Robert Dunn was one of the nation's most outstanding defenders, featuring in the 1986 World Cup qualifying campaign and playing at the 1988 Olympic Games when Australia made the quarter-finals.
A junior with Kwinana United, Dunn played first team football at Rockingham City and spent a season with North Perth Croatia before travelling east as a 17-year old to join South Australian club Adelaide Azzurri for the winter of 1981.
Signed by national league outfit West Adelaide, Dunn debuted on the opening day of the 1982 season against Brisbane Lions and over two seasons was a virtual ever-present for the club.
Dunn moved to Melbourne in 1984 to link up with Preston Makedonia, where he again rarely missed a game during a two-year stay.
His first appearance in the green and gold of Australia was against touring Italian club Udinese in June 1985. Dunn's senior international debut arrived three months later when he came off the bench in a World Cup qualifier against New Zealand. Before the year was out he'd taken his 'A' game tally to six with outings against Israel, Taiwan and Scotland.
For the 1986 season Dunn headed back to South Australia where he turned out regularly for West Adelaide, and representing Australia against Czechsolavakia, New Zealand and China.
The big defender then returned to Victoria to commence a two-year stint with Melbourne Croatia. In the second half of 1987 he donned Australia colours against Egypt and South Korea at the Presidents Cup tournament, New Zealand and Taiwan, the later the Socceroos first qualifier for the 1988 Olympic Games.
Absentee from the rest of the Olympic Games qualification campaign due to a serious knee injury, Dunn' recalled coincided with the four-nation Bicentennial Gold Cup. Strong performances against Brazil (twice), Saudi Arabia and Argentina were rewarded with a spot on the plane to the Olympic Games in Seoul during September. Australia went all the way through to the last eight of that tournament with Dunn featuring in all four games, against Yugolsavia, Brazil, Nigeria and the USSR, the latter earning the defender his 25th and final 'A' cap.
Dunn made his solitary State team appearance against touring English club Milwall in mid-1989, by which time he was back in the State League as a Perth Italia player. Seasons at South China (Hong Kong) and Sarawak (Malaysia) followed before hanging up his boots in 1992 when player/coach of North Perth Croatia. The final chapter in Dunn's senior playing career would be a short comeback with Cockburn United three years later.
Hall of Fame 2001 Inductees
