Rene Kink (born 22 November 1956) is a former

Australian rules footballer 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 ...

who played with the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...

and

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 ...

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). Kink played in a variety of positions during his career but was mainly used as a half forward flanker or full forward. He played in the 1973 preliminary final at the age of 16, becoming the youngest person to play in an AFL/VFL final, and went on to appear in 21 more finals matches in his career although he never got a premiership. Kink played in five losing grand finals however, in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

. The last of those was with Essendon who he had transferred to during the season. Essendon won the flag the following year but Kink missed out, a serious knee injury preventing him from playing a game in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

. Kink finished his VFL career playing one year at St Kilda before retiring at the end of

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

. In his fourteen-year career

was his most successful season, kicking 54 goals and finishing equal seventh in the

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 ...

count. In 1988, Kink captained the

Camberwell Football Club Camberwell Football Club was an Australian rules football club which formed around the mid-1880s, with a published match in 1886 and competed in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) between 1926 and 1990. Nicknamed the Cobras, Camberwell wo ...

in the

Victorian Football Association 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 ...

(VFA) second division. Kink's brother Adrian played reserves football at Collingwood but never played a senior game. Kink is currently a fitness and boxing instructor at a gym in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick.

Media

In 1980, Kink and other Collingwood players including

Peter Daicos Peter Daicos (born 20 September 1961) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played his entire 250-game career with the Collingwood Football Club in the VFL/AFL. Daicos is considered one of the greatest-ever players in Austra ...

had a minor role in the movie '' The Club'' which centred on the Magpies. The movie, directed by

Bruce Beresford Bruce Beresford (; born 16 August 1940) is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career, both locally and internationally in the United States. Beresford's notable films he has directed include ''Br ...

and based on the play by

David Williamson David Keith Williamson Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 24 February 1942) is an Australians, Australian dramatist and playwright. He has also written screenplays and teleplays. Early life David Williamson was born in Melbourne, Vi ...

, starred

Jack Thompson Jack Thompson may refer to: Sports *Jack Thompson (footballer, born 1892) (1892–1969), English footballer who played for Sheffield United and Bristol City *Jack Thompson (1920s footballer), English footballer who played for Aston Villa and Bright ...

as Magpies coach Laurie Holden,

Graham Kennedy Graham Cyril Kennedy AO (15 February 1934 – 25 May 2005) was an Australian entertainer, comedian and variety performer, as well as a personality and star of radio, theatre, television and film. He often performed in the style of vaudevilli ...

as club President Ted Parker, and

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

as new recruit Geoff Hayward. Kink played the role of Magpies hard man "Tank O'Donohue".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kink, Rene 1956 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Essendon Football Club players Collingwood Football Club players St Kilda Football Club players Camberwell Football Club players People educated at Melbourne High School