Neil Edwin Roberts (born 15 June 1933) 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 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) and a

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 ...

ist.

Early life

Neil Roberts was born on 15 June 1933 to parents Edwin (Ted) Roberts (a former soccer player who migrated from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to East Brighton, Victoria) and Lelia Elfreda Roberts, née Kilby. Roberts attended

Melbourne High School Melbourne High School is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Single-sex education, single-sex Selective school, academically selective secondary school, secondary day school for boys, located in the Melbourne suburb ...

between 1946 and 1949. He played under 19s football at full-forward with the Melbourne High School Old Boys Football Club where he was recruited by the St Kilda.AFL Hall of Fame 2015: Neil Roberts proud to call himself a Saint despite narrowly missing flag glory
Herald Sun 5 June 2015

VFL career

Roberts debuted for St Kilda in 1952 and initially played on the forward line but despite his strong overhead marking was shifted to defence due to inaccurate goalkicking and later excelled as a centre half back, winning the

in 1958. He captained the side from 1959 to 1962 before retiring at 29 years of age and commencing a career in sports journalism. He was inducted to the

Saints In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Orth ...

inaugural Hall of Fame in 2003.

Personal life and post football career

His son, Michael Roberts, also played for the Saints and is now a sports broadcaster. Neil Roberts was the officer in charge of Mawson base, Antarctica, 1971–1973. He has now retired to farming.

References

St Kilda Hall of Fame ProfileAustralia Day ambassador profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Neil Brownlow Medal winners Trevor Barker Award winners 1933 births Living people St Kilda Football Club players All-Australians (1953–1988) People educated at Melbourne High School Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Brighton, Victoria Australian people of English descent