We recently welcomed a gathering of Meet for Good at our Sky View offices. A crowd of curious minds and big hearts gathered for the evening’s event. Meet for Good is where personal growth meets professional ambition and where high performance in sport aligns with high purpose in life and business.
It’s part inspiration, part networking, part nourishment for the soul – all underpinned by one simple idea: harness the power of sport, story and community to drive meaningful change. And this time the spotlight was on Jason Robinson OBE. World Cup winner and dual-code rugby legend. His life story hits harder than any rugby scrum ever could.
From Council House to World Champion
Jason doesn’t do surface-level storytelling. Instead, he took the room deep into his early life. Growing up in a deprived part of Leeds, navigating racism, violence at home, and a childhood void of safety or support. He shared how the weekends were the worst, how his mum worked three jobs, and how sport – introduced by a no-nonsense teacher, Mr Aspinall, gave him his first taste of hope.
That one teacher saw something in Jason no one else had. He simply said: “Well done.” Those two words, Jason said, “felt like I’d won the lottery.”
It lit a fire that took him all the way to the top. First in rugby league with Wigan, and later, spectacularly, to that 2003 Rugby World Cup win with England.
Struggles Behind the Spotlight
Despite the fame, the trophies, and the TV cameras, Jason spoke candidly about his mental health struggles, impostor syndrome, and the loneliness that followed him, even at the height of his career. And how a fellow player, Inga Tuigamala, stepped in at just the right moment and helped him turn things around.
The key message? Success doesn’t inoculate you from pain. In fact, it often masks it.
The Jason Robinson Foundation: Purpose in Action
All of this – the pain, the lessons, the breakthroughs – fuels Jason’s work today. His foundation is a direct line back to that kid from Leeds. Focused on giving young people in deprived areas opportunities through sport, mentorship, and support. It’s grassroots, it’s relentless and it’s deeply personal.
No government handouts. No flashy admin team. Just a commitment to being the person he needed when he was younger.
The Q&A: Deeper, Realer, Rawer
As the formal chat wrapped, the room opened up. What followed was one of the most honest, moving Q&A sessions you’ll hear at any business event.
One attendee, a fellow survivor of violence in the home, asked Jason who his role models were. Jason’s reply was achingly real: for a long time, he didn’t have any. Racism and rejection dominated his youth. But seeing someone who looked like him – like rugby legend Ellery Hanley – succeed on the pitch was a lifeline. Representation mattered. And still does.
Another question touched on social mobility. Jason hit the nail on the head: “If I sent my CV in today, outside of rugby, most people wouldn’t hire me. No qualifications. But now I go into the biggest boardrooms in the world to talk about leadership, pressure, and resilience. Why? Because lived experience is just as powerful as paper qualifications.”
He urged businesses to rethink what talent looks like. And where it comes from.
There were hard truths, too. About broken systems. About families who can’t or won’t support their kids. About how a “well done” can be life-changing when a child rarely hears anything positive. And about how sport, while not a magic fix, can be a rare bright spot in a young person’s week.
Final Words: Just Be the Best You Can Be
The evening wrapped with a simple but profound takeaway from Jason:
“Just be the best you can be. That’s it. Not the best in the room. Not the best on paper. Just the best you can be.”
He likened himself to a satsuma – not a lot to work with, but he squeezed every last drop out of it. It was classic Jason. Honest, funny, and utterly grounded.
Find out more about the CP supported Meet for Good at www.allforgood.co.uk
