Alex Robinson (footballer)

Alex Robinson
Personal information
Full name	Alexander Robinson
Date of birth	19 August 1886
Place of birth	Brighton, Victoria
Date of death	4 October 1967 (aged 81)
Place of death	Perth, Western Australia
Original team(s)	Brighton Juniors
Playing career^1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1904	Essendon	9 (5)
Coaching career
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1928-1929	Subiaco	38 (19–19–0)
^1 Playing statistics correct to end of 1904 season.

Alexander Robinson (19 August 1886 – 4 October 1967) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He also had a noted football career in Western Australia, during which time he became a first-class cricketer for the state team.

Early years in Victoria

One of four Robinson brothers to play in the VFL, he was just 17 when he played for Essendon in the 1904 VFL season. Robinson, who was a former Brighton junior, played nine games over the course of the year.^[1] Eight of those games were with brothers Bill and Fred.^[2] His other sibling was Gordon, who made a single appearance for St Kilda in 1911.^[3]

Robinson had two sons, Alexander William and George, who both played first-class cricket in Western Australia.

Goldfields football

A follower, Robinson later moved to Western Australia and played football for Boulder City in the Goldfields Football League. He was the league's best player award winner in 1907 and a member of five premiership teams.

He represented Western Australia in the 1908 Melbourne Carnival, withdrew from the 1911 Adelaide Carnival through injury and represented the state once more at the 1914 Sydney Carnivals.^[4]

Cricket

Robinson was a right handed middle order batsman who batted at four in his only first-class match, which was played against the touring Marylebone Cricket Club of England in 1907/08. Playing on the Western Australia Cricket Association Ground, Robinson scored 23 in the first innings and just one in the second. He was dismissed by English Test cricketer Jack Crawford both times.^[5]

Coaching career

After the war ended, Robinson had served as non-playing coach at Boulder City. He was appointed senior coach of Subiaco, in the West Australian Football League, for the 1928 season and remained there for two years.^[6] In his first season in charge he guided the club to third position and in 1929 steered them to fourth.

See also

• 1908 Melbourne Carnival

Footnotes

1. "Alex Robinson". AFL Tables.
2. "Essendon Football Club – Team Players – Alex Robinson". Essendonfc.com.au.
3. Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia Of AFL Footballers. BAS Publishing. ISBN 978-1-920910-78-5.
4. "Alex Robinson - Player Bio". Australian Football. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
5. "Alexander Robinson". CricketArchive.
6. The West Australian, "Club Jottings", 20 April 1928 p. 15