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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-09-24 Daily Xml
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Oatey, Mr R.

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:45): My question is to the Minister for Sport. What has been the reaction to the death of sporting legend Robert Oatey?

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:45): I thank the member for Florey for her question about a man who is well revered here in South Australia for his time as a player and a coach in the SANFL. It is with a heavy heart that I acknowledge his passing just recently.

Robert Oatey was a wonderful person and a great footballer. Through the sixties and seventies, he played 232 games with Norwood and kicked 365 goals. He was captain of the club and coach of the club between 1968 and 1973. He was a four-time best and fairest, the leading goal kicker on three occasions and was named in the forward pocket for Norwood's team of the century. In 1974, he went to play at Sturt. He played in a premiership under his dad, Jack, which was a wonderful moment for the family.

Robert is a South Australian Football Hall of Fame representative as well. Whilst his playing career was absolutely wonderful and sits up with some of the greats of South Australia—in fact, in 1968, he was runner-up in the Magarey Medal to the great Barrie Robran, and he played nine state games along the way—it is arguably his coaching where he touched most people here in South Australia. He had a great energy for coaching and a great energy for teaching. He was a teacher at Pembroke School in both PE and maths and coached tennis at any turn. He would look for an opportunity to work with young people and try to make them that little bit better.

I was fortunate enough to work with Robert at the SANFL, where he worked for a long time as a development officer as well as working with Sturt and Norwood, as I have pointed out. In my days after university, I worked in the coaching field. Robert was a great mentor of mine and a great friend. He was just a wonderful person who could impart his knowledge with a zest and enthusiasm that is rarely seen in coaching circles. He had a passion and a love for it like you wouldn't believe.

On a personal level, when I finished university, he initiated the level 1, 2 and 3 coaching certificates, which are run nationally now. He was a big part of the movement that wanted to define that accreditation and set that standard for coaches so that people were educated and could deliver coaching at that pristine level. I was lucky enough to do my level 2 coach's course with him, and he continued to accredit me for that along the way.

As a very small payback, Robert often asked me to MC the coach's award. The SANFL would have an awards dinner at the end of every year and thank coaches. We know coaches do a great job in our community and give so much back to communities for very little reward. I would do this very happily for him every year. He would rock up with a list of names of all the people who had received awards throughout the course of the year. He thoroughly enjoyed doing that, again as another way to give back to people in the coaching sphere.

I point out that he worked with a lot of modern-day players as well. He played his football in the sixties, but players like James Aish, who plays with Collingwood, Orazio Fantasia at Essendon and also Trent Dumont at North Melbourne were players he worked with and taught how to kick the footy. It sounds like a simple skill, but Robert loved to work on kicking. He was an immaculate kick himself, and he loved making sure that players had that skill similar to him when he was playing. His wife, Raelee, is another wonderful person. His son, David Oatey, coaches Sturt's under-18s. Robert's wife is the trainer there, so she still gives back to football as well. His daughter, Petrea, was there handing out the Jack Oatey Medal at the SANFL grand final on the weekend.

It is with a heavy heart that we recognise Robert Oatey. We thank him for his wonderful service to coaching. We thank him for all the people that he has had an influence on who now go back and give back to our community. It is again with a great deal of sadness that I say vale, Robert Oatey.

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