Brian Moore (rugby union)

Brian Moore

Full name	Brian Christopher Moore
Date of birth	11 January 1962 (1962-01-11)
Place of birth	Birmingham, England
School	Crossley and Porter School
University	University of Nottingham
Occupation(s)	Solicitor, Pundit
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position	Hooker
Amateur clubs
Years	Club / team
	Nottingham Harlequins Richmond
National team(s)
Years	Club / team	Caps	(points)
1987–1995	England	64	(4)

Brian Christopher Moore (born 11 January 1962) is an English former rugby union footballer. He played as a hooker, and is currently a rugby presenter and pundit on the BBC. He qualified as a Rugby Football Union referee in February 2010.

Early life

Moore was born to single mother Rina Kirk in Birmingham, abandoned by his Malaysian father. His mother gave him up for adoption at 7 months old to Methodist lay preachers Ralph (deceased) and Dorothy Moore, who moved to Halifax, West Yorkshire, where he lived in Illingworth and attended the Crossley and Porter School, and he first played rugby union for the Old Crossleyans. Moore's adoptive parents had two daughters of their own and adopted two children as well as Moore.

In December 2009, Moore revealed to the media that he was sexually abused in a tent during a camping trip and in a classroom storeroom when he was 9 by a male schoolteacher who also abused other boys of the same age. He was too ashamed to tell his adoptive parents as the abuser was a churchgoing friend of theirs. The shame he felt at being a victim made him keep silent about it until he told the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre in London in 2008. He said the trauma made him ferociously competitive on the rugby field, and commented "If you have been abused, you feel tainted by association with the awfulness of the crime."

Rugby career

Moore studied law at the University of Nottingham gaining an LLB (Hons) degree in 1984 and was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Law on 14 July 2010. He played as an amateur senior for Nottingham, the club where he made his name. During his time at Nottingham he won his first England caps and toured Australia with the British and Irish Lions. In 1990 he moved to London to train as a solicitor, and played for Harlequins. Moore ended his club career at Richmond.

Moore represented England, winning a total of 64 England caps between 1987 and 1995, making him the 13th most-capped Englishman (as of July 2007). Known for reading Shakespeare - in particular, parts of Henry V before a game in the dressing room to his team mates, Moore played in three Rugby World Cups including in 1991 where along with Jason Leonard and Jeff Probyn he was part of a destructive English front row as they reached the final, losing a tight match 12-6 to Australia at Twickenham. Moore was also a member of the England side which won Grand Slams in 1991, 1992 and 1995. In 1991, he was voted Rugby World Player of the Year, a decade before the sport's governing body (the IRB), began its awards programme.

He went on two British and Irish Lions tours, winning five test caps. In Australia in 1989, the Lions won the series 2-1, and Moore was famously caught celebrating the morning after on Sydney Harbour Bridge, doing aeroplane impressions.

Having been a vocal critic of referees for many years. Moore took the Rugby Football Union’s Entry Level Referee Award course and qualified as a referee in 2010.

Non-rugby career

Moore trained as a City solicitor, and he was a partner in both Edward Lewis LLP, and later Memery Crystal LLP. Although still qualified to practise, he has not done so since 2003.

Media career

After retirement, Moore continued his legal career, and was asked regularly by the BBC to supplement their rugby commentary team. It is currently his full time career, and he regularly commentates alongside Eddie Butler on the BBC's rugby union coverage, including the English matches in the Six Nations Championship. He does not mince his words: in 2008, he was heard to yell "They've kicked it away again, for God's sake!", when England did not run the ball in Rome, and shouted "You halfwit!" when an England forward played a French re-start which had fallen short of the required ten metres, causing England to lose possession when they would otherwise have been awarded a scrum.

Moore covered the 2011 Rugby World Cup for TalkSport Radio as lead co-commentator.

Moore writes on rugby and general sports matters, with a Monday and Thursday column for the Daily Telegraph and was shortlisted for Sports Journalist of the Year in the 2009 British Press Awards. After meeting Richard Stott at a corporate dinner, he wrote a wine column in the Today newspaper, transferred to the Sun for four years.

Moore has made other media appearances, including in November 2008 on Question Time.

Moore has recently had books published by Simon and Schuster. His updated version of his autobiography, Beware of the Dog (2009), reached number one in Amazon's Sporting autobiographies and went on to win the 2010 William Hill Sports Book of the Year award, among what was described as one of the strongest shortlists ever assembled. In 2011 Beware of the Dog also won the Best Autobiography award at the British Sports Book Awards one of only two books to win dual awards. His most recent release is The Thoughts of Chairman Moore which became a best seller in Amazon sports book listings. His third book 'More Thoughts of Chairman Moore' is due to be released in hardback at the end of October 2011.

He has been a regular invitee at leading UK literary festivals like Hay, Keswick, Dartington Hall, Salisbury and Wimbledon, invariably speaking to large audiences.

Desert Island Discs

Moore was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs on 24 February 2012 where he was interviewed at length by Kirsty Young. His music choices were Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — Queen of the Night; Ian Dury and The Blockheads — Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick; Genesis — In the Cage; Samuel Barber — Adagio for Strings; Pink Floyd — Us and Them, Dark Side of the Moon; The Stranglers — Always the Sun; Green Day — Jesus of Suburbia; Pietro Mascagni — The Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana. His choice of book was Germinal by Emile Zola and his luxury choice was a spherical football.

Personal life

Moore's first marriage was to Penny. His second marriage was to Lucy Thompson in 2000 in Kensington and Chelsea, London, by which he had a daughter, Imogen. Both those marriages ended in divorce. He is currently married to third wife Belinda and has 2 daughters. He is a supporter of, and season ticket holder at, Chelsea football club, and a lifelong supporter of the Labour Party.

Despite being an avowed republican, Moore sings God Save the Queen with great gusto at sporting events as it helps him concentrate on the game ahead.

External links

• Brian Moore's column in the Daily Telegraph