Lance Robinson
Haberfield Rowing Club (NSW)
Lance was a top rower and coach. Michael Morgan paid tribute to Lance with the following words:
When I first started to coach in late 1973 Lance Robinson kindly acted as my mentor. Lance was a Haberfield stalwart and had coached me in 1967, which was my first Representative crew to the North American and European championships.
Very early in this role as mentor he said don’t forget the “Ninth Man”. I soon realised that he was talking about the boat. The boat has to be given a chance to work. The simple fact is that in a 6-minute race the oars are out of the water for 4 minutes and that is when the “Ninth man” must be allowed to do his work. Obviously with 2/3 of a race being spent with the oars out of the water the time between strokes is very important.
This provides an insightful view of a great coach.
Fellow Haberfield rower Kevyn Webb wrote the following profile of Lance in 1950 as part of his 25 year history of his Club. Given the time of writing, it focusses on his rowing rather than coaching career.
Lance began his rowing career with Leichhardt Rowing Club, and with Dr. Parkes, Jack and Alex Eddie and Malcolm Ruffels transferred to Haberfield Rowing Club in May 1936.
His first Senior win came in the 1937 Riverview Gold Cup Regatta when he stroked the Haberfield crew to an outstanding victory. In both 1938 and 1939 he won the Champion Fours of N.S.W. In the later years he stroked the first Haberfield Eight to win the Champion Eights of N.S.W. He was selected and rowed stroke of the 1939 N.S.W. King's Cup crew which finished second to Queensland in the Australian Titles.
At the start of the 1939-40 season he was selected as stroke of the representative crew to compete at the New Zealand Centennial Games in Wellington. Stroking the N.S.W. crew to an outstanding win in the New Zealand Champion Eights.
He enlisted and saw service in the Australian Army. On his return to civilian life he continued his outstanding rowing career, winning the 1946 and 1947 Championship Eights and Fours of N.S.W., representing in the King's Cup at Penrith 1946 and Perth 1947.
In 1948 he stroked the winning No. 1 Olympic Trial Four in the N.S.W. test race, and lost by a narrow margin to Victoria in the Australian Olympic Test Regatta. In December 19490 his bad luck in Major test races continued when in a commanding position in the Empire Games Pairs Test race his boat ran into one of the piers of the Penrith Bridge forcing him out of the race - his crew lost the re-row of this trial some two weeks later. As a result of this accident moves are now being made to have all future Olympic and Empire Games trials rowed on the 'G.P.S.' course on the Nepean River.
There is little doubt that in the period 1936 to 1950 Lance Robinson has proved himself Haberfield's outstanding stroke oarsman.
Strokes of 1947 Interstate Eights
Left to right: Reg F Stewart (TAS), Donald H Fraser (WA), Walter J Lambert (VIC), Lance Robinson (NSW), R H Graetz (SA)
Key races in his rowing career
1939 – Interstate Men’s Eight Championship stroke – Second
1946 – Interstate Men’s Eight Championship stroke – Second
1947 – Interstate Men’s Eight Championship stroke – Second
1947 - Olympic Test Race, Men's Four, stroke - Second
1967 – Interstate Men’s Eight Championship coach - First
1967 – European Championships – Men’s Eight coach
1971 – Interstate Men’s Eight Championship coach - Third
1972 – Olympic Games – Men’s Coxed Four coach – Thirteenth
Andrew Guerin
December 2021 (updated July 2024 with Kevyn Webb's 1950 profile of Lance)