Everything about Alexander Obolensky totally explained
Prince
Alexander Sergeevich "Obo" Obolensky (
Russian: Александр Сергеевич Оболенский), (
February 17 1916 —
29 March 1940) was a Russian prince and an international
rugby union footballer who played for
England. He was popularly known as just "The Prince" by many sports fans.
Biography
He was born in Petrograd, (as
Saint Petersburg was then known), on 17 February 1916 and was the son of Prince
Serge Obolensky, an officer in the Czar's Imperial Horse Guards, and his wife Princess Luba. Their name derived from the Russian town of
Obolensk. They fled Russia after the
Russian Revolution of 1917, settling in
Muswell Hill,
London.
Obolensky was educated at The Ashe boys' preparatory school, Etwall, and
Trent College, Long Eaton, both in Derbyshire, before going to
Brasenose College Oxford University in Michelmas 1934, where he held a College Exhibition and studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He gained a Fourth Class degree in 1938. At Oxford he gained two blues for playing rugby at wing three-quarter. He played for
Leicester Tigers between
1934 and
1939, as well as
Rosslyn Park. His selection for England caused a stir because he wasn't a British citizen, but he gained British Citizenship in 1936.
On 4 January 1936 he scored two tries on his England debut in a 13-0 victory over the
All Blacks, the first time England had beaten New Zealand. Aided by
Pathé News footage of the game, his name has entered into legend, since the first try, beating several All Blacks in a run of three-quarters of the length of the field, was widely regarded as the greatest try of the time, and one of the greatest tries ever scored by England.
Prince Obolensky only won a further three caps for England later that year (against Wales on
18 January, Ireland on
8 February and Scotland on
21 March), and scored no further tries.
On the outbreak of the
Second World War in
1939, Obolensky joined the
Royal Air Force's
54 Squadron. On
29 March 1940 he was killed during training when his
Hawker Hurricane Mark 1 crashed on
Martlesham Heath,
Suffolk. His aircraft, reference number L1946 dropped into a
ravine at the end of the
runway during landing after a flight, breaking his
neck. He was 24. He is buried in
Ipswich's war cemetery. In February 2008 the town launched a project to erect a permanent memorial, details of which can be found at
www.obolensky-ipswich.org.uk
.
Later he'd be compared to another
Royal Air Force fighter
pilot and wing three-quarter back for Leicester and England,
Rory Underwood.
See also
Further Information
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