It was with sadness that 100 Years of Coconuts learned of the death, at the age of 81 on November 28, of former Cambridge United forward Eddie Robinson.
Eddie was a gifted winger or inside forward who joined United at the age of 22, for the club’s first season in the Southern League in 1958. He made 62 appearances, scored 23 goals and gained many admirers before departing for Cambridge City in late 1959.
Eddie was a gifted winger or inside forward who joined United at the age of 22, for the club’s first season in the Southern League in 1958. He made 62 appearances, scored 23 goals and gained many admirers before departing for Cambridge City in late 1959.
  From top, Eddie Robinson in United change strip; pages from programme for Robinsons XI v Milton, 1969 (click to enlarge); the Robinson team in 1969, with mum Bella in the foreground and sisters Joan and Miriam left and right. Brothers, from left: Eddie, Leslie, Brian, Raymond, David, Ronnie, Jackie, Michael, Don, Charlie and Robert; Eddie in 2010. Photos courtesy of Cambridge News and Neil Harvey. | Born in Sunderland on 5 January 1935, he came to Newmarket Road after a youth career with Middlesbrough – where he played alongside Brian Clough – and four years as a professional at Charlton Athletic. His time at the Valley was interrupted by two years of national service with the RAF, during which he survived a grenade attack on his vehicle while on active service in Cyprus. Playing at inside left for the U’s, he was a regular first choice and after a fine performance in a 2-0 win at Guildford City in January 1959, manager Bert Johnson stated: 'It is always a sign that a player is playing well when he gets rough treatment away from home – and Eddie Robinson certainly had that on Saturday.' Later that month he was switched to the left wing, playing there for most of the rest of the season and finishing as the club’s top Southern League scorer with 11 goals from 29 games. United won the Cambridgeshire Professional Cup and the Southern League Inter-Zone competition that year, and in a 7-2 Inter-Zone thrashing of Chelmsford City, Eddie scored five goals, including a hat-trick in the first 36 minutes. In November 1959, perhaps unhappy at being stationed on the wing, he was placed on the transfer list at his own request, and within 24 hours City had snapped him up for a small fee. When City and United met in the Southern League Cup early in 1960/61, City won their home leg 2-0, with Eddie scoring one of the goals. In the return match, which United won 2-0, he was forced to retire with a wrenched knee, resulting from a Roy Kirk tackle, after just four minutes. The injury finished Eddie’s career at that level, and after a year of struggle he was forced to retire at the age of 26. He had scored eight goals in 47 games for the Milton Road club. He was awarded, and played in, a benefit match between City and his own XI, which included six United players. His injury problems improved enough to enable him to make a comeback for Soham Town Rangers in 1964. Eddie was one of the 14 children – 11 boys and three girls – of pro boxer Jackie Robinson and his wife Bella. The number of male siblings allowed them to raise a team to take on other families in charity matches. In the late 1960s the Robinsons – including Charlie, who played ten times for City and twice for United around that time – took part in a ‘family championship’ of England. ‘We won it, beating a family called the Navens from Birmingham, although they weren't all brothers,’ Eddie told the Cambridge News in 2010. They also beat a Jackie Milburn all-star XI and were invited to play a German family. ‘We discovered the goalkeeper for the German side was their mother, who was in her 70s. And we thought it wouldn’t be fair if we went over and put loads of goals past her,’ he recalled. Eddie and his wife Valerie were married in 1962 and moved into the family home in Milton the following year. Daughter Melanie was born in 1965 and son Nick followed on Eddie’s birthday in 1968, causing his proud father to remark: ‘I would have preferred a new set of golf clubs.’ As talented a golfer as he was a footballer, he achieved a handicap of five and won many competitions at Newmarket’s Links club. He was prevented from following his apprenticed trade of roofing and tiling by the risk of injury affecting his football career. Instead, he studied accounting and concentrated on that profession following his retirement from football. |
Made chief accountant at Pye Engineering Services in 1962, he showed skill in highlighting errors in business plans and was appointed as a troubleshooter at Pye head office in 1968. He spent many years improving productivity at the company’s UK and international divisions.
In 1981 he set up a successful jewellery business, but a drop in the price of gold in 1984 forced a return to accountancy. He then worked for small companies around Cambridge until 1987, when he took up the role of credit controller for Marshall Aerospace and Specialised Vehicles. Following retirement in 2000, he focused on improving his golf game and on doting on his grandchildren: Lauren, Jack, Shelley, Elliot and Albert.
The funeral will take place at 12.45pm on Tuesday, December 13 at Cambridge Crematorium.
In 1981 he set up a successful jewellery business, but a drop in the price of gold in 1984 forced a return to accountancy. He then worked for small companies around Cambridge until 1987, when he took up the role of credit controller for Marshall Aerospace and Specialised Vehicles. Following retirement in 2000, he focused on improving his golf game and on doting on his grandchildren: Lauren, Jack, Shelley, Elliot and Albert.
The funeral will take place at 12.45pm on Tuesday, December 13 at Cambridge Crematorium.
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