Colin 'Col' Kinnear (born 10 October 1947) is a former

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 ...

coach who coached the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

in the

VFL/AFL 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 ...

. He is the son of former Melbourne player

Joe Kinnear Joseph Patrick Kinnear (born 27 December 1946) is an Irish former football manager and player. Kinnear played as a defender, spending the majority of his career—ten seasons—with Tottenham Hotspur. With Tottenham he won the FA Cup, the EFL ...

. Kinnear played amateur football in Melbourne during the 1960s through University High School Old Boys until two knee operations forced him into premature retirement, leading to his first taste of coaching and also premiership success. However, Kinnear was an outstanding cricketer too, initially taking him to London, after his football playing career ended, amid a stint for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

Second XI. He would return to play Melbourne district cricket for Carlton that included wicketkeeping in three district premierships. Kinnear started his coaching career at VFA club

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was ...

in charge of the reserves before coaching the seniors in 1977 until the end of the 1980 season. Kinnear impressed enough to be appointed the VFL reserves coach of North Melbourne from 1981 until 1983. He then joined

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

in 1984, steering its reserves to premierships in 1986 and 1987 among four consecutive grand finals. He was also assistant coach of Carlton's seniors during this period and helped them to the 1987 VFL premiership. In 1989, he replaced

Tom Hafey Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

as coach of the

and the club finished a respectable seventh in his first year in charge. They struggled over the next two seasons and in 1992 Kinnear lost his job to

Gary Buckenara Gary William Buckenara (born 3 July 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the Subiaco Football Club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). R ...

. He returned to Carlton after his Sydney stint ended and served the Blues in a variety of positions, including Chairman of the Match Committee, Football Manager, General Manager of Football Operations and General Manager of Special Projects.

References

External links

Blueseum: Col Kinnear
Living people Sydney Swans coaches Coburg Football Club coaches Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) 1947 births {{AFL-bio-1940s-stub