Robert "Alan" Killigrew (27 January 1918 – 10 June 2001) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who went on to a celebrated career as senior coach in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL),

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

(SANFL) and

West Australian National Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...

(WANFL).

Playing career

Killigrew (163 cm or 5 ft 4in) was a physically small man but an effective

rover Rover may refer to: People * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Places * Rover, Arkansas, US * Rover, Missouri, US * ...

in 78 matches with the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club ...

from 1938 to 1941 and 1943 to 1945. Originally from Murtoa, he was voted club champion in 1940.

Coaching career

After his playing career was over Killigrew moved to Ballarat, where he managed a pub and coached Ballarat East and Golden Point. In 1956 he moved back to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to coach the St Kilda Football Club. He held this position from 1956 to 1958, demanding a "guts and determination" approach with emphasis on a fast running style and use of the handpass as an offensive tool. In 1958 he led the club to its first- night premiership and during his tenure, he coached two players to

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

s – Brian Gleeson (in 1957) and Neil Roberts (1958). Sensing a lack of support from the club board, Killigrew departed to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and the SANFL. He was senior coach at Norwood for three years where he steered the

Redlegs Redleg is a term used to refer to poor whites that live or at one time lived on Barbados, St. Vincent, Grenada and a few other Caribbean islands. Their forebears were sent from Ireland, Scotland and Continental Europe as indentured servants, forc ...

to successive grand finals in 1960 and 1961 and a preliminary final in 1962. In 1963, he was appointed a senior coach for the

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Kangaroos also ...

, where he again led a team to victory in the 1965 and 1966 night finals. He was a coach for three seasons, achieving a 28/38 win loss ratio (1 draw). An infamous moment was his violent run-in with Geelong's

Geoff Rosenow Geoffrey Mervyn "Tex" Rosenow (1 February 1942 – 25 March 1999) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s. Rosenow missed out on playing in Geelong's 1963 premiershi ...

in the player's race at

Kardinia Park Kardinia Park is a major public park located in South Geelong, Victoria. A number of public and sporting facilities are located in the park: a major AFL stadium, a secondary football oval, a cricket field, an open air swimming pool, a number of ...

. He also was the successful state team coach for

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in the 1966 Carnival at

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

. In 1967, he moved once more, this time to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

as coach of the WANFL's

Subiaco Football Club The Subiaco Football Club, nicknamed the Lions and known before 1973 as the ''Maroons'', is an Australian rules football club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). It was founded in 1896, and admitted to the WAF ...

. He held this position for a single season, his final year of senior coaching. In 1972, he coached

Wilston Grange Football Club The Wilston Grange Football Club is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Queensland Australian Football League. It is based in inner-northern Brisbane and fields senior men's and women's, masters, youth and junior teams. Th ...

in the

QAFL The Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL) is an Australian rules football competition organised by the AFL Queensland, contested by clubs from South East Queensland. Previously known as the Queensland Football League (QFL), Queensland ...

in Brisbane to a premiership. A record margin of 84 points. Alan also coached Brighton Football Club in the Glenelg South Adelaide District Football Association to a premiership in 1983.

References

Obituary at Footystats website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Killigrew, Alan St Kilda Football Club coaches Trevor Barker Award winners St Kilda Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club coaches Subiaco Football Club coaches Norwood Football Club coaches Murtoa Football Club players Golden Point Football Club coaches Australian rules footballers from Melbourne 1918 births 2001 deaths People from Prahran, Victoria