Ian Anthony Robertson (born 25 January 1946 in

Footscray, Victoria Footscray is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Maribyrnong local government area. Footscray recorded a population of 17,131 at the . Footscray is ...

) is a former Australian rules footballer in the VFL and currently a football commentator. Robertson was born in Footscray and recruited to the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Me ...

from

Dalyston Dalyston is a seaside town located south east of Melbourne via the South Gippsland and Bass Highways, in the Bass Coast Shire of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. Known originally as a train station at Powlett River near Wonthaggi, it is now th ...

after the

Footscray Football Club The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

refused a request for a trial with the club. Robertson debuted in 1967 with the Blues and was a solid

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. The fact that he was taken from Footscray's recruitment zone became an issue two years into Robertson's career, when the Bulldogs asked for their rights to him as a player. Ken Greenwood was cleared to the Bulldogs from Carlton and the dispute was resolved. In 1968, 1970 and 1972, Robertson was a member of Carlton's premiership sides and was a serviceable player. He had played 125 games and kicked 86 goals for Carlton between 1966 and 1974, before moving to Footscray (in an ironic twist) late in 1974, only notching up 4 games and 1 goal. In the 1980s Robertson became a Football commentator for the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

, continuing this role until 2001 when the

lost the rights. He was signed with

Fox Footy Channel The Fox Footy Channel was a channel exclusively dedicated to Australian rules football. It was owned by Foxtel and operated out of their Melbourne based studios. From 2002 - 2006 it was available on Foxtel, Austar, Optus Television, TransTV ...

in 2002 but left the network midway through the 2002 season for unknown reasons. In 2004 he was a radio commentator for 95.5 K-Rock in Geelong.

References

1946 births Australian rules football commentators Carlton Football Club players Carlton Football Club Premiership players Living people Western Bulldogs players Oakleigh Football Club players Oakleigh Football Club coaches Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Three-time VFL/AFL Premiership players People from Footscray, Victoria {{AFL-bio-1940s-stub