Legendary Swan Bob Skilton will be honoured with his own statue at Lakeside Stadium

EXCLUSIVE: Triple Brownlow medallist Bob Skilton spent years dominating opposition sides at the Lakeside Stadium for South Melbourne. So it is only fitting he will be immortalised with his own statue at the venue.

Bob Skilton will be honoured with his own statue at Lakeside Stadium. Picture: David Crosling

TRIPLE Brownlow medallist Bob Skilton will be immortalised with his own statue to be unveiled next month at the Lakeside stadium venue where he dominated for South Melbourne during one of the most decorated VFL-AFL careers.

The Swans will pay tribute to the 79-year-old champion rover, with the artist Cathy Weiszmann putting the finishing touches on a bronzed sculpture of the man considered the greatest player in South Melbourne/Sydney history.

After overcoming two significant health battles, Skilton can’t wait to be on hand to see the unveiling on July 26, along with his family, and he says this latest honour rates highly in a lifetime full of achievements.

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“It’s an incredible honour,” Skilton told the Herald Sun. “I never thought it would happen, but I am so glad it has.

“You can’t say no to these sort of things. The club means so much to me and always will.”

Skilton had been told the Swans asked to see if the statue could be erected at the MCG, but were told he didn’t play enough games there. Yet he is more than happy to have it housed at his old football ground.

Bob Skilton will be honoured with his own statue at Lakeside Stadium. Picture: Ian Currie

“I can’t thank the Swans, or Basil Sellers, enough for what they have done,” Skilton said. “It is great that after all this time the club has seen fit to do this.”

The sculpture was funded by philanthropist and long-time Swans fan Basil Sellers, who was behind the Basil Sellers Sports Sculpture Project which installed bronze sporting heroes around the SCG, including Paul Kelly and Paul Roos.

Sydney chief executive Andrew Ireland said it was fitting Skilton’s statue will be at the Lakeside ground where he achieved so much across his 237-game career from 1956 to 1971.

“He is the club’s greatest player,” Ireland said of the nine-time best and fairest winner. “He is such a humble guy who still loves the club … and the players still love seeing him in the rooms.

“Clearly, he was a great player, but it was also the way he played the game.

“We chatted to Basil Sellers … and we thought that in Bob’s case, it was appropriate his statue was in Melbourne where he played so many great games and where our (Melbourne) office is.”

Skilton still goes to every Swans game in Melbourne with granddaughter Bec, and watches them religiously on television, especially his current favourite Buddy Franklin.

Skilton said he believed the image used for the statue would show him kicking on his non-preferred right foot.

Bob Skilton presented the premiership cup after the 2012 Grand Final.

“They’ve actually got me kicking on my right foot, which is giving me a complement by saying no one really knew which foot I kicked with,” he said.

Skilton, who turns 80 in November, has fought back from two significant battles in recent years. He got an infection after a hip procedure in 2013, which saw him spend five-and-a-half months in hospital, and he missed the Swans’ appearance in the 2016 Grand Final after developing a blood clot following back surgery during preliminary final week.

“I feel good now,” he said. “I am good from the waist up, but from the waist down, it is a bit of a problem.”

But, as Ireland pointed, no matter what has been thrown at Skilton on and off the field, he still keeps on fighting.

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