William Keith Barnes AM (born 30 October 1934), also known by the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

of "Golden Boots", is a Welsh-born Australian former

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 who played in the 1950s and 1960s, and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

ed in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He was a for the Australian national team and 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 ...

. He played in 14 Tests between 1959 and 1966, as national captain on 12 occasions. He was known as "Golden Boots" due to his exceptional goal-kicking ability. After his playing days he became a referee and later co-commentated on the

Amco Cup The Amco Cup (subsequently known by various other sponsors' names including the Tooth Cup, KB Cup, National Panasonic Cup and Panasonic Cup) was a mid-week rugby league competition held in Australia between 1974 and 1989. The format was usual ...

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

with

Ray Warren Raymond Warren OAM (born 11 June 1943) is a retired Australian sports commentator, known for his coverage of televised professional rugby league matches on the Nine Network. He is known as the "Voice of Rugby League", and called 99 State of ...

in the 1970s. He is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.

Background

Barnes was born in

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...

, Wales.

Early years

Barnes' was 15 when his family emigrated to Australia in 1948 to

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

where Barnes learnt the game at Wollongong High School. He was graded by the Wollongong club at age 19 as a half-back and in 1954 represented for Country and in a Southern Districts side 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, ...

Club career

In 1955 he was signed by Norm "Latchem" Robinson to join the

and moved to the district and straight into first grade, never playing a single lower grade game in the following 14 seasons. The following year he played in the first of three

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

s against the

St George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...

at the beginning of their long premiership reign. On three occasions 1956,

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

and 1966 Keith Barnes would experience defeat in a premiership decider – the latter two as captain. Barnes quickly became known for his deadly accurate goal-kicking and would often kick penalties from the further side of the 50-yard line. He once kicked eleven goals in a club match. In 1966 he overtook

Ron Willey Ronald William Willey (1929−2004) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He was a representative for the Australian national side. Post-playing, Willey had a long and successful first grade and State representative coaching care ...

's record for the most points scored in an NSWRFL career (1,288); Barnes' eventual total of 1,519 stood as the new career record for seven seasons until it was bettered by Eric Simms in 1973. Barnes' tally of 1,519 points for Balmain placed him (as of 2017) 19th on the all-time list of club pointscorers. In his final playing year with Balmain in 1967, Barnes was captain-coach. He returned briefly for some match appearances in 1968 when the club's playing roster was depleted by injury.

Representative career

Barnes made his debut for

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in 1956. His international debut was in the 1957

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

. He broke his cheekbone in the opening match of the series but stayed on field to kick five goals. He made his Test debut against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in Brisbane in the second Test of the 1959 trans-Tasman series enjoying the rare distinction of captaining his country in his first Test appearance. He kicked seven goals in that outing and stayed on as fullback, goal kicker and captain for the third Test. He was then selected as captain for the 1959

Kangaroo tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours to ...

and played as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in all six Test matches and sixteen minor tour matches, kicking 101 goals on the tour. At the tail-end of the trip he appeared in two promotional games against Italy. In 1960, Barnes led Australia in all three Tests of a domestic series against France. He enjoys the record of six career Test appearances against France, all as captain, for four wins, 1 draw and a loss. In the Brisbane second Test 55–6 victory Barnes kicked a Test record of 10 goals. He was then selected as captain-coach of the 1960

squad played in England. He appeared in Australia's second and third matches of the tournament with his representative rival

Brian Carlson Brian Patrick Carlson (12 February 1933 – 14 April 1987) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a & utility back for the Australia national team. He played in 17 Tests and 6 World Cu ...

doing the goal-kicking. Barnes returned to national honours in the second Test of the 1962 domestic series against Great Britain, his final Test as captain. Thereafter Australian selectors enjoyed a surfeit of talented young fullbacks to choose from and

Ken Thornett Ken Thornett (27 November 1937 – 16 August 2016), also known by the nickname of "The Mayor of Parramatta", was an Australian rugby league . He represented the Kangaroos in twelve Tests during 1963 and 1964 and on the off-season Kangaroo Tou ...

and

Les Johns Les Johns (born 1942 in Newcastle, New South Wales) is a former Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and early 1970s. Club career Les Johns started his career at Newcastle's Souths club. He then played nine ...

were regularly selected until

Graeme Langlands Graeme Frank Langlands, MBE, (2 September 1941 – 20 January 2018), also known by the nickname of "Changa", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. and coached in the 1970s. He retire ...

later became the incumbent. In 1966 however Barnes made two final representative appearances in the first and second Tests of the domestic Ashes series. He scored all of Australia's points in the second Test victory. Injury saw Les Johns take Barnes' spot for the third and he would not regain it.

Post playing

Barnes

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

from competitive rugby league in 1968 having made seventeen appearances for his adopted country and 234 appearances for the Tigers in which he averaged four goals per game. After three unsuccessful Grand Final outings during his time, the Tigers ironically won their first premiership in twenty-one years in Barnes' first year after retirement – 1969. He continued an active role in rugby league and in 1976 became Secretary-Manager of the Balmain Leagues Club and in 1984 took up the role of Chief Executive of the football club. Barnes was the first ex-Kangaroo captain to manage the Australian side on the 1990

. At the turn of the century Barnes was honoured with selection in the Balmain's 'Team of the Century' and in the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional Rugby league, rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a j ...

' 'Team of the Century'

The yearly award for the best back at the

club is named the Keith Barnes Medal in his honour. In 2007 he was inducted into the

Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame The Australian Rugby LeaguHall of Fame'' honours players who have shown exceptional skill at rugby league, all-time great coaches and referees, and other major contributors to the game who are Australian. It was officially established in 2002, ...

. In February 2008, Barnes was named in the list of Australia's ''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

and

ARL ARL may refer to: Military * US Navy hull classification symbol for repair ship * Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK * United States Army Research Laboratory * ARL 44, a WWII French tank Organizations * Aero Research Limited, a UK adhesives comp ...

to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. On 26 January 1996, he was named a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in "recognition service to rugby league as a player and administrator". On 24 October 2000, he was awarded the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

for his rugby league achievements. In 2009 Barnes was honoured with the naming of the Keith Barnes 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 ...

, the Balmain Tigers' home ground.

Representative matches played

Sources

* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney * Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney *

References

External links

Wests Tigers team of the century
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Keith 1934 births Living people Australia national rugby league team captains Australia national rugby league team coaches Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league commentators Australian rugby league players Australian rugby league referees Balmain Tigers captains Balmain Tigers coaches Balmain Tigers players City New South Wales rugby league team players Country New South Wales rugby league team players Members of the Order of Australia New South Wales rugby league team players Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Port Talbot Welsh emigrants to Australia