Robin Close (born 3 November 1949) is a former

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

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

in the VFL during the late 1960s and 1970s. A forward, Close could play the key positions but was used mainly as a half forward flanker. He debuted in 1968 and played in Essendon’s 1968 VFL Grand Final side that year. His best seasons in front of goal were 1969 when he kicked 39, 1973 with 38 and 1975 with 36. His career stalled in 1974 when he had a leg injury but he returned the following year. He retired in 1978 having played 147 games and kicked 233 goals. After departing the league scene he played country football in the

Ovens and Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (OMFNL or O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales ...

initially with Myrtleford and then with

Benalla Benalla is a small city in the Hume (region), Hume region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town sits on the Broken River (Victoria), Broken River, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. As of the , the population wa ...

. Close went on to coach Benalla in 1981 and 1982.

References

*Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Close, Robin 1949 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Essendon Football Club players People from Ringwood, Victoria 20th-century Australian sportsmen