Another IRB Development Award in NAWIRA!


Mr. Jacob Thompson, the estimable Chairman of the Jamaica Rugby Union, has been awarded the 2007 IRB’s Development Award, the highest such honour world-wide this year. This is another huge achievement for a NAWIRA person, and Union, with Mike Luke having won in 2006.



Jacob started playing Rugby while studying in England in the late 1960s at the School of Electrical Engineers. Upon his return to Jamaica in the early 1970s he promoted the game to the cadet corps while at the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) at a time most expatriates of the colonial era were leaving Jamaica, and with them the ready-made Rugby infrastructure they provided.

Undeterred, and inspired, he recognized the potential for Rugby to spread in the high school system as the cadets were from high schools in close proximity to the JDF headquarters. He started his personal mission by coaching four inner city schools: Vauxhall, Tivoli, Kingston Technical and Denham Town.
He was appointed Chief Organiser for Schoolboy Rugby, and has maintained that responsibility until the present day.

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Jamaica's Rugby Guru Jacob Thompson wins IRB Development Award


Jacob Thompson is the winner of this year’s Development Award. Thompson came home to Jamaica from England in the early 1970s and started a mission to bring Rugby to the island that continues to this day. Thanks to Thompson, Jamaica now counts the sport amongst its social fabric.


Thompson played for Jamaica, coached a number of local teams and was appointed Chief Organiser for Schoolboy Rugby, a position he has retained up to now.


He has been the Chairman of Jamaica Rugby Union since 1999, and was appointed Vice-President of West Indies Rugby Union from the period 2005-2007. In 2007 he was selected as an Executive Committee Member of WIRU.

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