Stuart Barnes
Encyclopedia
Stuart Barnes is a former English
rugby union
footballer, and now rugby commentator for Sky Sports
. Barnes played fly-half for Newport RFC, Bristol
, Bath
; and represented England
and the British Lions
at international level.
s in Newport
. A talented sports person, as a football player he was closely followed by a number of professional clubs including Cardiff City
. Choosing rugby as his sport, Barnes captained Wales Schools at both Intermediate and Senior age groups, playing alongside Nigel Callard (brother of England international Jon Callard
), and Paul Morris
.
Barnes studied at St Edmund Hall
, University of Oxford
where he won three rugby Blues. He captained the team, and played against Cambridge University's Rob Andrew
in the Varsity match
.
Barnes later played for Bristol Rugby
, including in the 1984 RFU final against Bath Rugby
. After being on the losing side for Bristol in that final, he was to join Bath.
He arrived at Bath aged 22: "disaffected with England and, with my volatile character, I could easily have drifted out of the game altogether. At the time the big joke was that I'd had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus
- Newport, Bristol and Bath by 22 and people doubted my character, they thought of me as being very fickle and at Bath I found what I wanted - a rugby home.". His first Bath game was on the 7 September 1985 versus Plymouth Albion on the Rec
. He would later captain Bath to the first League/Cup double achieved by an English team.
in November 1984), and represented the British and Irish Lions at international level. He gained ten caps for England and played his last international match in 1993 against Ireland
. Barnes played for the Barbarians
on eleven occasions, including at the Hong Kong
7’s in 1982 and 1989. He scored two tries, 19 conversions and eight penalties (70 points) in Barbarians colours.
building society shortly afterwards. Barnes became a freelance writer and reporter for the Telegraph, and wrote his autobiography Smelling of Roses. He edited the short-lived rugby magazine First XV in the mid 90s.
As the professional era commenced, Barnes became a more familiar face as a summariser and pundit on both television and radio for the BBC
, before securing a permanent position on Sky Sports
's coverage of the Guinness Premiership
. He eventually gained status as the network's main Rugby co-commentator, offering analysis alongside Miles Harrison
. The pair were also loaned out to ITV for their World Cup 2007
coverage.
and Bob Dylan
, and counts amongst his friends the late wine expert Keith Floyd
. The beer 'Barnstormer' (4.5%) brewed by Bath Ales is named after him. He is an ardent Arsenal F.C.
fan.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
footballer, and now rugby commentator for Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
. Barnes played fly-half for Newport RFC, Bristol
Bristol Rugby
Bristol Rugby is a rugby union club based in Bristol, England. The club currently plays in the RFU Championship and competes in the British and Irish Cup. They rely in large part on the many junior rugby clubs in the region, particularly those from 'the Combination'...
, Bath
Bath Rugby
Bath Rugby is an English professional rugby union club that is based in the city of Bath. They play in the Aviva Premiership league...
; and represented England
England national rugby union team
The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Wales. They have won this championship on 26 occasions, 12 times winning the Grand Slam, making them the most successful team in...
and the British Lions
British and Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team made up of players from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales...
at international level.
Biography
Born in Essex, Barnes was educated at Rougemont and Bassaleg SchoolBassaleg School
Bassaleg School is a comprehensive secondary school for pupils aged 11-18, situated in the suburb of Bassaleg on the western side of the city Newport, South Wales.The present buildings of the school range in age from the early 20th century to the present day...
s in Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
. A talented sports person, as a football player he was closely followed by a number of professional clubs including Cardiff City
Cardiff city
Cardiff City may refer to:* Cardiff city centre* Cardiff City Council* Cardiff City F.C.* Cardiff City L.F.C.* Cardiff City Stadium...
. Choosing rugby as his sport, Barnes captained Wales Schools at both Intermediate and Senior age groups, playing alongside Nigel Callard (brother of England international Jon Callard
Jon Callard
Jonathan Edward Brooks Callard is a coach at the Rugby Football Union's National Academy. He formerly played rugby union at fullback for Bath and England. He is the brother of ex-Newport RFC player Nigel Callard....
), and Paul Morris
Paul Morris
Paul Morris is the name of:* Paul Morris , former keyboardist for Rainbow* Paul Morris , educational writer who published an influential work on the Hong Kong School Curriculum in 1998...
.
Barnes studied at St Edmund Hall
St Edmund Hall, Oxford
St Edmund Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Better known within the University by its nickname, "Teddy Hall", the college has a claim to being "the oldest academical society for the education of undergraduates in any university"...
, University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
where he won three rugby Blues. He captained the team, and played against Cambridge University's Rob Andrew
Rob Andrew
Christopher Robert "Rob" Andrew MBE , nicknamed "Squeaky", is a former English rugby union footballer and currently Director of Operations at the RFU. He was formerly the Director of Rugby of Newcastle Falcons. As a player, Andrew was assured in his kicking and defensive skills off both feet...
in the Varsity match
Varsity match
A varsity match is a sporting fixture between two university rivals; in its original and most common form, it is used to describe meetings between Oxford University and Cambridge University.-Popular British and Irish Varsity matches:*University of Oxford v...
.
Club career
While at University, Barnes played club rugby for Newport RFC. He graduated in 1981.Barnes later played for Bristol Rugby
Bristol Rugby
Bristol Rugby is a rugby union club based in Bristol, England. The club currently plays in the RFU Championship and competes in the British and Irish Cup. They rely in large part on the many junior rugby clubs in the region, particularly those from 'the Combination'...
, including in the 1984 RFU final against Bath Rugby
Bath Rugby
Bath Rugby is an English professional rugby union club that is based in the city of Bath. They play in the Aviva Premiership league...
. After being on the losing side for Bristol in that final, he was to join Bath.
He arrived at Bath aged 22: "disaffected with England and, with my volatile character, I could easily have drifted out of the game altogether. At the time the big joke was that I'd had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus
Jack Nicklaus
Jack William Nicklaus , nicknamed "The Golden Bear", is an American professional golfer. He won 18 career major championships on the PGA Tour over a span of 25 years and is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional golfers of all time. In addition to his 18 Majors, he was runner-up a...
- Newport, Bristol and Bath by 22 and people doubted my character, they thought of me as being very fickle and at Bath I found what I wanted - a rugby home.". His first Bath game was on the 7 September 1985 versus Plymouth Albion on the Rec
Recreation Ground (Bath)
The Recreation Ground is a large open space in the centre of Bath, England, next to the River Avon, used for recreational purposes by Bath residents and the public generally....
. He would later captain Bath to the first League/Cup double achieved by an English team.
International career
While at Bristol, Barnes made his England début (against AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in November 1984), and represented the British and Irish Lions at international level. He gained ten caps for England and played his last international match in 1993 against Ireland
Ireland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team represents the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team competes annually in the Six Nations Championship and every four years in the Rugby World Cup, where they reached the quarter-final stage in all but two competitions The Ireland national rugby union...
. Barnes played for the Barbarians
Barbarian F.C.
The Barbarian Football Club, usually referred to as the Barbarians and nicknamed the "Baa-Baas", is an invitational rugby union team based in Britain...
on eleven occasions, including at the Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
7’s in 1982 and 1989. He scored two tries, 19 conversions and eight penalties (70 points) in Barbarians colours.
Life after playing
Barnes' last game was the Bath versus Leicester Pilkington Cup Final on 7 May 1994, which Bath won 21–9. He resigned from the Bristol and WestBristol and West
Bristol & West is a former commercial bank in the United Kingdom which is a division of the Bank of Ireland. Bristol & West has its headquarters in Bristol, England. It was previously a building society known as the Bristol and West Building Society...
building society shortly afterwards. Barnes became a freelance writer and reporter for the Telegraph, and wrote his autobiography Smelling of Roses. He edited the short-lived rugby magazine First XV in the mid 90s.
As the professional era commenced, Barnes became a more familiar face as a summariser and pundit on both television and radio for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, before securing a permanent position on Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
's coverage of the Guinness Premiership
Guinness Premiership
The English Premiership, also currently known as the Aviva Premiership because of the league's sponsorship by Aviva, is a professional league competition for rugby union football clubs in the top division of the English rugby system. There are twelve clubs in the Premiership...
. He eventually gained status as the network's main Rugby co-commentator, offering analysis alongside Miles Harrison
Miles Harrison
Miles Harrison is the principal rugby union commentator for British television network Sky Sports. After obtaining a degree in Radio studies at City University London he found work in the early 1990s working on BBC Radio, commentating on rugby union and also occasional football matches...
. The pair were also loaned out to ITV for their World Cup 2007
2007 Rugby World Cup
The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003,...
coverage.
Personal life
Nicknamed The Barrel, or The Bath Barrel, he admits to disliking training, citing this as a reason he prefers writing and commentary over a possible coaching career. He prides himself on his devotion to BacchusDionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, and counts amongst his friends the late wine expert Keith Floyd
Keith Floyd
Keith Floyd was a British celebrity chef, television personality and restaurateur, who hosted cooking shows for the BBC and published many books combining cookery and travel...
. The beer 'Barnstormer' (4.5%) brewed by Bath Ales is named after him. He is an ardent Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
fan.