Dickie Jeeps
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| Full name | Richard Eric Gautrey Jeeps | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 25 November 1931 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Chesterton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 8 October 2016 (aged 84) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Bedford Modern School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position(s) | Scrum half | ||
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| Amateur team(s) | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| Senior career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| National team(s) | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
Richard Eric Gautrey Jeeps CBE (25 November 1931 – 8 October 2016), known as Dickie Jeeps, was an English rugby union player who played for Northampton having started his career with Cambridge Rugby Club. He represented and captained both the England national rugby union team and the British Lions in the 1950s and 1960s. He subsequently became a sports administrator and Chairman of the Sports Council. He was awarded the CBE in 1977.
Richard Eric Gautrey Jeeps was born on 25 November 1931 in Chesterton (England). He was educated at Bedford Modern School.
Jeeps played scrum half 24 times for England including all four matches of the Grand Slam season of 1957. Jeeps was selected to join the British Lions party to tour South Africa in 1955 and is one of that select group of players capped for the British Lions before being capped by his country. Jeeps felt that his selection for the Lions was due to playing an invitation match with Cliff Morgan in Cornwall shortly before the Lions party was announced. "I think Cliff got me in the party because he liked my service." Despite being originally the third choice scrum half in the 1955 squad, he played in all four tests of the drawn series.
He was also selected for the 1959 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand and the 1962 British Lions tour to South Africa, bringing his Lions test appearances to 13, a record at the time. Only Willie John McBride has represented the Lions more times since.
In 1959 Jeeps' ability to serve up decent possession from apparently any angle led New Zealanders to dub him "the India-rubber Man". They also rated him the most complete footballer of the Lions' backs, high praise indeed when the Lions party included Bev Risman, David Hewitt, Tony O'Reilly, Peter Jackson and Ken Scotland.
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