Bob Skilton
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Robert John Skilton (born 8 November 1938) is a former
Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
er who represented in the
Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...
(VFL). Playing as a
rover Rover may refer to: People Name * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Stage name * Rover (musician), French singer-songw ...
, Skilton is one of only four players to have won the
Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...
three times—in
1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...
(when he tied with Verdun Howell),
1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...
and
1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...
. His Brownlow record is shared by Fitzroy's Haydn Bunton, Sr (
1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...
,
1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
,
1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...
), Essendon's Dick Reynolds (
1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...
,
1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...
,
1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...
) and St Kilda and Richmond Tigers Ian Stewart (
1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...
,
1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
,
1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
). He was rated by Jack Dyer as better than Haydn Bunton, Sr and equal to Dick Reynolds, making him one of the best players in the history of the game. In September 2023 Skilton was elevated to Legend status in the
Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...
, only the 4th AFL player to achieve the honour. The Sydney Swans Best and Fairest medal is named after him; the Bob Skilton Medal.


Family

The son of Robert Herbert Skilton (1901–1987) and Rita Skilton (1904–?), née McFarlane, Robert John Skilton was born on 8 November 1938. His father, known as "Bobby", was a 440-yard professional athlete who played 149 games for
Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...
in the VFA from 1922 to 1929. As a prisoner of war of the Japanese, he survived the ordeal of working on the infamous Burma Railway. He married Marion Joyce Stirling in 1960.


Football

Only 171 cm tall, Skilton was particularly fast and a skilled baulker, allowing him to evade opponents when necessary. He was never shy of attacking the ball, however, and in his 16-year career suffered many injuries, including
concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...
, a broken nose four times, a broken wrist three times and twelve
black eye A periorbital hematoma, commonly called a black eye or a shiner (associated with boxing or stick sports such as hockey), is bruising around the eye commonly due to an injury to the face rather than to the eye. The name refers to the dark-colo ...
s. One of his greatest assets was the ability to kick with both feet, a skill learned at the insistence of his father and developed by spending hours kicking the ball against a wall, collecting it on the rebound and kicking again with the other foot. It was impossible to say whether he was right or left footed, since his left foot gave greater
accuracy Accuracy and precision are two measures of ''observational error''. ''Accuracy'' is how close a given set of measurements (observations or readings) are to their ''true value''. ''Precision'' is how close the measurements are to each other. The ...
, but his right greater distance. He had arguably the most accurate stab kick in the game. Star of the 1953 Victorian Schoolboys' team (he kicked eight goals against West Australia in one of the championship's matches), and best and fairest for the South Melbourne (under 17) Fourth XVIII which played in the Melbourne Boys League in 1955, Skilton made his senior debut at the age of 17 in round five, 1956, and went on to play 237 matches for South Melbourne before he retired in 1971, at the time a club record. He scored 412 goals in that time and was the club's leading goalkicker on three occasions. Nicknamed "Chimp", he showed great grit and determination and became well known for giving maximum effort at all times. It was his appearance on the front page of '' The Sun News-Pictorial'' in 1968 with two black eyes that earned him the Douglas Wilkie Medal. The black eyes were a consequence of a severe facial injury, which included depressed fractures of his cheekbones, due to collisions in successive weeks from Footscray's Ken Greenwood, his own teammate John Rantall and Len Thompson. An extended series of graphic photographs displaying the true extent of Skilton's injury used to be on display at the team's rooms at the
Lake Oval Lakeside Stadium is an Australian sports arena in the South Melbourne suburb of Albert Park, Victoria, Albert Park. Comprising an athletics track and soccer stadium, it currently serves as the home ground and administrative base for association ...
, prior to its move to Sydney (it is not on display in Sydney and it is commonly understood that it was first removed from display at the Lake Oval as part of the effort to get Tuddenham to coach South Melbourne in 1978). He missed the entire
1969 VFL season The 1969 VFL season was the 73rd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 5 April until 27 September, and comprised a 2 ...
after snapping an achilles tendon in a pre-season practice match against SANFL club Port Adelaide. Chosen to represent his state in 25 games, Skilton captained the Victorian team in 1963 and 1965. The downside of his career was the lack of success of his club. He often said that he would trade any of his three Brownlow Medals for a premiership or even the chance to play in a Grand Final, and felt the highest point of his career was the one occasion South Melbourne made the finals in 1970 (under the great Norm Smith), finishing fourth after losing the first semi-final against St Kilda. After 16 years at South Melbourne, including two years as playing coach in 1965–1966, and nine club best and fairest awards, Skilton then played for his boyhood team,
Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...
in the
Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...
and later coached
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
from 1974 to 1977, with a best finish of sixth. Since then, Skilton has been honoured by being named captain of the Swans' team of the century, and named in the
AFL team of the century The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...
. He was also the player featured inside the cover of the booklets of stamps featuring the Swans released by
Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation and also known as AusPost, is an Australian Government-State-owned enterprise, owned corporation that provides postal services throughout Australia. Australia Post's head office is loca ...
to commemorate the centenary of the VFL/AFL. Skilton made a speech in the post-match presentations of the
2005 AFL Grand Final The 2005 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Sydney Swans and West Coast Eagles at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 24 September 2005. It was the 109th annual AFL Grand Final, grand final of the Australian ...
following his team's first win in 72 years, and he was tasked to present the trophy at the
2012 AFL Grand Final The 2012 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and the Sydney Swans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 29 September 2012. It was the 117th annual AFL Grand Final, grand final of the Au ...
. Skilton is also the number-one ticket holder at the Ormond Amateur Football Club, who compete in the
Victorian Amateur Football Association The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is the largest senior community Australian rules football competition in Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded in 1892, it consists of six senior divisions, ranging from Premier to Division 3 i ...
.


Recognition

1985 – Sport Australia Hall Fame inductee 2018 Queens Birthday Honours, Skilton was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM).Lusted, P., "Football great Bob Skilton receives Queen's Birthday honour", ''ABC News'', 11 June 2018.
/ref> 2023 – Sport Australia Hall of Fame Legend


References


Bibliography

*


External links

* *
Profile at Australian Football

Robert (Jnr) "Bob" Skilton
at ''The VFA Project''.
Bob Skilton: ''Boyles Football Photos''.

Speaker Profile at A Positive Move
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skilton, Bob 1938 births Living people Sydney Swans players Sydney Swans coaches Melbourne Football Club coaches Brownlow Medal winners Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Douglas Wilkie Medal winners Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees