Дэйвид Брукс, который умер в возрасте 77 лет, был одним из самых популярных фигур в Rugby Union; он был менеджером британских львов, когда они гастролировали по Южной Африке в 1968 году, а позже он стал президентом футбольного союза регби.
Дэвид Кеннет Брукс родился в парке Мертон, на юго-западе Лондона, 12 марта 1924 года, сын оптового фрутера. Побывав в Рутшской школе, он увидел военное служение с воздушным оружием флота.
«Я полетел на Мечфиш, сказал он позже, вы знаете, самолет тяжелого дизайна и цели. Довольно подходящий, я думал».
Его введение в серьезный регби появилось в 1945 году, когда он присоединился к арлекинам и утвердился как бросок вперед. Мобильность, он любил говорить, не был его самым большим преимуществом. «Но если бы я ждал достаточно долго, добавил он, или рефери не вмешивался, игра всегда возвращалась ко мне».
В течение двух сезонов (1952-54) «Брук» - или «Вредитель» своим товарищам по команде - был капитаном Арлекинов; он также играл в лондонских графствах и для Суррея, которого он капитан в течение двух лет (1950-52).
РЕКЛАМА
В свои 16 лет с Арлекинами он сыграл 161 раз за 1-й XV, забив в общей сложности 43 балла, в том числе 13 попыток.
Но это были отличные навыки Брукса, которые принесли ему более широкое признание. Он был умелым офицером прессы для Арлекинов и для Суррея, и его умение работать в комитете - и его удовольствие от этого - в конечном итоге привело его к самому высокому административному посту в игре.
В 1966 году Брукс руководил турне Арлекинов по Южной Африке, полезная генеральная репетиция для британского и ирландского львов в ту же страну, которую он управлял двумя годами позже.
Хотя в состав Львов вошли такие великие имена, как Майк Гибсон, Вилли Джон Макбрайд, Гарет Эдвардс и Барри Джон, Южная Африка, победители, выигравшие три теста, с одним нарисованным.
Тур, тем не менее, оценил успех - хотя это было не без споров. После второго, проведенного теста в Порт-Элизабет, Брукс избивал некоторые решения судьи как «постыдные»; и в Восточном Лондоне некоторые члены команды «Львов» были обвинены в «непревзойденном пьяном разгуле».
«Туры в регби, мягко заметили Брукс, неизменно буйны, но до половины этого я представляю, что Лион 1968 года был среди самых кровейших, когда-либо отправлявшихся за границу».
Когда ему был предъявлен законопроект общей стоимостью около 900 фунтов стерлингов за ущерб, предположительно вызванный его игроками, он заметил: «Не мог быть большой стороной».
Брукс был президентом РФС в 1981-82 годах. Он всегда твердо верил, что британский регби в свои любительские дни должен стать более конкурентоспособным, если стороны, такие как «Все черные» и «Спрингбоксы», будут согласованы или преодолены; и он был убежденным сторонником введения клубного чемпионата.
«Другие любительские виды спорта, такие как легкая атлетика и шоу-прыжки, заметил он, помогли правильному пути от спонсоров - другими словами, на благо игры».
Тем не менее, Брукс никогда не забывал, что спорт - это то, что нужно наслаждаться. «Регби, настаивал он, является досугом, а не бизнесом».
Брукс был президентом Суррей РФС с 1971 по 1973 год. Он стал президентом жизни Арлекинов в 1990 году.
Вдали от регби он занялся бизнесом, сначала в оптовых фруктовых компаниях своей семьи, а затем в качестве управляющего директора лондонского офиса импортеров бананов Geest Industries. Наконец, в возрасте 52 лет, он создал свой собственный бизнес по импорту фруктов с тремя партнерами; он ушел в отставку в 1990 году.
Брукс женился, в 1950 году, Энн Джефферсон, которая умерла в 1996 году. У них было два сына и две дочери.
Перевести DAVID BROOKS, who has died aged 77, was one of the most popular
... figures in Rugby Union; he was manager of the British Lions when they toured South Africa in 1968, and he later became President of the Rugby Football Union.
David Kenneth Brooks was born at Merton Park, south west London, on March 12 1924, the son of a wholesale fruiterer. After attending Rutlish School, he saw wartime service with the Fleet Air Arm.
"I flew Swordfish," he later said, "you know - an aircraft of ponderous design and purpose. Quite suitable, I thought."
His introduction to serious rugby came in 1945, when he joined the Harlequins and established himself as a backrow forward. Mobility, he liked to say, was not his greatest asset. "But if I waited long enough," he would add, "or the referee didn’t interfere, play invariably came back to me."
For two seasons (1952-54), "Brooky" - or "Wrecker" to his teammates - was Harlequins’ captain; he also played for London Counties and for Surrey, whom he captained for two years (1950-52).
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In his 16 years with Harlequins, he played 161 times for the 1st XV, scoring a total of 43 points, including 13 tries.
But it was Brooks’s off-the-field skills which brought him wider recognition. He was an able press officer for Harlequins and for Surrey, and his skill in committee work - and his enjoyment of it - eventually took him to the highest administrative post in the game.
In 1966 Brooks managed the Harlequins’ tour of South Africa, a useful dress rehearsal for the British and Irish Lions tour of the same country which he managed two years later.
Although the Lions squad included such great names as Mike Gibson, Willie John McBride, Gareth Edwards, and Barry John, South Africa emerged the victors, winning three Tests, with one drawn.
The tour was, nonetheless, judged a success - though it was not without controversy. After the second, drawn, Test at Port Elizabeth, Brooks castigated some of the referee’s decisions as "disgraceful"; and in East London, some members of the Lions team were accused of "unmitigated drunken revelry".
"Rugby tours," Brooks mildly observed, "are invariably boisterous, but until half way through this one I imagine that the 1968 Lions were among the meekest ever to go abroad."
When he was presented with a bill totalling some £900 for damage allegedly caused by his players, he remarked: "Couldn’t have been much of a party."
Brooks was president of the RFU in 1981-82. He had always firmly believed that British rugby, in its amateur days, needed to become more competitive if sides such as the All Blacks and the Springboks were going to be matched or overcome; and he was a staunch supporter of the introduction of a club championship.
"Other amateur sports, such as athletics and show jumping," he once observed, "have benefited the right way from sponsors - in other words, for the good of the game."
Yet Brooks never forgot that sport is something to be enjoyed. "Rugby," he insisted, "is a leisure pursuit, not a business."
Brooks was president of Surrey RFU from 1971 to 1973. He became life president of Harlequins in 1990.
Away from rugby, he made his living in business, first in his family’s wholesale fruit business, and then as managing director of the London office of the banana importers Geest Industries. Finally, aged 52, he set up his own fruit importing business with three partners; he retired in 1990.
Brooks married, in 1950, Anne Jefferson, who died in 1996. They had two sons and two daughters.
David Kenneth Brooks was born at Merton Park, south west London, on March 12 1924, the son of a wholesale fruiterer. After attending Rutlish School, he saw wartime service with the Fleet Air Arm.
"I flew Swordfish," he later said, "you know - an aircraft of ponderous design and purpose. Quite suitable, I thought."
His introduction to serious rugby came in 1945, when he joined the Harlequins and established himself as a backrow forward. Mobility, he liked to say, was not his greatest asset. "But if I waited long enough," he would add, "or the referee didn’t interfere, play invariably came back to me."
For two seasons (1952-54), "Brooky" - or "Wrecker" to his teammates - was Harlequins’ captain; he also played for London Counties and for Surrey, whom he captained for two years (1950-52).
ADVERTISEMENT
In his 16 years with Harlequins, he played 161 times for the 1st XV, scoring a total of 43 points, including 13 tries.
But it was Brooks’s off-the-field skills which brought him wider recognition. He was an able press officer for Harlequins and for Surrey, and his skill in committee work - and his enjoyment of it - eventually took him to the highest administrative post in the game.
In 1966 Brooks managed the Harlequins’ tour of South Africa, a useful dress rehearsal for the British and Irish Lions tour of the same country which he managed two years later.
Although the Lions squad included such great names as Mike Gibson, Willie John McBride, Gareth Edwards, and Barry John, South Africa emerged the victors, winning three Tests, with one drawn.
The tour was, nonetheless, judged a success - though it was not without controversy. After the second, drawn, Test at Port Elizabeth, Brooks castigated some of the referee’s decisions as "disgraceful"; and in East London, some members of the Lions team were accused of "unmitigated drunken revelry".
"Rugby tours," Brooks mildly observed, "are invariably boisterous, but until half way through this one I imagine that the 1968 Lions were among the meekest ever to go abroad."
When he was presented with a bill totalling some £900 for damage allegedly caused by his players, he remarked: "Couldn’t have been much of a party."
Brooks was president of the RFU in 1981-82. He had always firmly believed that British rugby, in its amateur days, needed to become more competitive if sides such as the All Blacks and the Springboks were going to be matched or overcome; and he was a staunch supporter of the introduction of a club championship.
"Other amateur sports, such as athletics and show jumping," he once observed, "have benefited the right way from sponsors - in other words, for the good of the game."
Yet Brooks never forgot that sport is something to be enjoyed. "Rugby," he insisted, "is a leisure pursuit, not a business."
Brooks was president of Surrey RFU from 1971 to 1973. He became life president of Harlequins in 1990.
Away from rugby, he made his living in business, first in his family’s wholesale fruit business, and then as managing director of the London office of the banana importers Geest Industries. Finally, aged 52, he set up his own fruit importing business with three partners; he retired in 1990.
Brooks married, in 1950, Anne Jefferson, who died in 1996. They had two sons and two daughters.
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