FIFTIES FOOTBALL LEGENDS
(Click pictures to enlarge)
Bob Withers excelled as a hard hitting but scrupulously fair centreman during his time in football.
Bob was educated at St. Peter Paul's School in South Melbourne where he captained the school team. He played with South Melbourne fourths in the VFL and was captain of the side when it was undefeated premier in 1949.
Bob transferred to Port Melbourne in 1950 and began with the thirds graduating into the seconds before the season was over. By 1952 he was a regular member of the Port Melbourne seniors. He played 140 senior games and represented the VFA in 1957, 1958 and 1959.
Arriving in Tasmania he coached the North Launceston Robins from 1960 till 1967, played 140 games and represented the NTFA on many occasions.
During the period he captained and coached the Robins the club played in five grand finals winning the premierships in 1961 and 1963.
Bob Withers is pictured here in 1961 as an All Australian representative at the Brisbane carnival.
In 1960 he was a member of the famous Tasmanian side that beat Victoria for the first time. The game was played at York Park on June 10th and the performance of the islanders was full of merit given they had significant withdrawals prior to the game. Mal Pascoe, Derek Parremore and Trevor Leo were all injured and Darrel Baldock who had been selected as captain had to withdraw due to family bereavement. 15,600 fans went delirious with excitement when the final siren sounded with the scores 13.13.91 to 12.12.84.
He played for Tasmania on 15 occasions, was the State vice captain in 1961 against the VFA and captain/coach in 1964 also against the VFA. Bob was vice captain of the State side that year in the game against Western Australia.
He also was awarded the Lefroy medal for best and fairest Tasmanian player in 1963 on the tour to Adelaide and Perth under the helm of captain/coach Trevor Leo.
Bob coached Launceston to the grand final in 1968 and then to the premiership in 1969.
He returned to Victoria to become assistant coach at Essendon in the VFL in 1970 but returned to Tasmania the following year.
He resumed as coach of Launceston in 1971 and stayed there until the end of the 1974 season.
In 1975 he took over as coach of Devonport in the NWFU. he stayed Devonport until deposed by the committee in mid-1976. After a break from coaching he spent 1977 and 1978 as a radio commentator until he was appointed non playing coach of East Devonport and the NWFU in1979.
After retiring from football he became a top lawn bowler and even though he is retired is heavily involved with the
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Bob Withers - A Tasmanian Football Legend
