27 Facts About Keith Barnes

William Keith Barnes AM, known by the nickname of "Golden Boots", was a Welsh-born Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Keith Barnes was a fullback for the Australian national team and for the Balmain Tigers.

Keith Barnes played in 14 tests between 1959 and 1966, as national captain on 12 occasions.

Keith Barnes was known as "Golden Boots" due to his exceptional goal-kicking ability.

Keith Barnes is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.

Keith Barnes was 15 when his family emigrated to Australia in 1950 to Wollongong where Keith Barnes learnt the game at Wollongong High School.

Keith Barnes 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.

Keith Barnes quickly became known for his deadly accurate goal-kicking and would often kick penalties from the further side of the 50-yard line.

Keith Barnes once kicked eleven goals in a club match.

Keith Barnes returned briefly for some match appearances in 1968 when the club's playing roster was depleted by injury.

Keith Barnes broke his cheekbone in the opening match of the series but stayed on field to kick five goals.

Keith Barnes made his test debut against New Zealand 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.

Keith Barnes kicked seven goals in that outing and stayed on as fullback, goal kicker and captain for the third test.

Keith Barnes was then selected as captain for the 1959 Kangaroo tour and played as captain in all six Test matches and sixteen minor tour matches, kicking 101 goals on the tour.

In 1960, Keith Barnes led Australia in all three tests of a domestic series against France.

Keith Barnes enjoys the record of six career test appearances against France, all as captain, for four wins, 1 draw and a loss.

Keith Barnes was then selected as captain-coach of the 1960 World Cup squad played in England.

Keith Barnes appeared in Australia's second and third matches of the tournament with his representative rival Brian Carlson doing the goal-kicking.

Keith Barnes returned to national honours in the second test of the 1962 domestic series against Great Britain, his final test as captain.

In 1966 however Keith Barnes made two final representative appearances in the first and second tests of the domestic Ashes series.

Keith Barnes scored all of Australia's points in the second test victory.

Keith Barnes retired 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.

Keith Barnes 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.

Keith Barnes was the first ex-Kangaroo captain to manage the Australian side on the 1990 Kangaroo tour.

In February 2008, Keith Barnes was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.

In 2009 Barnes was honoured with the naming of the Keith Barnes Stand at Leichhardt Oval, the Balmain Tigers' home ground.

Keith Barnes died on 7 April 2024, at the age of 89.