Player Profiles: Sir Clive Woodward

Sir Clive Woodward

Sir Clive Ronald Woodward (born 6 January 1956 at Ely in Cambridgeshire) is a former English rugby union international who was the coach of the England national rugby union team from 1997 to 2004. Woodward managed the England side to victory at the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The son of an RAF pilot, Woodward was sent to HMS Conway School Ship as his father disapproved of his ambition to play professional soccer. According to Woodward, he was not selected to play for the Welsh Schoolboys side, but he was good enough to play rugby union for a Welsh school. Woodward also tells that he applied to do a law degree at Durham University, but was turned down even and instead, he found a job at a London bank.

On 6 September 2006 it was announced that Woodward would be returning to sport as the new director of elite performance for the British Olympic Association. In 2007 he was appointed to the board of directors of Leicester Tigers as a non-executive director. On 6 March 2008, he had the privilege to run with the Olympic torch while going through Russell Square, London and, at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games, he acted as Deputy Chef de Mission and undertaking a review of practices at the games for preparation for London 2012.