Victor Eriakpo Ubogu (born 8 September 1964) is a former Bath and England

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. Arriving in the UK from

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

, Nigeria in 1977, he attended

West Buckland School West Buckland School is an independent school in West Buckland, Devon in the English public school tradition. It comprises a senior school, preparatory school, and a nursery. It is a relatively high performing school in Devon. It was one of ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

he received the school's top award, the Fortescue Medal. While at school he played for England Under 18s. He went on to the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

to study

Chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

. While at university he played for

Moseley Moseley is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants. The area also has a number of boutiques and ot ...

. He went on to St Anne's College, Oxford where he was selected to play with University of Oxford RFC and achieved his Blue. After leaving Oxford he joined Bath Rugby. He started for Bath in the victorious

1998 Heineken Cup Final The 1998 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 1997–98 Heineken Cup, the third season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 31 January 1998 at the Stade du Parc Lescure in Bordeaux. The match was conteste ...

as they defeated Brive. In 1992 he became a

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...

for the England national rugby union team where he remained until 1999. Combining the size and strength typical of a prop with unusual speed for a player specializing in this position, Ubogu was often a highly effective ball-carrier in broken play. Against well-drilled international defences he sometimes lacked penetration, but he frequently embarrassed club-level opposition. Ubogo founded the "Shoeless Joe's" chain of sports bars. In 2001, Ubogu appeared on ''

Lily Savage's Blankety Blank ''Blankety Blank'' is a British comedy game show which started in 1979 and is still running today, albeit with some sizeable gaps. The original series ran from 18 January 1979 to 12 March 1990 on BBC1, hosted first by Terry Wogan from 1979 un ...

''. Since 2004 he has run a high-end travel and sporting hospitality company, using his initials as its name.

References

External links

Victor Ubogu ProfileVictor Ubogu's sport hospitality companySunday Times article 28 February 2010
1964 births Living people Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Birmingham Bath Rugby players Black British sportspeople England international rugby union players English rugby union players Moseley Rugby Football Club players Nigerian emigrants to the United Kingdom Oxford University RFC players People educated at West Buckland School Rugby union props {{England-rugbyunion-bio-stub