Australian Football

AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game

 

Key Facts

Full name
Ralph Robertson

Known as
Ralph Robertson

Nickname
Robby

Born
5 August 1882

Place of birth
United Kingdom (Aylestone, Leicestershire)

Died
11 May 1917 (aged 34)

Place of death
Egypt (Abu Qir)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 17y 28d
Last game: 18y 34d

Height and weight
Height: 171 cm
Weight: 68 kg

Senior clubs
St. Kilda

Recruited from
St. Kilda (1903); East Sydney (1909)

State of origin
United Kingdom (Aylestone, Leicestershire)

Ralph Robertson

ClubLeagueCareer spanGamesGoalsAvgWin %AKIAHBAMKBV
St. KildaV/AFL1899-19001410.077%0
East SydneyNSWANFL1903-1908
North ShoreNSWAFL1909-1914
Total1899-1900, 1903-19141410.07

AFL: 505th player to appear, 7,363rd most games played, 8,425th most goals kickedSt. Kilda: 103rd player to appear, 699th most games played, 901st most goals kicked

Born in Aylestone, Leicestershire, Ralph Robertson achieved substantial, if fleeting, notoriety as an exponent of a 'strange' code of football on the other side of the world, initially in Melbourne where he ventured with his family as a three-year-old in 1885, and later in Sydney, where his involvement was significant in helping the sport establish a toehold after a prolonged hiatus. Robertson's early football was played with junior club South Beach which was based in the St Kilda area. In 1899 he fronted up in the VFL with the Saints, and went on to play a total of 14 league games in two seasons. 

The 1901 season saw him based in Sydney where, with Australian football being in abeyance at the time, he played rugby union with a club glorying in the name of Fitzroy. When Australian football resumed in the harbour city in 1903, Robertson was an inaugural member - and vice-captain - of East Sydney, which landed that year's premiership.

Somewhat diminutive in stature at only 171 cm, Robertson, perhaps not surprisingly, played mostly as a rover, although he could also provide more than solid service across half forward or at the goalfront. A regular member of metropolitan and state representative teams, Ralph Robertson, who was once described as "one of the most scientific footballers in the state"¹, represented New South Wales with distinction at each of the first three interstate carnivals, winning a Referee Medal as his state's best player at Sydney in 1914. His tally of 30 interstate appearances for New South Wales has been bettered only once.

In 1909, after six seasons with East Sydney, Robertson transferred to North Shore, and enjoyed the immediate satisfaction of participating in another premiership team. He was still at the top of his game when he signed up for active war service in 1914. He died after a mid-air collision while piloting a single-seater fighter plane over Egypt in May 1917.

In 2003, Ralph Robertson was named as one of 10 inaugural members of the official Sydney AFL Hall of Fame.

Note: This biography has been adapted from an article by Ian Granland

Author - John Devaney

Footnotes

  1. "The Referee", pre-carnival publication, 1908. 

Sources

Full Points Footy Publications

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.