RIP Keith "Golden Boots" Barnes (1934 - 2024)

[Roar_Power]

One of the best, sad day.

 

[dazza65]

I met him a couple of times back in the 80’s. Fantastic fella who would always stop and have a quick yarn.
vale to one of the best.

 

[dazza65]

Hard to find videos from this time but I did find this one, with toe basher “golden boots“ getting Australia home against the poms….

 

[Don Kershane]

Hard to find videos from this time but I did find this one, with toe basher “golden boots“ getting Australia home against the poms….

Great commentator as well. Puts the dribblers at 9 to shame. Almost a certain 2 points from 50+ yards out despite the leather ball.

 

[supercoach]

Champion Fullback, champion captain, champion administrator and champion person….and a top notch golfer, played off about 1.
The other mob called him tin legs
We called him golden boots
RIP KB

 

[krissy]

The term “legend” is thrown around frequently in Rugby League now but Keith Barnes was truly a legend of the game & by all accounts a gentleman. He was admired & respected not just by Balmain supporters but by Rugby League fans throughout the clubs and that respect was earned. RIP Golden Boots

 

[Spartan117]

My dad, a Saints Die Hard about to turn 80 spoke very highly of Keith Barnes as a player and a gentleman.

RIP.

 

[yeti]

"Golden Boots" Barnes. A true legend not only of Balmain, but of the game itself. Peerless in his countenance on and off the field. I believe he only ever gave away a single penalty in his entire career! The greatest 'toe poker' ever. Even the great Len Killeen wasn't in his league.
Vale Barnesy. Condolences to his family and close friends.
One story I remember was Keith accompanied Blocker to the judiciary after he patted the referee on the head. Barnesy spoke on behalf of Blocker and got a pretty lenient suspension and fine - realistically Roach could have gone for months. If Roachy was expecting the club to at least pay the fine, Keith Barnes put that to rest on the steps of the judiciary. He turned to Roach and said "Think yourself extremely lucky Steven, and you are paying every red cent of that fine yourself" - or words to that effect.
Legend!

 

[BZN]

The term “legend” is thrown around frequently in Rugby League now but Keith Barnes was truly a legend of the game & by all accounts a gentleman. He was admired & respected not just by Balmain supporters but by Rugby League fans throughout the clubs and that respect was earned. RIP Golden Boots

Even though I followed the Mighty Magpies back then, he was one of the few players in other teams I respected.

 

[MountainMan]

In a game that for years has dealt with some questionable incidents on the field and some unsavoury behaviour off the field, no one ever said a bad word about Keith Barnes

 

[kiwitiger]

The term “legend” is thrown around frequently in Rugby League now but Keith Barnes was truly a legend of the game & by all accounts a gentleman. He was admired & respected not just by Balmain supporters but by Rugby League fans throughout the clubs and that respect was earned. RIP Golden Boots

Was going to say the same thing about legend.
Keith is the definition.

 

[Jolls]

Such a sad loss for the community as a whole, a great loss for Rugby League and an even bigger loss for Wests Tigers. My condolences to his family and friends. although I never had the good fortune to meet him; but, some of my early memories are of listening to Frank Hyde describing his his goal kicks as a kid. It was almost always.."long enough, high enough and straight between the posts!"

 

[Tigerdave]

Legend player

 

[Halbrowne61]

My earliest days watching Balmain were all about Golden Boots kicking goals from everywhere. I remember attending a coaching clinic at the old LO and being lucky enough to receive a badge personally from the great man.
To his family, friends and Tiger supporters, my sincere condolences, but the memory of him will never fade, at least in my eyes.
RIP Barnsey !

 

[Jedi_Tiger]

RIP Golden Boots

 

[Halbrowne61]

One of the most ironic things about Keith Barnes great career was that in 1969, the year after he retired, we of course won the comp.
A tragedy that he wasn’t playing when we achieved that especially given he was in 3 losing GF sides and for the wonderful contribution he made over 14 seasons.
Some things are just not meant to be !

 

[mikey]

Sad day for the Balmain faithful and the wider league community.

 

[AmericanHistoryX]

We will celebrate his life at Campbelltown i hope. And hopefully the icing on the cake for Keith will be V for Victory. Then again at Leichhardt.

 

[Halbrowne61]

We will celebrate his life at Campbelltown i hope. And hopefully the icing on the cake for Keith will be V for Victory. Then again at Leichhardt.

Let’s hope we show more respect than we did for Tommy R.
But I think we are a better team now so expecting that V.

 

[AmericanHistoryX]

Tommy and Keith together. The backbone of Wests Tigers.