Norman "Latchem" Robinson (17 October 1900 – 18 March 1980) was an Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer, coach, selector and club administrator for the

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in t ...

club in Sydney and a

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and

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selector and manager. He also served as NSW and Australian coach in 1948 and 1958 respectively.

Playing career

Robinson was graded at Balmain in 1922 as a halfback. He was a member of the

team that won the Premiership in the

1924 NSWRFL season The 1924 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the seventeenth season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Nine teams from across the city contested during the season which culminated in Balma ...

. Robinson was selected in the

New South Wales rugby league team The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Also known as the Blues due to their sky blue jerseys, the team competes in the ann ...

between 1925 and 1926, playing a total of 5 games for the Blues. He played in the

Maher Cup The Maher Cup was an Australian rugby league (originally rugby union) challenge cup contested between towns of the South West Slopes and northern Riverina areas of New South Wales between 1920 and 1971. The main teams involved were Cootamundra, Tum ...

for Cootamundra in 1928, gaining representative selection for Southern Division in a match against Great Britain. Robinson then returned to Sydney and continued playing for Balmain. The final years of his career were spent playing for

Yanco Yanco is a village with a population of 505 in Leeton Shire in south western New South Wales, Australia. Yanco is a Wiradjuri aboriginal language word meaning ''the sound of running water''. Yanco is located from Leeton along Irrigation Way. ...

's club.

Coaching career

Robinson had three separate coaching spells with the Balmain club. He coached the

in 1930, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1954, 1955 and 1956 before retiring. He was coach of New South Wales in 1948. Also, in 1953, he coached the American "All Stars" during their tour of Australia. He was manager of the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

team in the

1957 Rugby League World Cup The second Rugby League World Cup was held in Australia in 1957. As before a group stage was held first, with matches being held at locations in Sydney and Brisbane. The 1957 World Cup marked the 50th anniversary of rugby league in Australia bu ...

. He was appointed coach of the

team for the 1958 Ashes series against the touring

Great Britain Lions The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions. For most of the 20th century, the Great Britain team toured overseas, ...

. The British won the series 2–1 after winning Game 2 in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

and Game 3 in Sydney.

Administrative career

Robinson was for many years after his playing retirement a Secretary-Manager of the Balmain Leagues Club. Together with the St George administrator Snowy Justice, Robinson's former representative playing peer, he was one of the seminal forces behind the establishment of the Club Managers' Association of Australia at its foundation in 1964. Robinson was awarded a Life Membership of that organisation for outstanding service to the club industry.

Accolades

The Wests Tigers Team of the Century was announced in 2004, encompassing the best players from both Balmain and Western Suburbs. Norm Robinson was voted the ''Coach of the Century''. The "Latchem" Robinson stand at

Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a rugby league and soccer stadium in Lilyfield, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers National Rugby League (NRL) team, along with Campbelltown Stadium and Western Sydney S ...

, Balmain's home ground, is named in his honour. Norm Robinson died 12 days before the opening of the stand by

Neville Wran Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman of ...

, premier of New South Wales and Tiger supporter, in 1980. His largely attended funeral was held at St. Thomas's Church,

Rozelle, New South Wales Rozelle is a suburb in the inner west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 4 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. Location Rozelle si ...

on 21 March 1980 and he was cremated at Northern Suburbs Crematorium.Sydney Morning Herald- Death & Funeral Notice: 20 March 1980

References

Sources

* *

Footnotes

External links

''Norm Robinson'' at ''NRL Stats''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Norm 1900 births 1980 deaths Australia national rugby league team coaches Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Balmain Tigers coaches Balmain Tigers players New South Wales rugby league team coaches New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Sydney United States national rugby league team coaches