William Henry Hutchison (28 April 1923 – 18 June 1982), often referred to as "Hutchy", was an
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
er in the
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...
(VFL) with the
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...
, who played 290 VFL games, from 1942 to 1957, and kicked 496 goals.
Generally considered one of the finest
rover
Rover may refer to:
People
* Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian
* Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer
* Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist
Places
* Rover, Arkansas, US
* Rover, Missouri, US
* ...
s ever to play the game, he captained Essendon from 1951 to 1957, and was a vital part of Essendon's
premiership sides in 1942, 1946, 1949 and 1950.
Family
The son of Scottish parents, Henry Kearton Hutchison (1884–1962) and Agnes Caskie Hutchison (1889–1977), née Brown, William Henry Hutchison was born at
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
on 28 April 1923. He married Helen Isabel "Nell" Giles (1923–2011) in 1947.
Football career
Hutchison played with Essendon from 1942 to 1957.
Debut
He made his First XVIII debut on 16 May 1942 as a wingman, against Footscray, in
Round 2 of the 1942 season; originally listed as an emergency, he was a last-minute replacement for the unavailable
Les Griggs.
Interstate (VFL)
Selected in every season from 1945 to 1954, inclusive, and again in 1956, Hutchison played 30 games for Victoria and kicked 67 goals. He was selected in the
All-Australian team
The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...
in both
1953
Events
January
* January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma.
* January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo.
* January 14
** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...
and
1956
Events
January
* January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan.
* January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...
, the two years in which he also captained Victoria at the ANFC Carnivals in Adelaide and Perth, respectively. He was also selected on eight separate occasions in the
''Sporting Life Team of the Year'': 1947, 1948, and 1950–1955.
Last match
His last match was against Melbourne in the
1957 VFL Grand Final
The 1957 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Melbourne Football Club and Essendon Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 21 September 1957. It was the 60th annual Grand Final of the Victor ...
. He was captain and first rover in the Essendon team that lost to Melbourne 7.13 (55) to 17.14 (116). He retired after the Grand Final, and he did not participate in the end-of-season night football competition that was held immediately after the final series.
Brownlow Medal
Once established as a rover, he consistently polled well in the Brownlow Medal vote count:
* Polling 8 votes in 1946 (winner,
Don Cordner
Donald Pruen Cordner (21 January 1922 – 13 May 2009), M.B.B.S. was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1940s. His brothers Denis, John and Ted also played for the club.
...
).
* Finishing ninth to
Bert Deacon in 1947.
* Finishing third to
Bill Morris in 1948.
* Finishing eighth to
Ron Clegg
Ron "Smokey" Clegg (17 November 192723 August 1990) was an Australian rules footballer in the (then) Victorian Football League.
Clegg was recruited from the South Melbourne Under 19's after winning the 1944 Melbourne Boys Football League's be ...
, who won on a count-back from
Col Austen
Colin Edward 'Col' Austen (2 December 1920 – 3 October 1995) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club and Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL).
Austen ...
, in 1949.
* Finishing sixth to
Allan Ruthven
Allan Gordon Ruthven (17 April 1922 – 14 March 2003) was an Australian rules footballer in the (then) Victorian Football League. He played his entire 222 game career with Fitzroy. In 1950, Ruthven won the prestigious Brownlow medal.
Playing ...
in 1950.
* Finishing third to
Bernie Smith
Bernard Keith Smith (19 December 1927 – 21 April 1985) was an Australian rules footballer who represented in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1940s and 1950s.
Smi ...
in 1951.
* Finishing equal first with
Roy Wright in 1952.
**Although their total votes and their "first votes" were equal, their "second votes" were not, and Wright (with more "second votes" and less "third votes" than Hutchison) was awarded the medal on a countback according to
the rules that applied at the time; however, those rules were changed in 1989, and Hutchison was retrospectively (and posthumously) awarded a Brownlow medal for the 1952 season.
* Finishing first in 1953.
* Polling 10 votes in 1954 (winner,
Roy Wright).
* Finishing second, by one vote, to
Fred Goldsmith in 1955.
* Polling 9 votes in 1956 (winner,
Peter Box
Peter Box (22 March 1932 – 15 August 2018) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Footscray in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1950s.
Box arrived at Footscray from Cheltenham and made his VFL debut in 1951.
He ...
).
* Polling 5 votes in 1957 (winner,
Brian Gleeson).
Death
He died on 18 June 1982, after a short illness.
Legacy
Champions of Essendon
In 2002, at a "Champions of Essendon" gala event, Hutchison was voted the fourth-greatest Essendon player of all time. The man who was voted Champion,
Dick Reynolds
Richard Sylvannus Reynolds (20 June 1915 – 2 September 2002) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Reynolds is one of four footballers to have won three Brownl ...
, famously said: "I don't deserve this honour... Bill Hutchison was the best player I've seen."
Australian Football Hall of Fame
In 2003, Hutchison was inducted as the 18th "Legend" in the
Australian Football Hall of Fame
The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coa ...
.
W. Hutchison Medal
The ''W. Hutchison Medal'' is awarded annually to the best and fairest player in the First Division of the
Essendon District Football League
The Essendon District Football League (EDFL) is a professional Australian rules football league competition based in Essendon, Victoria, consisting of teams based in the north-west suburbs of Melbourne. Founded in 1930, the men's competition c ...
.
''Local Footy Stats'': W. Hutchison Medal.
/ref>
Footnotes
References
* Maplestone, M., ''Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996'', Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996.
* Ross, J. (ed), ''100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported'', Viking, (Ringwood), 1996.
Eva, Bruce, "Bill Hutchison, Essendon", pp.113-116 in Slattery, Geoff (ed), ''The Brownlow: A Tribute to the Greats of Australian Football'', Slattery Media Group, (Docklands), 2010.
External links
*
*
Bio at Essendonfc.com.au
''Boyles Football Photos'': Bill Hutchison.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchison, Bill
Champions of Essendon
Essendon Football Club players
Essendon Football Club Premiership players
Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees
1982 deaths
1923 births
All-Australians (1953–1988)
Brownlow Medal winners
Crichton Medal winners
Australian rules footballers from Melbourne
Four-time VFL/AFL Premiership players
People from Kensington, Victoria