Background
Jock Hobbs was born in Christchurch.
Jock Hobbs was born in Christchurch.
University of Canterbury.
In recent years he was prominent in rugby administration. Between 2002 and 2010 he was chairman of the New Zealand Rugby Union before standing down due to illness. His test debut came in 1983 against the British and Irish Lions, where he was successor to Graham Mourie.
Others that were possible replacements were Bruce Middleton, and Auckland captain at the time, Alwyn Harvey, but Hobbs played so well against the Lions that he was an automatic selection as All Blacks number seven for the next few seasons.
Hobbs was All Black captain on the short tour of Fiji late in 1984 when Andy Dalton was unavailable, and in the tour of Argentina in 1985 when Dalton was again unavailable. He took part in the 1986 New Zealand Cavaliers tour to South Africa, before retiring in 1987 after a succession of concussions.
In 1995 Hobbs was instrumental in retaining New Zealand"s leading players when they were on the verge of defecting to Kerry Packer"s rebel World Rugby Corporation. In 2005 Hobbs led New Zealand"s successful bid to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup and in the same year was named the Herald’s New Zealander of the year.
He was also a part-time director of finance company Strategic Finance, which was placed in receivership in March 2010.
The Financial Markets Authority (“FMA”) investigated the records of this company and concluded their investigation in 2014 when a settlement was reached with the Strategic Finance’ directors and its auditors BDO International Spicers. The FMA stated that “While the directors do not admit liability, FMA remains of the view that they are likely to have breached their disclosure obligations under the Securities Acting”
The FMA stopped its probe into Mr Hobbs role after medical information disclosed the extent of his illness. In 2010, Hobbs stepped down from his administrative positions in order to battle leukemia.
Hobbs died on 13 March 2012 at Wellington Hospital.