Robbie Brunton (5 September 1973 – 1 October 2020) was an Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a left-back during the 1990s and 2000s.

Career

Brunton joined the nursery club

Belvedere Belvedere (from Italian, meaning "beautiful sight") may refer to: Places Australia *Belvedere, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region Africa *Belvedere (Casablanca), a neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco *Belvedere, Harare, Zim ...

at the age of 8 and played for them for nine years until he signed for

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

as an apprentice in 1991. He signed professional forms the following year but never made the breakthrough to the first team and returned to Ireland to sign for

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 ...

in 1994. He lost two

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

semi-finals and a

FAI League Cup The League of Ireland Cup ( ga, Corn Sraithe na hÉireann), also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', is an annual knockout competition in men's football in the Republic of Ireland. It is contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited ...

during his time at Sligo all to Shelbourne, where he made 60 league appearances. In the 1994–95 season he was voted Sligo player of the year, was selected for the Bord Gais All Stars selection as well as being nominated for the PFAI Young Player of the Year award, finishing runner up to Billy Woods of Cork City. When his contract expired at the end of the 1996–97 season, Robbie moved to

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

. Coleraine won their first seven league games but were pipped to the league title by Crusaders. They did win the Ulster Cup defeating Crusaders in a penalty shoot out with Brunton scoring in the shoot out and also scoring the shot which brought Crusaders level. After only one season there, he was on the move again - this time to then champions

Derry City Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

. Derry failed to regain their title in the next season with Brunton missing ten weeks with a serious knee injury, and with a new manager coming in, Brunton was surplus to requirements. He signed for

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

and made his league debut on 28 August 1998 against

Finn Harps Finn Harps Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Chláirsigh na Finne) are an Irish football club that play in the First Division of the League of Ireland, as of 2023. The club was founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969. However, it was te ...

. He spent two seasons at ''Bohs'' winning a runners-up medal in the

again losing to Shelbourne before he moved to

Buckley Park Buckley Park is a multi-purpose stadium on the Callan Road ( N76), near Kilkenny, Ireland. Kilkenny City (formerly EMFA) purchased of land from a local farmer by the name of Mick Murphy for £16,000. The ground was originally called Tenney Par ...

and

Kilkenny City Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilkenn ...

. The tackling left back - he was sent off a total of 13 times - later played for Monaghan United

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

Newry Town Newry City Football Club was a Northern Irish association football, football club founded in 1918 and dissolved in 2012. It was based in Newry, County Down and played its home matches at The Showgrounds (Newry), the Showgrounds. Club colours we ...

and Cliftonville.

Personal life

He died on 1 October 2020 at the age of 47.Sligo Rovers have extended their sympathy to the family of Robbie Brunton
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunton, Robbie 1973 births 2020 deaths Association footballers from County Dublin Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football fullbacks League of Ireland players NIFL Premiership players Bohemian F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players Coleraine F.C. players Derry City F.C. players Kilkenny City A.F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players Newry City F.C. players Cliftonville F.C. players Belvedere F.C. players Place of death missing