English unitary authorities of Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Borough of Halton and Borough of Warrington. The force is responsible for policing an are ...

between 1937 and 1941 and joined the RAF as a pilot. In 1944 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and he eventually rose to the rank of Air Commodore and commanded the RAF No. 1 School of Technical Training at RAF Halton. He was honoured as a

Commander 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 ...

in 1970.

Rugby union career

Weighill played club rugby for

Birkenhead Park Birkenhead Park is a major public park located in the centre of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It was designed by Joseph Paxton and opened on 5 April 1847. It is generally acknowledged as the first publicly funded civic park in the world. Th ...

, Waterloo R.F.C., Harlequins and Leicester. At representative level, he captained the RAF rugby team from 1945 to 1952, and captained the Combined Services side and the Notts, Lincs and Derbys county team. He made his international debut on 15 March 1947 at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

in the

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 ...

match (

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 ...

). Of the four matches he played for his national side, he was on the winning side twice. He played his final match for England on 29 March 1948 at Colombes, Paris in the

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

match, in which he captained the national team. As a rugby union administrator, Weighill was an England selector from 1959 and 1964 and Secretary of the RFU between 1974 and 1986. From 1986 to 1995 he was the Honorary Secretary of the Five Nations and Home Unions Committee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weighill, Bob 1920 births 2000 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire England international rugby union players English rugby union players People educated at Wirral Grammar School for Boys Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Air Force officers Rugby union number eights Waterloo R.F.C. players Leicester Tigers players British police officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force rugby union players Rugby union players from Birmingham, West Midlands