SANFL, Aussie Rules Hall of Fame legend Barrie Robran remembered as footy’s Don Bradman
South Australian football legend Barrie Robran has died, aged 77, and been remembered as the best Croweater footballer of all time, writes Andrew Capel.
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“There was cricket’s Don Bradman, billiards’ Walter Lindrum and football’s Barrie Robran.’’
That’s how dual Magarey Medallist Jim Deane once summed up the impact Robran had on Australian football.
In many respects, Robran was in a league of his own.
Widely regarded as the best footballer to come from South Australia – he certainly was the best to have never played in the VFL-AFL – the Whyalla-born Robran, who died on Wednesday at age 77, was a supreme athlete and genuine superstar.
He also was an outstanding, kind, humble person.
A triple North Adelaide SANFL Magarey Medallist (1968, ‘70, ‘73), Robran was the first Croweater to earn Legend status in the Australian Football Hall of Fame, being honoured in 2001.
He played 201 games and kicked 194 goals for the Roosters from 1967-80, including being captain from 1974-77, and was a member of their 1971-72 premiership teams and famous Champions of Australia winning side in 1972.
Robran, who played alongside his younger brother Rodney in North’s 1972 flag team, won a club-record seven consecutive best and fairest awards from 1967-73 and has a statue in his honour at Adelaide Oval.
He was the first SANFL player to be honoured with a statue at the famous ground, placed at the southern end in 2014, with statues since then for fellow Roosters Australian Football Hall of Fame Legend Ken Farmer, along with Russell Ebert and Malcolm Blight.
A high-flying forward/follower, who had his career badly impacted by a serious knee injury while playing for SA against Victoria in 1974, he could seemingly hang in the air for minutes before hauling in a spectacular mark.
“People often ask me who the best South Australian footballer I’ve ever seen is and, I say this with all due respect to people like Russell Ebert, Lindsay Head and Neil Kerley, but Barrie Robran is the best, without question,’’ said SA sporting and media great Ken Cunningham, who umpired and commentated some of Robran’s games and played state cricket with him.
“He wore that famous No. 10 guernsey and could play anywhere on the ground, at centre half-forward, full forward, centre, centre half-back – he was just one of those freakish, delightful players who was born to play football.
“He played the game his way and he was one of the most humble, lovely people I’ve ever met in sport.
“When I had the good fortune to interview him, he would say to me ‘don’t go over the top, I’m just Barrie Robran’. That was his attitude, he was a wonderful human being.’’
Robran, who played 17 state games for SA and was captain in 1974, also coached North from 1978-80.
A majestic player, he was named as follower in the club’s Team of the Century.
Glenelg great and fellow Australian Football Hall of Fame member Peter Carey said Robran was “simply the best’’ player SA had produced.
“He was the best I’ve seen and the best I played against, no question,’’ said Carey, who kicked six goals in the Tigers’ 1973 grand final win against Robran’s Roosters.
“He was good at everything, just outstanding. He could virtually play anywhere on the ground – ruck, ruck rove, rove, centre half-forward, centre half-back.
“Barrie had all the skills. His marking was incredible but he also had great athleticism and mobility to get around the ground.
“Apart from his exceptional marking, he had great kicking and ground skills. He was the complete footballer, which is why I rate him at No. 1. He was the best – and a great bloke too.
“One of my biggest thrills in football was after my 400th game (in 1987), when he wrote a personal note to me, which was an example of the type of bloke he was.’’
A fine all-round sportsman, Robran was also an outstanding cricketer, primarily a batsman, who played two Sheffield Shield matches and one one-day game for South Australia in 1971-72.
“I’ll never forget this moment, he played his first Shield match when I was captain because Ian Chappell was away,’’ Cunningham said.
“We played Victoria at Adelaide Oval and Bill Lawry was the Vics captain and they had some wonderful players.
“Phil Ridings was chairman of selectors at the time and said to me at lunch, ‘why don’t you resume after the break with (off-spinner) Ashley Mallett’, and I did that and told Barrie to go to mid-off because he was quick and could cover the ground well.
“Two overs after lunch, Lawry was caught by Robran and we won the game outright.
“Barrie was a true champion sportsman, with whatever he turned his hand to. He also was a wonderful lawn bowler. You name it, he could do it.’’
Robran, moving to Adelaide from the steel city of Whyalla, on the Eyre Peninsula, and recruited from the North Whyalla Football Club, began his league football career in 1967.
He joined the Roosters primarily because he idolised the club’s star centre half-forward Don Lindner.
First playing for North’s reserves during the 1966 finals, Robran made his league debut in 1967 against Sturt at Unley Oval and stunned onlookers with a masterful display in leading the red and whites to victory.
His debut season was so good he shared North’s best and fairest award with Lindner and finished third in the Magarey Medal, just one vote behind joint winners Lindner and Port Adelaide’s Trevor Obst (18 votes).
A year later, he won the first of his three Magarey medals.
The only player to win four is Port legend Russell Ebert, who is in the argument alongside Robran as SA’s all-time greatest player.
Ebert, who died in 2021, aged 72, famously described Robran as “definitely the best player I have ever seen or played against’’.
Another Port great, John Cahill, remembered Robran as “an exceptional footballer and human being’’.
“As South Australians, we’ve been fortunate to see two absolute champions of our game in Barrie Robran and Russell Ebert,’’ he said.
“When I think of Barrie, I think of Russell. They were humble, talented and most of all, just wonderful people.’’
Legendary former Port and state coach Fos Williams once said of Robran: “Rarely, if ever, has SA seen the brilliance in football of Barrie Robran.
“But when you couple his brilliance and fairness with his discipline, creativeness and team sense you see the totality of the problem through the eyes of an opposition coach.
“Put Barrie in any side and it immediately becomes a major round contender as his ability to create openings raises many teammates to a new level.’
North described its favourite son Robran, who had still been a regular supporter of the team at Roosters home games at Prospect Oval, sitting on the eastern side of the ground, as “in our view the greatest ever to play the game of Australian Rules Football and certainly the most revered son of our beloved Roosters.
“His unparalleled skill, quiet humility and unwavering dedication left an indelible mark on our club and the broader community’’.
North president Kris Mooney said Robran was “more than just a footballer’’.
“He was the embodiment of everything North Adelaide stands for – excellence, humility, and unwavering loyalty,’’ he said.
“His legacy will forever inspire us and his quiet grace touched everyone he met. We are incredibly proud to call him one of our own.”
Robran’s sons, Matthew and Jonathon, both played with Norwood in the SANFL and at AFL level.
Matthew played 137 games with Hawthorn and Adelaide from 1991-2001, winning premierships with the Crows in 1997-98, while Jonathon played 83 games for the Hawks and Essendon from 1995-2001.
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said the Robran name was revered for his on-field feats as a footballer while he would be remembered for his “decency and humility as a man’’.
“The game sends its sincere condolences to wife Taimi and sons Matthew and Jon, and their families, and all of the Robran’s friends and colleagues across the game,’’ Dillon said.
“This is a terribly sad day for South Australian football, as Barrie Robran was the outstanding player in a time when the game was built around state pride, and testing yourselves at a state level against the best from around the country.
“While fans in other states may argue over who were their best-ever players, that same debate has always been absent in Adelaide as any South Australian who saw Robran play simply defers to him as the greatest.
“That includes his opponents and contemporaries in SA football, who always placed him first on the podium and marvelled at his ability to play both on the ball and at centre half-forward with aplomb.
“Those who watched him, and played with and against him, talk of his complete skill-set as an elite high-mark, two-sided with both hand and foot, courageous, one-touch when gathering the ball and an elite football IQ that always had him at the centre of the action, with the ability to dominate the key moments as he did in the premierships of 1971 and 1972.
“Off the field, he always remained humble and served the game in numerous off-field roles, at his beloved North Adelaide, while also serving as a state selector for SA.
“Barrie will be deeply missed and remembered as one of the very greatest the game has produced in Australia.’’
SA Football Commission chairman Rob Kerin described Robran as “a champion of our game who has left an indelible mark on football in South Australia through his on-field brilliance’’.
“A true legend in South Australian footy, and a true gentleman, Barrie was highly respected by everyone who came to know him, as well as the broader football community who had the opportunity to see him play,’’ he said.
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