Wallace Francis Buttsworth (21 January 1917 – 22 May 2002) 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 for

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League United King ...

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).

Family

Wally had 2 younger brothers Fred and Brian Buttsworth. Fred Buttsworth was also a cricketer and footballer. Brian Buttsworth played for

West Perth Football Club The West Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Falcons, is an Australian rules football club located in Joondalup, Western Australia. West Perth competes in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW) and is the oldest exis ...

. Their father, Frederick Richard Buttsworth, was himself a first-class cricketer.

Football

Before he joined Essendon, Buttsworth played for the

. A defender, Buttsworth was a

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

winner for Essendon on three occasions and played in two VFL premiership teams inn 1942 and 1946. He is the centre half-back in Essendon's 'Team of the Century'. He was broadly considered best on ground in the club's one point 1947 grand final loss against , taking 25 marks at centre half-back for the game.

Cricket

He represented

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in two

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

matches.

Champions of Essendon

In 2002 an Essendon panel ranked him at 12 in their ''

Champions of Essendon 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 ...

'' list of the 25 greatest players ever to have played for Essendon.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buttsworth, Wally 1917 births 2002 deaths Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia Essendon Football Club players Essendon Football Club Premiership players Champions of Essendon Western Australia cricketers West Perth Football Club players Crichton Medal winners Australian cricketers Cricketers from Perth, Western Australia Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players Sportsmen from Western Australia