Bill Walker (Australian footballer)

For other Australian rules footballers with the same name, see Bill Walker.
Bill Walker
OAM
Personal information
Full name William Herbert John Walker
Nickname(s) Butch[1]
Date of birth 23 February 1942 (1942-02-23) (age 70)
Place of birth Huntly, New Zealand
Original team Narembeen Football Club (EDFL)
Position(s) Rover
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1961–76 Swan Districts 305 (457)
Representative team honours
Years Team Games (Goals)
1962–73 WANFL 21 (29)
Coaching career3
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
1969–71 Swan Districts 63 (14-1-48)
1 Playing statistics to end of 1976 season .
Career highlights

William Herbert John "Bill" Walker OAM (born 23 February 1942, in Huntly, New Zealand) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Swan Districts in the West Australian National Football League (WANFL). He was the winner of the 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1970 Sandover Medals.

Career

Born in Huntly, New Zealand, Walker grew up in the wheatbelt town of Narembeen.[2]

Walker was a rover of outstanding capacity, tough and quick with great evasive skills, who played his whole career with Swan Districts Football Club. Playing in the grand final in his first season in 1961, he kicked 5.5, including the winning goal. He went on to play in winning grand finals in the next two seasons. He is the only player to have won four Sandover Medals as the league's fairest and best player,[3] although his 1970 medal was awarded retrospectively by the WAFL in 1997, which had previously been lost on countback to Pat Dalton.

Walker served on Swan Districts' Board of Directors from 1978–83, and was appointed president of the club in 1983, a role in which he served until 1995. He was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 1982 and life membership of the WAFL in 1985. In 1996 Walker was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame and in 2004 he was awarded Legend Status in the West Australian Football Hall of Fame.[4]

His son, Greg Walker, played 139 games for Swan Districts, winning the 1990 Simpson Medal.

References

  1. ^ Bill Walker, a football legend – ABC Western Australia. Published 14 March 2004. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  2. ^ Bassett, Jon; Azzopardi, Joachim (2007-09-21). "Trophy cabinet overflows in Wheatbelt town of Narembeen". AAP. http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22462381-2761,00.html. Retrieved 2008-07-24. 
  3. ^ "ABC - Bill Walker, a football legend". 2004. http://www.abc.net.au/wa/stories/s1069704.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-24. 
  4. ^ Walker Swans Favourite Son [sic] – swandistrictsfc.com. Published 3 June 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2011.