Robert Snell (15 February 1903 – 4 April 1983) was an

Australian rules 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 ...

footballer who played for

East Perth East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

(WAFL), West Adelaide in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL) and

New Town New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...

in the Tasmanian National Football League (TANFL) between 1923 and 1933.

Career

Snell started his career in 1923 with East Perth and the following season finished second in the

Sandover Medal The Sandover Medal is an Australian rules football award, given annually since 1921 to the fairest and best player in the West Australian Football League. The award was donated by Alfred Sandover M.B.E., a prominent Perth hardware merchant an ...

. He sought a clearance to join West Adelaide for the 1925 season but after East Perth refused he had to wait until 1927, playing amateur and junior competitions in the meantime. A centreman, Snell was a member of a West Adelaide premiership side in his debut SANFL season in 1927. In 1929 he won the

Magarey Medal The Magarey Medal is an Australian rules football honour awarded annually since 1898 to the fairest and most brilliant player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as judged by field umpires. The award was created by Willi ...

, being the last medallist known to the man who donated the award,

William Ashley Magarey William Ashley Magarey (30 January 1868 – 18 October 1929) was a lawyer, sportsman and sports administrator. He was the first chairman of the South Australian Football Association (SAFA) (later named South Australian National Football League ...

, as Magarey passed shortly after the 1929 SANFL season. Snell then moved to

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

in 1931 to play for

in the TANFL. In the height of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

Snell could earn up to

A£ The pound (Currency symbol, sign: £, £A for distinction) was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. Like other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 Shilling (Australian ...

10 per game and the same in wages playing in the Apple Isle. He returned to West Adelaide in 1932 and stayed with the club until his retirement from playing in 1933 having played 84 games and kicking 16 goals for Wests. Snell represented

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

13 times in Interstate football between 1927 and 1929.

Post career

Having retired from football after 1933, his life post football was spent as a licensed bookmaker. Due to race meetings being held on Saturdays, Snell saw very little league football for many years. He retired from bookmaking in 1973 and spent his time playing lawn bowls twice a week at the Adelaide Bowling Club. Bob Snell died in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

in April 1983 having recently turned 80. West Adelaide won their 8th and so far last SANFL Premiership in the same year.

References

WAFC Magarey Medallists - Robert Snell 1929

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Snell, Robert 1983 deaths East Perth Football Club players West Adelaide Football Club players Magarey Medal winners 1903 births Australian rules footballers from Western Australia People from Collie, Western Australia Date of death missing