Willie-John McBride -

Willie John McBride MBE is a former rugby union player who played for Ireland and the British Lions. He played 63 Tests for Ireland including eleven as captain, and toured with the Lions five times — a record that gave him 17 Lions Test caps. He also captained the most successful ever Lions side which toured South Africa in 1974 and won the Test series 3 wins and a draw.

After retiring from playing the game, Willie John coached the Irish team and in 1997 he was an inaugural inductee into the International Rugby Hall of Fame. In 2004 he was named in Rugby World magazine as 'Heineken Rugby Personality of the Century.'

Willie John worked in the banking industry from 1959 to 1994 and is the Vice President of Riding for Disabled Association Northern Ireland and a past President of Ballymena RFC.

He has received many honours including being made a freeman of Newtownabbey Borough Council and being confered with a Doctorate of Law by University College Dublin in 2004.

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