William Henry Walton (3 September 1894 – 24 July 1953) 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 who played with Collingwood 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). Walton started his career at

Victorian Football Association 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 ...

(VFA) club

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Port Phillip local government areas. Port Melbourne recorded a populatio ...

and was their leading goal-kicker in 1914. When the VFA went into recess due to

WWI World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Walton agreed to captain South Melbourne District in the VJFA for 1916. Enticed to join Collingwood in

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

, Walton appeared in

Grand Finals Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

in both his seasons with Collingwood. He played centre half forward in the

1918 VFL Grand Final The 1918 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the South Melbourne Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 7 September 1918. It was the 21st annual Gra ...

loss to

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at t ...

and centre half back in the 1919 premiership team. Walton returned to Port Melbourne in 1920 and was appointed captain-coach of

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

(then playing in the VFA) in 1922. He was however refused a clearance by Port Melbourne and as a result spent the season playing for them, while coaching Hawthorn during the week. Twice that season, he had the unusual situation of playing a VFA game against the club that he coached. In one of those matches a Port Melbourne teammate had to be restrained from striking Walton over Walton's vocal support for the player's opponent. In 1923 he was granted his clearance and steered Hawthorn into the finals. In 1925 he accepted a position to captain-coach Stawell in the Wimmera District Football League. He led the team to a premiership but left town the following year. Walton became the captain-coach of the

Castlemaine Football Club The Castlemaine Football and Netball Club, nicknamed ''The Magpies'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia and is currently a member of the Bendigo Football League. The club is notable for s ...

for 3 years before moving to

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

and coaching East Albury in the

Ovens and Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Austral ...

. In 1930 he retired as a player and took up being the licensee for the ''Rising Sun Hotel'' in South Melbourne. Later on he was the licensee of the Sir Henry Loch Hotel in Collingwood.
Former Magpie player dead He died after a short illness leaving a wife and a daughter and a son.

References

Sources

* Atkinson, G. (1982) ''Everything you ever wanted to know about Australian rules football but couldn't be bothered asking'', The Five Mile Press: Melbourne. . * Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, Bill 1894 births Collingwood Football Club players Collingwood Football Club premiership players Port Melbourne Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club (VFA) players Hawthorn Football Club (VFA) coaches Stawell Football Club players Castlemaine Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Melbourne 1953 deaths VFL/AFL premiership players People from Abbotsford, Victoria