Dr James Robson MBE, British and Irish Lions medic, accepted an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Central Lancashire
A medic who was responsible for saving the lives of two international rugby players has been honoured by the University of Central Lancashire.
Dr James Robson MBE, who was the pitch side doctor for the British and Irish Lions rugby union team for two decades, received an Honorary Doctorate.
James, who was famously credited with saving the life of England World Cup winner Will Greenwood and protecting Scotland’s Thom Evans from probable paralysis, was recognised for the significant contribution he has made to sports medicine.
On receiving his award, he said: “This is wonderful and amazing. You spend your life just doing your job and you never expect anyone else to take notice or appreciate it so for the University to bestow this honour on me is fantastic.”
Born and raised in Whitehaven, James initially qualified as a physiotherapist but retrained as a doctor. His first professional involvement with the sport was with Scottish Rugby, when he was appointed physio but in 1993, he was nominated to be the medic on the British Lions tour to New Zealand.
"Dreams do happen but what I plead to the graduates today, as new doctors and dentists, is it’s nice to be important but remember it’s more important to be nice"
— Dr James Robson MBE, new University of Central Lancashire Honorary Doctorate
He then went on to accompany the team on every tour to the southern hemisphere up to 2013 and ended up working at more than 280 international matches.
“Many years ago, I started as a physio, I went on to do medicine and then ended up looking after an international rugby team”, said James. “Dreams do happen but what I plead to the graduates today, as new doctors and dentists, is it’s nice to be important but remember it’s more important to be nice.”
James, who in 2018 received an MBE for services to rugby, was also awarded the very rare Fellowship Ad Hominem from the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh.
He has also been at the forefront of research into injuries and been instrumental in helping to develop the evidence base and research in sports medicine.
The recently retired medic took, who has been enormously supportive of the University’s Westlakes Campus, took to the University’s graduation stage in Preston today, Tuesday.