Keith Barnes

Infobox rugby league biography
playername = Keith Barnes
fullname = William Keith Barnes
nickname = Golden Boots


caption =
country =
position = rlp|FB
currentclub =
dateofbirth = 1934
placeofbirth = Port Talbot
countryofbirth = Wales
height =
weight =
club1 = Wollongong
year1start = 1953–1954
year1end =
appearances1 =
tries1 =
goals1 =
fieldgoals1 =
points1 =
club2 = Balmain
year2start = 1955
year2end = 1968
appearances2 = 194
tries2 = 11
goals2 = 742
fieldgoals2 = 1
points2 = 1519
teamA = New South Wales
yearAstart = 1956
yearAend = 1963
appearancesA = 12
triesA = 2
goalsA = 59
fieldgoalsA = 0
pointsA = 114
teamB = Australia
yearBstart = 1957
yearBend = 1966
appearancesB = 14
triesB = 0
goalsB = 54
fieldgoalsB = 0
pointsB = 108
source = [http://203.166.101.37/NRL08/playercareer.asp?lplayer=793 NRL Stats] , [http://rugbyleagueproject.com/players/Keith_Barnes.html RLP] , * cite book | author=Alan Whiticker & Glen Hudson |title=The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players |year=2007|publisher="Gary Allen Pty Ltd" |location=Wetherill Park, New South Wales |isbn=9781877082931 |pages=page 21-22]

William Keith Barnes (born 1934 in Port Talbot, Wales) is a Welsh-born Australian immigrant former rugby league player and coach. He was a fullback for the Australian national team and for the Balmain Tigers. He played in 14 Tests between 1959 and 1966, as national captain on 12 occasions. He was known as "Golden Boots" due to his exceptional goal-kicking ability. After his playing days he became a referee and later co-commentated on the Amco Cup on Network Ten with Ray Warren in the 1970s. He is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century. [ [http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/02/22/Controversy_reigns_as_NRL_releases_top_100_players Century's Top 100 Players] ]

Early years

Barnes' family originally emigrated to Australia in 1948 to Wollongong where Barnes learnt the game at Wollongong High School. He was graded by the Wollongong club at age 19 and in 1954 represented for Country and in a Southern Districts side against the touring Great Britain Lions.

Club career

In 1955 he was signed by Norm "Latchem" Robinson to join the Balmain Tigers and moved to the district. The following year he played in the first of three Grand Finals against the St George Dragons at the beginning of their long premiership reign. On three occasions 1956, 1964 and 1966 Keith Barnes would experience defeat in a premiership decider - the latter two as captain.

Barnes quickly became known for his deadly accurate goal-kicking and would regularly kick penalties from the further side of the 50-yard line. He once kicked eleven goals in a club match. His career club tally of 1,519 points for Balmain places him (as of Feb 2008) 11th on the all-time list of club pointscorers.

In his final playing year with Balmain in 1967, Barnes was captain-coach. He returned briefly for some match appearances in 1968 when the club's playing roster was depleted by injury.

Representative career

Barnes made his debut for New South Wales in 1956. His international debut was in the 1957 World Cup. He broke his cheekbone in the opening match of the series but stayed on field to kick five goals.

He made his Test debut against New Zealand in Brisbane in the second Test of the 1959 trans-Tasman series enjoying the rare distinction of captaining his country in his first Test appearance. He kicked seven goals in that outing and stayed on as fullback, goal kicker and captain for the third Test. He was then selected as captain for the 1959 Kangaroo tour and played as skipper in all six Tests and sixteen minor tour matches, kicking 101 goals on the tour. At the tail-end of the trip he appeared in two promotional games against Italy.

In 1960, Barnes led Australia in all three Tests of a domestic series against France. He enjoys the record of six career Test appearances against France, all as captain, for four wins, 1 draw and a loss. In the Brisbane second Test 55-6 victory Barnes kicked a Test record of 10 goals. He was then selected as captain-coach of the 1960 World Cup squad played in England. He appeared in Australia's second and third matches of the tournament with his representative rival Brian Carlson doing the goal-kicking.

Barnes returned to national honours in the second Test of the 1962 domestic series against Great Britain, his final Test as captain. Thereafter Australian selectors enjoyed a surfeit of talented young fullbacks to chose from and Ken Thornett and Les Johns were regularly selected until Graeme Langlands later became the incumbent. In 1966 however Barnes made two final representative appearances in the first and second Tests of the domestic Ashes series. He scored all of Australia's points in the second Test victory. Injury saw Les Johns take Barnes' spot for the third and he would not regain it.

Post playing

Barnes retired from competitive rugby league in 1968 having made seventeen appearances for his adopted country and 234 appearances for the Tigers in which he averaged four goals per game. After three unsuccessful Grand Final outings during his time, the Tigers ironically won their first premiership in twenty-one years in Barnes' first year after retirement - 1969.

He continued an active role in rugby league and in 1976 became Secretary-Manager of the Balmain Leagues Club and in 1984 took up the role of Chief Executive of the football club . Barnes was the first ex-Kangaroo captain to manage the Australian side on the 1990 Kangaroo tour. At the turn of the century Barnes was honoured with selection in the Balmain's 'Team of the Century' and in the Wests Tigers' 'Team of the Century". [http://www.weststigers.com.au/team_of_the_century.php]

In 2007 he was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame. [ [http://rl1908.com/Hoffame/index.htm Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame] ] .In February 2008, Barnes was named in the list of Australia's "100 Greatest Players" (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL tocelebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. [cite web|publisher="NRL & ARL"|title=Centenary of Rugby League - The Players
url=http://www.centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au/site/the-players.aspx?cat=3&list=true|accessdate=2008-02-23|date=2008-02-23]

Representative matches played

ources

*Whiticker, Alan (2004) "Captaining the Kangaroos", New Holland, Sydney
* Andrews, Malcolm (2006) "The ABC of Rugby League" Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
* cite book | author=Alan Whiticker & Glen Hudson |title=The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players |year=2007
publisher="Gary Allen Pty Ltd" |location=Wetherill Park, New South Wales |isbn=9781877082931 |pages=page 21-22

References

External links

* [http://www.weststigers.com.au/team_of_the_century.php Wests Tigers team of the century]