Robert Richard Cornthwaite (born 24 October 1985), nicknamed "Cornflakes", is an Australian former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player. Alongside

Eli Babalj Eli Babalj (born 21 February 1992) is an Australian footballer who plays as a striker. Alongside Robert Cornthwaite and Sasa Ognenovski, Babalj, at 1.95 m is the joint third tallest player to have represented the Australia national associatio ...

and

Sasa Ognenovski Sasa Ognenovski ( mk, Саша Огненовски, Saša Ognenovski; born 3 April 1979) is an Australian soccer player who played as a central defender, who represented the Australia national team on 22 occasions, and who last played for Sy ...

, Cornthwaite, at 1.95 m is the joint third tallest player to have represented the

Australia national association football team The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's Association football, soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, wh ...

, behind

Zeljko Kalac Zeljko Kalac (born 16 December 1972) is an Australian former soccer goalkeeper, who is currently the manager of NK Urania Baška Voda, who play in the Croatian third division. Nicknamed "Spider" due to his tall, gangly figure, standing at 2.02& ...

(2.02 m) and

Harry Souttar Harry James Souttar (born 22 October 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Premier League club Leicester City and the Australia national team. Born in Scotland, Souttar began his senior career there with Dundee Unite ...

(1.98 m).

Club career

Adelaide United

Cornthwaite signed for United for the inaugural

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

season and spent the majority of his first two seasons starting on the bench. In the 2007–08 he started all of his 19 league appearances; he scored the opening goal in just the third minute against

Pohang Steelers The Pohang Steelers (Hangul: 포항 스틸러스) are a South Korean professional football club based in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province that compete in the K League 1, the top flight of South Korean football. The Steelers were founded on 1 A ...

in Adelaide United's opening game of the 2008 Asian Champion League. As of half time of Adelaide United's away game against

J League The , officially is Japan's professional football league including the first division J1 League, second division J2 League and third division J3 League of the Japanese association football league system. J1 League is one of the most successfu ...

5-time champions

Kashima Antlers are a football club in Kashima, Ibaraki, currently playing in the J1 League, top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The name ''Antlers'' is derived from the city name, Kashima, which literally means "deer island". The club has fi ...

in the quarter finals of the 2008 AFC Champions League, Robert scored an accidental own goal to put Kashima level with Adelaide 1–1 after a spectacular goal from Adelaide captain

Travis Dodd Travis Dodd (born 6 January 1980) is an Australian former Association football, football (soccer) player who last played for North Eastern MetroStars SC in the National Premier League - South Australia competition. He played as an Attacking mid ...

which came after a cross from vice-captain Lucas Pantelis in the 38th minute. The match being the first leg of the 2 teams Quarter finals match dated on Wednesday 17 September in Japan. He redeemed himself though in the second leg where he scored the winner in the 73rd minute with the game locked at 0–0. Adelaide went on to win 2–1 on aggregate and advance to the semi-finals. Robert Cornthwaite made his 50th A-League appearance in the 1–0 win over

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

on 27 December 2008. Cornthwaite signed a new three-year contract with

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional Association Football, soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under North American professional sports league organization#Systems ar ...

in October 2009.

Jeonnam Dragons

On 8 March 2011, Cornthwaite announced that he had signed for

Jeonnam Dragons The Jeonnam Dragons (Korean: 전남 드래곤즈) are a South Korean professional football club based in the city of Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. The Dragons play thei ...

in the

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

K-League K League (Hangul: K리그) is South Korea's professional football league. It includes first division K League 1 and second division K League 2. History Until the 1970s, South Korean football operated two major football leagues, the National S ...

on a 2-year contract.

Selangor

Robert joined the

Malaysian Super League The Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia) is the men's top professional football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), now known as the Malaysi ...

outfit

Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east ...

in early 2015 and scored a few goals for the club. He was selected to play for Malaysian XI in a friendly match against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in July 2015. In January 2016 his contract with Selangor was continued after Selangor fans forced the

Football Association of Selangor The Football Association of Selangor, also known as FAS ( ms, Persatuan Bola Sepak Selangor) is the sport governing body, governing body of football for the state of Selangor, Malaysia. They are responsible for growing the standards of grassroots ...

to continue his contract by using the social media. On 9 July 2016, Cornthwaite was released by Selangor.

Western Sydney Wanderers

On 14 July 2016, Cornthwaite joined

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

on a two-year deal.

Perak

On 16 January 2018, Cornthwaite signed a contract with

Malaysia Super League The Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia) is the men's top professional football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), now known as the Malays ...

club

Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...

on a one plus one-year deal. Cornthwaite announced his immediate retirement from football on 4 June 2018, halfway through his Perak contract.

International career

Cornthwaite made his first senior international debut for the

Socceroos The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated with ...

on 4 March 2009 in an AFC Asian Cup qualifying match versus

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

. He scored his first international goal in against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

in a 2012 friendly.

Career statistics

Club

¹ – includes

final series statistics
² – includes

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

statistics;

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

statistics are included in season commencing after group stages (i.e. 2008 ACL in 2008–09 A-League season etc.)

International

International goals

Honours

Club

* A-League Premiership: 2005–06

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup ( ms, Piala Malaysia), formerly known as ''Malaya Cup'', is an annual association football, football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popular ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Personal life

Cornthwaite was born in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, England and was brought up in

Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

. Cornthwaite has a wife, Nel, a son and a daughter, Sahara.

References

External links

Adelaide United profile

FFA – Olyroo profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornthwaite, Robert 1985 births Living people Footballers from Blackburn Association football fullbacks English footballers Australian soccer players English expatriate footballers Australian expatriate soccer players Australia international soccer players FFSA Super League players Adelaide United FC players FK Beograd (Australia) players Jeonnam Dragons players Selangor FA players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Perak F.C. players A-League Men players K League 1 players Expatriate footballers in South Korea Australian people of English descent English expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Australian expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Australian expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia English expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Soccer players from Adelaide Expatriate footballers in Malaysia