Robert Howard

Robert J. Howard (born 29 November 1938) is an Irish Grandmaster of taekwondo. He is ranked 9th dan black belt and is the first European to have been promoted to Grandmaster by the International Taekwon-Do Federation.

Howard is now retired, but was a roofer by trade and is well known for apt demonstrations of smashing roof tiles. He has appeared on Ireland's most popular television show, RTE's The Late Late Show, on two occasions, most recently following his promotion, where he undertook a demonstration of tile breaking, and originally in 1976 where he famously broke his hand live on the show when he was undertaking a demonstration of block smashing.

Early life Howard was born in Mountjoy Square, Dublin, Ireland and he was raised in the Whitehall area of Dublin, before moving to the Santry, Dublin, where he resides now.

Establishing Taekwondo in the Republic of Ireland Howard was at the forefront of establishing taekwondo in the Republic of Ireland. Since the early 1970s, he has represented Ireland in taekwondo all over the world and has had a distinguished martial arts career with many international achievements, initially as a competitor where he won two silver medals in the World Championships in Oklahoma, USA, later as an Umpire in competitions, and more recently as VIP at the Taekwon-Do World Championships in Pyongyang, North Korea.

When Howard first became involved in martial arts, in the early 1960s, taekwondo was unheard of in Ireland. He therefore started his training in karate in 1966 in Gardiner Place, Dublin. After several years, a Korean instructor (Yung Wu Kwon, 3rd dan) arrived at the club and began teaching them after he had moved to Ireland to look for work. The members of the RITA then travelled the country performing demonstrations in order to boost develop public awareness of the martial art with result that further taekwondo schools were established throughout Ireland. In June 1973, Howard, Dandy, and Matthews were awarded their second degrees in Dublin, Three years later, at the 1978 World Championships held in Oklahoma, USA, Howard won two silver medals while Dandy took home a gold. At the same time, Rhee honoured Howard by bestowing upon him the position of president of the RITA.

Personal life Howard has three daughters, one son (Robert G. Howard, also known as Robert Howard Jr.), and nine grandchildren. In total, taekwondo is practiced by three generations of his family. Howard's son is also well known in Ireland as a taekwondo expert, and is a Master of taekwondo 7th dan. Robert Howard Jr. has been practicing taekwondo since 1979 and trains and assists with teaching in his father's classes in Cabra, Dublin, as well as being an examiner to Athlone and Galway schools. Howard also has a son in-law and daughter in-law who are ranked 2nd dan, and three of his grandchildren also practice taekwondo.