Robshaw, Johnson, Lam and Gatland To Be Inducted In English
By Premiership Rugby
July 19 2012
Chris Robshaw, Martin Johnson, Pat Lam and Warren Gatland will be inducted in English Rugby's first Hall of Fame, it was confirmed today.Robshaw, Johnson, Lam and Gatland are four of 28 players and Directors of Rugby honoured by Premiership Rugby, the umbrella organisation of the 12 clubs in Aviva Premiership Rugby.
They will be inducted into the first Premiership Rugby Hall of Fame at a prestigious, black tie, charity Ball at the Hurlingham Club on 3 October.
All profits for the event will be donated to Sport Relief so the charity can continue their great work in the UK and Overseas. In 2012 Sport Relief made a significant contribution to Premiership Rugby's award-winning social inclusion programme Hitz.
The Premiership Rugby Hall of Fame Ball will also celebrate the first 15 years of Premiership Rugby, after its kick off in 1997-98.
"A Hall of Fame to honour the best players and coaches in English club rugby is long overdue," said Premiership Rugby Chief Executive Mark McCafferty.
"We will induct the winners of the Premiership Rugby Director of the Year and Premiership Rugby Player of the Year awards since 1997-98. It is an impressive list."
Tables for this prestigious event are now available from Fireball Management at premiershiprugby@fireball.co.uk or 020 8704 4141.
In addition to those 28 players and coaches each year Premiership Rugby will appoint a distinguished panel to select an additional four people to be honoured with a place in the Hall of Fame each year.
McCafferty added: "Our partnership with Sport Relief is crucial to our charity work in the UK and we are delighted to confirm they will be the sole beneficiary of the profits from the night."
To book a table or find out more, please contact: premiershiprugby@fireball.co.uk or 020 8704 4141:
Silver table of 12 guests - £2,750 + VAT
Gold tables of 12 guests - £5,590 + VAT
Platinum table of 12 guests - £8,950 + VAT
All proceeds will be donated to Sport Relief . Sport Relief is an initiative of Comic Relief, registered charity 326568 (England/Wales); SC039730 (Scotland)
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
BB
“This machine kills fascists”
Woody Guthrie's guitar.
Quote:RossM
Can't argue with Johnson (World Cup winner), Gatland (great success with Wales and Wasps), Pat Lam (all round good guy); but what's Robshaw done, other than to win the Premiership once with Quins? Or are they simply woefully short of candidates? Robshaw may well be worthy of inclusion given time and further successes, but surely not just yet. Frankly I'm gobsmacked!
Twice voted player of the year, no? But I agree, although his career has been pretty impressive so far, you'd have to wonder what their selection criteria is. Do they include one "current" player and pick the best of the current crop? In that case, Robshaw's probably the man.
Otherwise you'd have to look at people like Dallaglio as being miles ahead.
O Fortuna, velut luna statu variabilis,
semper crescis aut decrescis
I'm sure he will succeed enough to earn a Hall of Fame equivalent lifetime achievement award in the next 5-10 years but I can't see how he has so far.
"We will induct the winners of the Premiership Rugby Director of the Year and Premiership Rugby Player of the Year awards since 1997-98.
Actually, no it isn't. I think that's a silly criteria that devalues the "Hall of Fame" idea. Oh well

O Fortuna, velut luna statu variabilis,
semper crescis aut decrescis
From the press release which is above and can also be found at:
Aviva Premiership Article
"We will induct the winners of the Premiership Rugby Director of the Year and Premiership Rugby Player of the Year awards since 1997-98. It is an impressive list."
As Chris is the only person to date to have won this twice, once in 2008/09 and again this year he clearly meets the criteria that they have chosen to use.
But in time, let's hope that he gives us plenty of other reasons to include him.
:
Baseball
Must have played for 10 seasons and have been retired for 5
Tennis
Active in the sport for 20 years and not have been 'a significant factor' in the last 5 years
Golf
Minimum age plus member of the tour for a specific period with a certain number of victories
I think the concept of a rugby hall of fame is great, overdue and this is a good start. Perhaps the challenge is that they are trying to do this just for the professional era and hence having criteria based on length of career or time since retirement would have severly limited the initial number of inductees.
"Last one in's an Offiziere. No offence Sir."
“This machine kills fascists”
Woody Guthrie's guitar.
Quote:Actually, no it isn't. I think that's a silly criteria that devalues the "Hall of Fame" idea. Oh well
Quote:but that doesn't change the fact that it tends to go against the usual hall of fame criteria.Quote:I really hope the Rugby Hall of Fame gains similar respect, but to be honest the surrect selection criteria is b**lsh*t. Talk about devaluing a great idea.
Spot on. But this isn't the "Rugby Hall of Fame". It's the "Premiership Rugby Hall of Fame". It's a pat on the back from PRL.
Still, I suppose it is at least raising money for charity.
BB
Not much thought gone into the prestige and honour, more into how to make money-prices are ridiculously extortionate
“This machine kills fascists”
Woody Guthrie's guitar.
Quote:100% media gimmick. Well done Premiership Rugby.Brown BottleQuote:Actually, no it isn't. I think that's a silly criteria that devalues the "Hall of Fame" idea. Oh wellQuote:but that doesn't change the fact that it tends to go against the usual hall of fame criteria.Quote:I really hope the Rugby Hall of Fame gains similar respect, but to be honest the surrect selection criteria is b**lsh*t. Talk about devaluing a great idea.
Spot on. But this isn't the "Rugby Hall of Fame". It's the "Premiership Rugby Hall of Fame". It's a pat on the back from PRL.
Still, I suppose it is at least raising money for charity.
Quote:Adi Nako
As much as I love Robshaw, his inclusion does seem like a very premature, attention/money grabbing stunt that devalues this hall of fame.
I'm sure he will succeed enough to earn a Hall of Fame equivalent lifetime achievement award in the next 5-10 years but I can't see how he has so far.
Thoroughly agree. When you look at the quality of players who have NOT been inducted to the proper hall of fame, this has to be seen as a bit of a joke.
