As a player, Dobson played as a hooker for Western Province, as well as amateur club sides in the Western Province Super League such as UCT Ikey Tigers, Villagers sand Northerns. He also had spells in Italy at Valpolicella Rugby Club and Portugal.[1]
UCT Ikey Tigers / Roma
He was the head coach of the UCT Ikey Tigers for their first three seasons in the Varsity Cup competition from 2008 to 2010. He guided them to the final in the inaugural 2008 season, where they lost to Western Cape rivals Maties[2] and helped them reach the play-offs again in 2009, losing 17–19 to NWU Pukke in the semi-final.[3]
Dobson was appointed as the technical director of Italian National Championship of Excellence side Roma for the 2009–10 season.[4] He was due to coach new Italian franchise Praetorians Roma in the 2010–11 Celtic League,[5] but their inclusion in the European competition never materialised, with Benetton Treviso being included instead. He returned to South Africa to guide UCT Ikey Tigers the final of the 2010 Varsity Cup, where a repeat of the 2008 final also saw the same result, with Maties winning their third title in succession.[6]
An exit in the quarter final stage of the 2014 Vodacom Cup (losing 8–13 to the Pumas)[15] was followed by a run to the finals for the Under-21s; however, they failed to defend their title, losing 10–20 to the Blue Bulls U21s.[16]
Dobson once again guided Western Province to the final of the Vodacom Cup in 2015, but were defeated 7–24 by the Pumas who won their first Vodacom Cup title.[17]
In total, Dobson guided Western Province to the Vodacom Cup play-offs for five consecutive years between 2011 and 2015, winning the title once. He also guided the Western Province Under-21s to five consecutive play-offs between 2010 and 2014, winning two titles and ending as losing finalists on two occasions.
In 2016, Dobson's Western Province finished in top spot of the 2016 Currie Cup qualification series,[20] winning thirteen of their fourteen matches during the competition.[21]
Personal life
Away from the coaching field, Dobson holds a Law Degree, a master's degree in Business Administration and another one in Creative Writing, which he attained at the University of Cape Town.[22] He is the founder of the 365 Media Group and the Rugby365 website. He is also an author and so far published two novels, Year of the Gherkin in 2012[23] and Year of the Turnip in 2016.[24]