Robert David Slater (born 22 November 1964) is an Australian former professional

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 and sports commentator. He played as a

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 ...

from 1982 until 2001 notably in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

where he was amongst the title winning side of 1995. He also played in England's top flight for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, as well as playing in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. Slater also played in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

for

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

and

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), come ...

as well as playing in Australia for St George Saints,

Sydney United Sydney United 58 Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club and current NSW NPL Champions based in Edensor Park, Sydney, New South Wales Australia. The club was formed as Sydney Croatia in 1958, by Croatian Australians in the area, but ...

and

Northern Spirit FC North West Sydney Spirit FC is an Australian soccer club. It was the successor of the defunct Northern Spirit FC, a professional soccer club based in North Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales. Northern Spirit entered the National Soccer League in t ...

. He made 44 caps for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, scoring one goal.

Early life

Slater was born in

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administr ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England, and migrated to Australia with his family where he started his playing career.

Club career

Early years

Slater played with various clubs in his youth before joining St George Saints in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

in 1982. He won the NSL with St George in 1983, and following this season he trialled with

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

; however St George and Nottingham Forest were unable to agree terms and he returned to Australia. He then moved to Sydney Croatia in 1987 before an aborted move to

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

was quickly followed by a transfer to

Europe

Slater did not see much playing time in Belgium and moved to then

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

club

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

, which was promoted during his time at the club (1990–94). While he was at Lens he was attacked with a baseball bat by

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

supporters and nearly lost his life. At the end of the 1993–94 season Slater moved to

, and there he became the first Australian to win the English

FA Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

in the 1994-95 season, starting many of the games in the first half of the season and contributing numerous assists. He was not a regular player in the second half of the season, but his 18 league appearances (six as a substitute) were more than enough to qualify for a title medal. In August 1995, he was sold to

for £600,000 with

Matty Holmes Matthew Holmes (born 1 August 1969) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He notably played in the Premier League for West Ham United, Blackburn Rovers and Charlton Athletic. He also played in the Football L ...

moving in the opposite direction. He made his debut on 26 August 1995 in a 1–1 draw away at

with his first West Ham goal coming on 2 December 1995 in a 4–2 away defeat to his previous club, Blackburn Rovers. Slater made 29 appearances in all competitions, scoring two goals for West Ham before moving on to

in August 1996. After just one season in

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

, Slater was signed for Southampton by manager

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, and current TV pundit. A midfielder, Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s, player-manager of Ranger ...

for a fee of £250,000 and was a regular throughout the 1996–97 season, making 30 Premier League appearances as the "Saints" avoided relegation by one point with a run of three victories in the final five games. These included a 2–0 victory over Slater's former club, Blackburn Rovers, in the penultimate game on 3 May 1997 in which Slater scored the opening goal, forcing the ball home from eight yards after a good run by

Egil Østenstad Egil Johan Østenstad (; born 2 January 1972) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He started and ended his career at Viking, before going on to play in the Premier League for Southampton, Blackburn Rovers an ...

. In the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

match at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

on 4 January 1997, Slater was sent off by referee

Graham Poll Graham Poll (born 29 July 1963) is an English former football referee in the Premier League. With 26 years of experience, he was one of the most prominent referees in English football, often taking charge of the highest-profile games. His final ...

in the final minute of the match following a "gesture" to a linesman, as Southampton went down 3–1, finishing the match with only nine players. In the summer of 1997, Souness left The Dell club, to be replaced by Dave Jones. Under Jones, Slater rarely played, making only three league starts with his final appearance coming as a substitute against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

on 19 January 1998. In March 1998, he was transferred to

where he stayed briefly, playing as a substitute in the

semi final against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, before returning to Australia in the summer.

NSL

At the end of the 1997–98 season he moved back to Australia to captain a new team in the National Soccer League, the Northern Spirit. He would play with them until his retirement at the end of the 2000–01 season. In 2002, he was player-coach of Manly-Warringah.

International career

Slater won 44

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Australian national team. His final appearance for Australia was against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

in the 1997

Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

. He is a member of the

Football Federation Australia Football Hall of Fame The aims of the Football Australia Hall of Fame are to celebrate and highlight the achievements of retired players and other participants who have contributed significantly to the game. These are made up of either Australian and/or non-Austral ...

After football

Slater wrote an autobiographical book in the late nineties called ''The Hard Way'' on his playing career. Slater was an analyst and commentator

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

, commentating matches in the

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 ...

, while also appearing on Fox Sports FC and Matchday Saturday, which were football coverage shows. Slater was involved in a controversy after writing an article for the ''Daily Telegraph'', concerning an incident with

Harry Kewell Harry Kewell (born 22 September 1978) is an Australian association football coach, manager and former player. His most recent role as a club manager was at English National League side Barnet, and he is currently a first team coach at Celtic F ...

. The article led to a live confrontation on Fox Sports FC.

Graham Arnold Graham James Arnold (born 3 August 1963) is an Australian soccer manager and former player. Arnold was appointed to work as an assistant coach of the Australian national soccer team in 2000. After head coach Frank Farina was sacked in 2005, Ar ...

was named as source in row between

and Robbie Slater

Career statistics

Honours

St George *

: 1983 Sydney United *

National Soccer League Cup National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

: 1987 Blackburn Rovers *

: 1994–95 Individual *

Oceania Footballer of the Year The Oceania Footballer of the Year award is presented each year to the best football (soccer) player from the Oceania region, as chosen by a panel of football journalists. The award was dominated by Australian players until that nation became part ...

: 1991, 1993 * FFA Hall of Champions: 2005 *

Medal 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 ...

for services to football

References

External links

* *
FFA - Hall of Fame profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slater, Robbie 1964 births Living people People from Ormskirk English emigrants to Australia Association football midfielders Australian soccer players Australian expatriate soccer players Australia international soccer players Australia B international soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Olympic soccer players of Australia Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players Premier League players Ligue 1 players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Blacktown City FC players R.S.C. Anderlecht players RC Lens players Southampton F.C. players Sydney United 58 FC players West Ham United F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Northern Spirit FC players English association football commentators Association football commentators National Soccer League (Australia) players Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in England Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia