John Beattie (rugby union)

John Beattie
Full name John Ross Beattie
Date of birth (1957-11-27) 27 November 1957
Place of birth North Borneo
Notable relative(s) Johnnie Beattie
Jennifer Beattie
Rugby union career
Position(s) Flanker / Number Eight
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1980–1987 Scotland 25 25

John Ross Beattie (born 27 November 1957) is a Scottish former international rugby union player.[1]

Rugby playing career

Beattie played for Glasgow Schools, Glasgow Academicals, Heriot's and Scotland B teams. He won his first International cap playing for Scotland at No. 8 in 1980 at the age of 23 and earned a total of 25 caps. He toured twice with the British Lions, South Africa in 1980 and New Zealand in 1983. In 1987 he captained Scotland in a pre-season tour to Spain and later scored a try in both Internationals against France and Wales but in a match against England he suffered a recurrence of a knee injury which was to cut short his playing career[2].

Coaching

John has coached Biggar along with Gary Parker, and coached West of Scotland during their rise from Premier Division 3 to Division 1, and for a brief period Glasgow Academicals.

Broadcasting and Journalism career

John hosts a lunchtime show of news, comment and discussion on current affairs on BBC Radio Scotland, Monday to Friday from 12 to 1.15pm, and is the co-host of the sports magazine programme Sport Nation on both radio and TV. He also writes a rugby blog on the BBC's rugby union website in which he comments on regional, national and international rugby and is match day commentator or presenter on international rugby games on both TV and Radio. John writes for The Herald, Sunday Herald and Scottish Rugby Magazine[3].

This is a link to his page on BBC Radio Scotland http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vkn0l

This is a link to his BBC Sport Nation page for TV and Radio http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yskh0

He tweets @johnrossbeattie

Personal life

John was born of Scottish parents in North Borneo where his father was manager of a rubber estate[4]. He attended boarding school in Penang, Malaysia and the family returned to Scotland when he was eleven[5]. He studied at the University of Glasgow and gained a degree in Civil Engineering.

Beattie's son, Johnnie, is also a Scottish international rugby union player, winning his first cap in a victory against Romania. One of his daughters, Jenny, plays football for both the Scotland women's national football team and Manchester City Women's football club and previously for Celtic F.C. Women[6].

In 2003 he was chairman of the Scottish government physical activity taskforce to improve the health of the nation through exercise[7] and oversaw a review in 2008 'Let's Make Scotland More Active'.

In 2004, Beattie was a candidate for Rector of the University of Glasgow. After retiring from rugby when injured at Twickenham in 1987 he retrained as a Chartered Accountant and left that profession in 1995 to concentrate on broadcasting.

In 2016 the University of Glasgow awarded him an honorary doctorate, Doctor of the University, in recognition of his achievements in sport and broadcasting[8].

Articles by John Beattie

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/johnbeattie/2011/09/scotland_blew_world_cup_game_t.html BBC blog, and this takes you to his other blogs.

References

  1. ↑ "John Beattie - Rugby Union - Players and Officials - ESPN Scrum". ESPN scrum. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  2. ↑ "John Beattie, Scotland - Brief biography of International rugby career".
  3. ↑ "CV from website".
  4. ↑ "BBC website CV".
  5. ↑ "My Life in Rugby: John Beattie – Glasgow Accies, Scotland & Lions No.8".
  6. ↑ "Scotsman newspaper interview 2008".
  7. ↑ "Let's Make Scotland More Active: A strategy for physical activity".
  8. ↑ "University to honour outstanding individuals in fields ranging from science to sport".
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