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GFL families a force on field in the 60’s and 70’s

John TerrellKalgoorlie Miner
Ted "Punter" Robinson was also a successful horse trainer.
Camera IconTed "Punter" Robinson was also a successful horse trainer.

Brothers are not uncommon in football leagues across Australia.

But when there are two families and 10 players involved in the same league, then it becomes an entirely different ball game.

Such was the case when the Kennedy and Robinson brothers were running around in the Goldfields Football League during the 1960s and 1970s.

And not just as ordinary players, most of them were champions.

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Mines Rovers Football Club were the main beneficiaries of their collective talent.

There were seven Kennedy brothers — Ronald (“Red”), John (“Jacko”), Patrick (“Paddy”), Warren (“Rusty”), Mervyn (“Merv”) and Allan (“The Kid”) all played in Mines’ 1967 premiership side, while the youngest of them, Brian (“Snowy”), played in the club’s colts premiership side the same year.

Each of the Kennedy boys brought something to the selection table, but probably a common trait was their rugged, no-nonsense manner.

Merv and Allan Kennedy played league football at WAFL level for West Perth and East Perth, respectively, and each would have been good enough to play at AFL level if they were around today.

The Kennedy family were a force in Goldfields football in the 1960s and 1970s.
Camera IconThe Kennedy family were a force in Goldfields football in the 1960s and 1970s. Credit: John Terrell/Supplied/Supplied, Kelsey Reid

Allan Kennedy was the most spectacular — and arguably the best — of the seven Kennedy brothers who pulled on the blue-and-white guernsey for Mines Rovers in the 1960s and 1970s.

His explosive pace and ball-gathering skills made him a dynamic clearance player, and his aerial ability was also of an exceptionally high standard.

Now aged 70, Allan had his best season in 1975 when he won Mines’ fairest-and-best award and was captain-coach of the Goldfields side that played at the Wesfarmers’ country week carnival in Perth.

That year he won the carnival’s B-division best and fairest-and-best, while Merv won the A-division best and fairest-and-best while representing the South West League.

Allan was later a successful coach in the Great Northern Football League for Geraldton-based team Brigades.

Then there was the Robinson family.

Twin brothers Ted and Jack Robinson had outstanding curriculum vitaes in Goldfields football.

Ted “Punter” Robinson was a superstar by local standards.

The former Boulder City, Mines Rovers and Railways player won two Goldfields best-and-fairest-and-best awards in 1962 and 1964.

In 1965, Robinson tied with Mines Rovers’ Bruce Weir in voting for the Fletcher Medal, but missed a third Goldfields best-and-fairest-and-best award on a countback. Robinson was the league’s leading goal kicker twice (in 1963 and 1969).

Ted "Punter" Robinson was also a successful horse trainer.
Camera IconTed "Punter" Robinson was also a successful horse trainer.

He was also one of the Goldfields’ all-time great football coaches, mentoring Mines Rovers to three premierships in 1965, 1969 and 1970, and Railways to a hat trick of premierships from 1973, 1974 and 1975.

Robinson played two seasons for Claremont in the WAFL competition in 1966 and 1967, and was voted best-on-ground in his debut match against West Perth and State centre half-back Brian France.

That year he returned to the Goldfields for an exhibition match between Claremont and a local combined side, kicking nine of Claremont’s 26 goals.

A prodigious left-foot torpedo punt kicker, one of his goals at Claremont Oval was measured at 80 metres.

Punter Robinson said he always enjoyed playing football with the Kennedy brothers.

“It was like going to a night club, knowing that you had half a dozen bouncers alongside of you,” he said.

After retiring from football, Robinson turned to horse training, and, in that pursuit, he was also highly successful.

Across a period of 42 years, Robinson trained more than 250 winners including Jungle Master, a winner of 18 races including the 1990 Hannans Handicap, Park D’Amour, winner of the 2007 Belmont Oaks, and Skip a Ship, winner of the 1986 Coolgardie Cup.

Punter’s twin brother Jack was no slouch as a footballer.

Ted “Punter” Robinson with his horses, playing football and with Pat Kennedy at Mines Rovers’ 120th anniversary dinner.
Camera IconTed “Punter” Robinson with his horses, playing football and with Pat Kennedy at Mines Rovers’ 120th anniversary dinner. Credit: John Terrell/Supplied

He carved out an impressive career in his own right, being the league’s leading goal kicker (for Boulder) in 1965 and 1966, and captain-coach of Mines Rovers when the Diorites won their 1967 premiership.

A skilful goal-kicking ruckman, Jack finished third in the 1965 Fletcher Medal, while brother Ted finished second.

Jack was more than compensated that year when he won Boulder’s fairest-and-best award, the Sunday Times Medal and the John Kelly Cup as the Goldfields Footballer of the Year.

The twins’ younger brother, Percy, was an above-average player for three local clubs — Boulder, Mines Rovers and Kambalda — and he represented the Goldfields in 1971.

The Robinsons had two cousins who were also local football champions. They were Edward, also known as Ted, who won a Fletcher Medal in 1970 while playing for Railways, and Dick Robinson who kicked 98 goals for Railways in 1973 and a GFL record 139 goals in 1974.

Ted Robinson and Pat Kennedy.
Camera IconTed Robinson and Pat Kennedy. Credit: Kelsey Reid/Kalgoorlie Miner, Kelsey Reid

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