Jack Kyle
Encyclopedia
John Wilson Kyle OBE (born 10 January 1926, Belfast
, Northern Ireland), commonly referred to as Jack Kyle or Jackie Kyle, is a former rugby union
player who played for Ireland
, the British Lions
and the Barbarians
during the 1940s and 1950s. In 1950, Kyle was declared one of the six players of the year by the New Zealand Rugby Almanac, in 1999, he was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame
, in 2002, he was named the Greatest Ever Irish Rugby Player by the Irish Rugby Football Union
, and in 2008, he was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame
.
Kyle was educated at Belfast Royal Academy
and studied medicine at Queen's University, Belfast. He graduated in 1951 and in 1991, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University. In 2007, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Irish Journal of Medical Science and the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland. He has also been awarded an OBE.
during the Second World War in a friendly against a British Army XV
. However, no caps were awarded. Between 1947
and 1958
, while playing for Ireland, he went onto make 46 full appearances and score 24 points, including 7 tries. The highlight of his Ireland career came during the 1948 Five Nations Championship
when, together with Karl Mullen
and Mick O'Flanagan
, he helped Ireland win a grand slam
. Kyle played in all four games and he is often credited with masterminding Ireland’s success. In 1949
, he also helped Ireland win the Triple Crown
and in 1951
, they won the title again. Kyle made his last appearance for Ireland against Scotland
on March 1 1958
. Following a solo try against France
at Ravenhill in 1953
, an impressed newspaper journalist parodied The Scarlet Pimpernel
with the lines:
on their tour to New Zealand and Australia
. He played in 20 of the 29 games, including all six Tests. Among his tour highlights was a display that came in the first Test, a 9-9 draw with New Zealand. Of the Lions' nine points, Kyle scored a try, created another for Ken Jones and won a penalty that was converted by John Robins
. During the tour, he also scored a try in the 24-3 defeat of Australia
.
and Indonesia
. Between 1966 and 2000, he worked as a consultant surgeon
in Chingola
, Zambia
. He then returned to Northern Ireland and settled in County Down
. He remained involved in rugby and in 2001, established the The Jack Kyle Bursary Fund in support of the Queen's University RFC
Rugby Academy.
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Northern Ireland), commonly referred to as Jack Kyle or Jackie Kyle, is a former rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
player who played for Ireland
Ireland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
, the British Lions
British and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...
and the Barbarians
Barbarian F.C.
The Barbarian Football Club, usually referred to as the Barbarians and nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", is an invitational rugby union team based in Britain...
during the 1940s and 1950s. In 1950, Kyle was declared one of the six players of the year by the New Zealand Rugby Almanac, in 1999, he was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame
International Rugby Hall of Fame
The International Rugby Hall of Fame is a hall of fame for rugby union. It was created in 1997 in New Zealand and is run as a charitable trust with an address at Chiswick in London. Most of the trustees are also inductees. IRHOF accepts new inductees every two years...
, in 2002, he was named the Greatest Ever Irish Rugby Player by the Irish Rugby Football Union
Irish Rugby Football Union
The Irish Rugby Football Union is the body managing rugby union in Ireland. The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where Irish rugby union international matches are played...
, and in 2008, he was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame
IRB Hall of Fame
The IRB Hall of Fame is a hall of fame operated by the International Rugby Board that recognises special achievement and contribution to the sport of rugby union. The IRB Hall of Fame covers players, coaches, administrators, match officials, institutions and other individuals...
.
Kyle was educated at Belfast Royal Academy
Belfast Royal Academy
The Belfast Royal Academy is the oldest school in the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is a co-educational, non-denominational voluntary grammar school situated in north Belfast. The Academy is one of eight Northern Irish schools whose Headmaster is a member of the Headmasters' and...
and studied medicine at Queen's University, Belfast. He graduated in 1951 and in 1991, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University. In 2007, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Irish Journal of Medical Science and the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland. He has also been awarded an OBE.
Ireland
Kyle first played for IrelandIreland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
during the Second World War in a friendly against a British Army XV
Army Rugby Union
The Army Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in the British Army and a constituent body of the Rugby Football Union . The ARU was formed on 31 December 1906 and marked the fulfilment of Lieutenant J.E.C...
. However, no caps were awarded. Between 1947
1947 Five Nations Championship
The 1947 Five Nations Championship was the eighteenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-third series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 1...
and 1958
1958 Five Nations Championship
The 1958 Five Nations Championship was the twenty-ninth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the sixty-fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played...
, while playing for Ireland, he went onto make 46 full appearances and score 24 points, including 7 tries. The highlight of his Ireland career came during the 1948 Five Nations Championship
1948 Five Nations Championship
The 1948 Five Nations Championship was the nineteenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between...
when, together with Karl Mullen
Karl Mullen
Dr Karl Daniel Mullen was an Irish Rugby Union player and Consultant Gynaecologist who captained the Irish rugby team and captained the British Lions on their 1950 tour to Australia and New Zealand....
and Mick O'Flanagan
Mick O'Flanagan
Mick O'Flanagan is a former Irish sportsman who represented his country at both soccer and rugby union. As a soccer player, O'Flanagan played for, among others, Home Farm, Bohemians and Belfast Celtic. His older brother, Kevin O'Flanagan, was also a notable sportsman who also represented his...
, he helped Ireland win a grand slam
Grand Slam (Rugby Union)
In rugby union, a Grand Slam occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship manages to beat all the others during one year's competition...
. Kyle played in all four games and he is often credited with masterminding Ireland’s success. In 1949
1949 Five Nations Championship
The 1949 Five Nations Championship was the twentieth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-fifth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 15...
, he also helped Ireland win the Triple Crown
Triple Crown (Rugby Union)
In rugby union, the Triple Crown is an honour contested annually by the four national teams of the British Isles who compete within the larger Six Nations Championship: England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. If any one team manages to win all their games against the other three they win the...
and in 1951
1951 Five Nations Championship
The 1951 Five Nations Championship was the twenty-second series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-seventh series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played...
, they won the title again. Kyle made his last appearance for Ireland against Scotland
Scotland national rugby union team
The Scotland national rugby union team represent Scotland in international rugby union. Rugby union in Scotland is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The Scotland rugby union team is currently ranked eighth in the IRB World Rankings as of 19 September 2011...
on March 1 1958
1958 Five Nations Championship
The 1958 Five Nations Championship was the twenty-ninth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the sixty-fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played...
. Following a solo try against France
France national rugby union team
The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales in the Six Nations Championship. They have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams...
at Ravenhill in 1953
1953 Five Nations Championship
The 1953 Five Nations Championship was the twenty-fourth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-ninth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played...
, an impressed newspaper journalist parodied The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a play and adventure novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The story is a precursor to the "disguised superhero" tales such as Zorro and Batman....
with the lines:
They seek him here, they seek him there
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
That paragon of pace and guile,
That demned elusive Jackie Kyle.
British and Irish Lions
In 1950, Kyle also played for the British LionsBritish and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...
on their tour to New Zealand and Australia
1950 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia
The British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia in 1950 was the first post-war tour made by the Lions; there had not been one since 1938....
. He played in 20 of the 29 games, including all six Tests. Among his tour highlights was a display that came in the first Test, a 9-9 draw with New Zealand. Of the Lions' nine points, Kyle scored a try, created another for Ken Jones and won a penalty that was converted by John Robins
John Robins
John Robins , was an international rugby union player who attained 11 caps for Wales between 1950 and 1953. A prop, he toured New Zealand and Australia with the British and Irish Lions in 1950 and became the first Lions coach, on the 1966 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand.Robins was...
. During the tour, he also scored a try in the 24-3 defeat of Australia
Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
.
Later years
After retiring from club rugby in 1963, Kyle embarked on humanitarian work in SumatraSumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. Between 1966 and 2000, he worked as a consultant surgeon
Surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
in Chingola
Chingola
Chingola is a city in Zambia's Copperbelt Province, the country's copper-mining region, with a population of 157,340 . It is the home of Nchanga Copper Mine, a deep-shaft high-grade content copper mining operation, which subsequently led to the development of two open pit operations, Chingola...
, Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
. He then returned to Northern Ireland and settled in County Down
County Down
-Cities:*Belfast *Newry -Large towns:*Dundonald*Newtownards*Bangor-Medium towns:...
. He remained involved in rugby and in 2001, established the The Jack Kyle Bursary Fund in support of the Queen's University RFC
Queen's University RFC
Queen's University Rugby Football Club is the rugby union team of Queen's University Belfast. Founded in 1869, it is the second oldest rugby union club in Northern Ireland . They originally played as Queen's College, Belfast and have won the Ulster Senior Cup a record 21 times...
Rugby Academy.
Honours
Ireland- Five Nations Championship
- Winners: 19481948 Five Nations ChampionshipThe 1948 Five Nations Championship was the nineteenth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-fourth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between...
, 19491949 Five Nations ChampionshipThe 1949 Five Nations Championship was the twentieth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-fifth series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played between 15...
, 19511951 Five Nations ChampionshipThe 1951 Five Nations Championship was the twenty-second series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-seventh series of the northern hemisphere rugby union championship. Ten matches were played...
: 3
- Winners: 1948