Bob Shearman

Bob Shearman
Personal information
Full name	Robert Osborne Shearman
Date of birth	14 September 1939
Date of death	29 June 1999 (aged 59)
Original team(s)	Aberfeldie
Height/Weight	178 cm / 82 kg
Playing career^1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1956–1960 1961–1964 1966–1972 Total	Essendon West Torrens Sturt	64 (8) 70 (90) 121 (92) 255 (190)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
????–????	South Australia	13 (?)
^1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1972 season.
Career highlights
Sturt premiership player 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 All-Australian team 1961 West Torrens captain 1963–1964 Simpson Medal 1964 Sturt captain 1969–1972 South Australia captain 1962, 1963, 1964 South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee 2002 Sturt Team of the Century (half-back flank)

Robert Osborne Shearman (14 September 1939 – 29 June 1999) was an Australian rules footballer who represented Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and West Torrens and Sturt in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Born in Melbourne, Shearman was recruited from Aberfeldie in the Essendon District League, and made his debut at 16 years of age. He became renowned as a strong half back flanker who could take high marks, kick prodigious drop kicks, and was good at ground level. He played in the 1957 and 1959 Grand Final losses to Melbourne.^[1]

In 1957, Shearman received a letter from Mary Murphy, a teenage Essendon supporter from Hawthorn, who asked for a photo and an autograph. At the time, she was particularly fond of his legs.^[2] She received a reply letter from Shearman a week later complete with photos.

In 1961 at the age of 21, Shearman moved to South Australia and joined West Torrens. He represented South Australia at the 1961 carnival, winning All Australian selection and captained West Torrens in 1963 and 1964. In 1965 he stood out of football for the season awaiting a clearance to Sturt.^[3] Joining Sturt in 1966, he was a key part of that club's "Golden Era", playing in consecutive premierships from 1966 to 1970. Shearman was subsequently named a member of Sturt's "Team of the century".^[4]

Shearman was a prodigious kicker of the ball and twice won the Craven Filter national champion kick of Australia.^[5]

Since 2000, Sturt and Woodville West Torrens have competed for the RO Shearman Testimonial Trophy.^[6]

References

1. Holmesby and Main, 2009, p. 781
2. Walsh, Gary (24 March 1996). "PSST - Getting a leg up on autographs". The Age.
3. "History". Woodville West Torrens Football Club. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
4. "Team of the century". Sturt Football Club. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.
5. "South Australian Football Record Year Book 1971": 57.
6. "History". Sturt Football Club. Archived from the original on 4 October 2009. Retrieved 10 August 2009.

Bibliography

• Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2011). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: Every AFL/VFL Player Since 1897 (9th ed.). Seaford: Bas Publishing. ISBN 978-1-921496-12-7.
• Lysikatos, John (1995). Cornwall, Peter, ed. TRUE BLUE: The History of the Sturt Football Club. Unley: Sturt Football Club. ISBN 0 9592687 1 5.

External links

• Profile at Australian Football