John Roberts (hurler)

John Roberts, who lived from 24 June 1895 to 9 December 1987, was an Irish hurler, handballer, referee and Gaelic games administrator from Kilkenny whose league and championship career with the Kilkenny county team spanned thirteen years from 1916 until 1929. Educated at St John's Boys' School, he first played hurling at fourteen with the Dean Street Volunteers before joining Dicksboro in 1914, won county junior medals in 1914 and 1919 and captained the club at senior level to county senior championship medals in 1923 and 1926. After impressing in a trial game he became a regular on the Kilkenny senior team in 1917, won one All-Ireland medal and three Leinster medals, and as a member of the first Leinster inter-provincial team in 1927 won a Railway Cup medal in the competition's inaugural year. He later refereed the 1928 All-Ireland final between Cork and Galway and served as Kilkenny's representative on the Leinster Council.