Bob Skilton

Bob Skilton
Personal information
Full name	Robert John Skilton
Nickname(s)	Chimp
Date of birth	(1938-11-08) 8 November 1938 (age 78)
Original team(s)	South Melbourne Under 19s
Height / weight	171 cm, 76 kg
Position(s)	Rover
Playing career¹
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1956–68, 1970–71	South Melbourne	237 (412)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
	Victoria	25 (47)
Coaching career³
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1965–66	South Melbourne	35 (16–19–0)
1974–77	Melbourne	88 (28–60–0)
Total		123 (44–79–0)
¹ Playing statistics correct to the end of 1971. ³ Coaching statistics correct as of 1977.
Career highlights
Club 3x Brownlow Medal: 1959, 1963, 1968 9x South Melbourne Best & Fairest: 1958–59, 1961–65, 1967–68 3x South Melbourne leading goal kicker: 1959, 1962–63 South Melbourne captain: 1961–69, 1970–71 Australian Football Hall of Fame – Legend Status: 1996 AFL Team of the Century (rover) South Melbourne Team of the Century (rover, captain) Representative Australian National Football Carnival Championship: 1958
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Club

Representative

Robert John "Bob" Skilton (born 8 November 1938) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Playing as a rover, Skilton is one of only four players to have won the Brownlow Medal three times; in 1959 (when he tied with Verdun Howell), and in 1963 and 1968.

He was rated by Jack Dyer as better than Haydn Bunton, Sr and equal to Dick Reynolds, making him one of the best players in the history of the game.

Skilton made his senior debut at the age of 17 in round five, 1956 and went on to play 237 matches for the Bloods before he retired in 1971, at the time a club record. He scored 412 goals in that time and was the club's leading goalkicker on three occasions. Nicknamed 'Chimp', he showed great grit and determination and became well known for giving maximum effort at all times.

Only 171 cm tall, Skilton was particularly fast and a superb baulker, allowing him to avoid opponents when necessary. He was never shy of attacking the ball, however, and in his 16-year career suffered many injuries, including concussion, a broken nose four times, a broken wrist three times and 12 black eyes.

It was his appearance on the front page of The Sun News-Pictorial in 1968 with two black eyes that earned him the Douglas Wilkie Medal. The black eyes were a consequence of a severe facial injury, which included depressed fractures of his cheekbones, due to collisions in successive weeks from Footscray's Ken Greenwood, his own teammate John Rantall and then Len Thompson.

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