Robbie Earle

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For other persons named Robbie Earle, see Robbie Earle (disambiguation).

Personal information
Robbie Earle
Full name	Robert Fitzgerald Earle
Date of birth	27 January 1965 (1965-01-27) (age 43)
Place of birth	Newcastle-under-Lyme, England
Playing position	Midfielder (retired)
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1982-1991 1991-2000	Port Vale Wimbledon	294 (77) 284 (59)
National team
1997-2000	Jamaica
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Robert Fitzgerald "Robbie" Earle MBE (born 27 January 1965 in Newcastle-under-Lyme) is a former professional footballer who played approximately 600 games in senior club football, scoring around 150 goals. He currently works in television as a commentator and pundit for ITV.

Though English-born, Earle was eligible to play for Jamaica at international level because of his Jamaican heritage. Before deciding to play for Jamaica in 1997, Earle was in fact once called up to the England squad, but never actually played for England. Earle was the scorer of Jamaica's first ever World Cup goal, against Croatia, in their debut World Cup campaign in 1998.

An attacking midfielder, Earle was originally a junior player at Stoke City before moving to local rivals Port Vale, where he turned professional in 1982. He played 343 times for the Valiants and scored 90 goals. In July 1991 he was transferred to Wimbledon for a fee of £775,000. Robbie played an important part in the South London club's success during the nineties, and in particular, the club's 'Crazy gang' mentality which fostered team spirit and initimidating opposing players.^{[citation needed]}

During a reserve team game for Wimbledon in 2000, Robbie sustained a heavy blow to the stomach and became seriously ill with a ruptured pancreas. At the age of 35 he was forced to give up playing. His retirement coincided with the end of the 'Crazy gang'.

Since his retirement, Robbie has moved into sports journalism and has worked for Capital Radio, BBC Radio 5, BBC TV, ITV, Sky Sports and OnDigital. He has also written columns for the London Evening Standard and recently for the Stoke-on-Trent Evening Sentinel.

Robbie Earle was awarded an MBE in 1999 for his services to football. He is also an Honorary Patron for the campaign against racism, 'Show Racism the Red Card' and has appeared in television commercials promoting blood donation.

In 2005, he took part on BBC's Strictly African Dancing as part of Africa Lives season. He scored 33 and won the competition.

[edit] External links

Robbie Earle at the Internet Movie Database
Robbie Earle career stats at Soccerbase
Robbie Earle at itv.com

v • d • e Jamaica squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup

1 Barrett • 2 Malcolm • 3 Dawes • 4 Dixon • 5 Goodison • 6 Simpson • 7 Cargill • 8 Gayle • 9 Williams • 10 Boyd • 11 Whitmore • 12 Sewell • 13 Lawrence • 14 Ricketts • 15 Gardner • 16 Earle • 17 Lowe • 18 Burton • 19 Sinclair • 20 Powell • 21 Brown • 22 Hall • Coach: Simões