Jon Hall (rugby union)

Jonathan Peter "John" Hall is a retired Rugby union player who played for Bath Rugby,[1] Somerset, Barbarians, South & South Western Counties and England. He was born in Bath 15 March 1962.

He primarily played as a blind side flanker or number eight. His international debut was versus Scotland in 1984. He did travel with the 1987 England World Cup team but did not play a match as he was injured in training and had to return to the UK. After starting his international career against Scotland, his final match was also against Scotland in 1994, where Jon made a crucial tackle to deny Gary Armstrong a try, which ultimately won England the match. He ultimately gained 21 caps.[2]

In the first season of professional rugby he was appointed Director of Rugby at Bath but was fired after a run of poor results in 1998. Subsequently, he became coach of the Garryowen club and took them to the All Ireland Final in 1999.[3]

He has one brother, Steven, who is a decorated former fire-fighter.

In June 2014 Hall was one of the only UK four-man team (T417) to complete the Race Across America (RAAM) in support of Asthma UK. The London Pride Spinhalers, as the team was called, also included Sir James Fuller, Martyn Grant and David Shepard and a 13 man support crew. They raised over £60,000 for Asthma UK in memory of Antonia Thomas, a local girl who died of an asthma attack in 2009.[4] They completed the 3000 miles from California to Maryland (over the Rockies) in 7 days, 9 hours and 42 minutes.

Following 2014's successful RAAM, John led two teams back to the US in 2015. The Ruck and Rollers an eight-man team of ex-international rugby players including former Scotland and British & Irish Lion, Rob Wainwright, and former Wales and Brive star, Alix Popham. completed the course in 6 days 11 hours and 57 minutes.

In 2017 John and some of his fellow Spinhalers were back in the saddle again. Swapping road bikes for mountain bikes to cycle from epicentre to epicentre of the 2015 Nepal earthquake – raising funds and awareness for the YYY Foundation, a Bath based charity rebuilding schools across the regions worst affected by the quake which displaced millions of people and left 1.5 million children without schools to attend.

They rode 400 km from Singati to Barpak, in 8 days and raised over £30,000. Their epic journey has a video diary

He is currently the CEO of the MyLife Digital Group, based in Bath. The MyLife Digital Group consists of the MyLife Digital, Wood for Trees Ltd and PGIR Ltd (trading as Insight).

John is not only a champion of rugby and cycling, but of citizens digital rights, when it comes to the management of their Personal Data. When forming MyLife Digital in 2014 the aim was to develop a way for citizens to take back control of their data. This has been realised with the Consentric Platform.

Of the company John says "With Consentric, we deliver trust. More than products and services, we’re about communicating differently. Developing new and deeper relationships with your market. We enable people partnerships that gain you powerful insights. That add value to the individual, to the organisation and to society as a whole. So everyone benefits. That’s the shape of the new digital economy. One that’s based on trust.”

References

  1. ↑ "John Hall - Bath Rugby".
  2. ↑ "Bath Rugby - Hall of Fame".
  3. ↑ "Bath Rugby 150: John Hall, the man with blue, black and white in his blood..." 15 November 2015.
  4. ↑ "England rugby player John Hall competes in Race Across America". 9 June 2014 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
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