Great interview by Mike Sheahan with Bobby Skilton.
What memories the black and white footage brought back of those days ... easy for any crowd to see the beauty of his swerve, evasiveness, impeccable kick from either foot ... but I had never noticed till now that his eyes never moved from the ball at any time. This feeds into what may be seen on several occasions as fumbling ... but the key interpreter of that is that grounds (all Melbourne) in those days were hardly pristine smooth, and often quite boggy at Lake Oval. So what may look like fumbling on a few occasions was in fact a great example of the eye always on the ball approach that kept the ball moving on pretty poor ground until the ball was "in hand" ... then the evasion & disposal as per usual.
Fabulous stuff ... even though the team broke our heart most weeks and every year, I could still record every Skilton stat on my "footy record", and have something to make the score less ugly than it was. A few jam donuts on the way out also helped!
These days ... just a wonderful example of humility and love for the club ... the colours ... perhaps even the modern jumper.
How I wish he had got to play in a premiership team ... but I think Sydney has really made him content.
Bookmarks