Bill Adams (Australian footballer)

Bill Adams

Personal information
Full name	William John Adams
Date of birth	(1900-12-11)11 December 1900
Place of birth	Fremantle, Western Australia
Date of death	11 August 1973(1973-08-11) (aged 72)
Original team(s)	South Fremantle / Preston
Height/Weight	180 cm / 86 kg
Playing career¹
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1924–1926 1931–1932 Total -	Fitzroy Melbourne	51 (17) 16 (12) 67 (29)
Coaching career
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1945–1948	South Melbourne	70 (39-30-1)
¹ Playing statistics correct to the end of 1948 season.

William John "Bill" Adams (11 December 1900 – 11 August 1973) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Fitzroy and Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL) before becoming coach of South Melbourne. He also went by his nickname of "Bull" during his career.^[1]

Adams was originally from South Fremantle where he played 32 games from his debut in 1921. In his first season he was included in the Western Australian squad for the Perth Carnival,^[1] but did not manage a game. Adams came to Melbourne in 1923 to play with Fitzroy, but was refused a clearance by South Fremantle and instead became captain-coach of Preston in the Victorian Junior Football Association (pictured right with John Wren Shield as premiers). Adams was cleared the following year and played in the Fitzroy side which contested the finals that season.^[1] He was club captain for their 1926 campaign and as well as finishing equal fifth in the Brownlow Medal count he represented Victoria at interstate football that year.^[1] A tough and physical player, Adams spent most of his time in defence but was also used on the ball.

In 1927 he left Fitzroy and joined Northcote in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) where he faced a unique challenge. That year, Doug Nicholls became one of the first aboriginals to play senior football in Melbourne and according to Mavis Thorp Clark in her 1965 book on Nicholls, Pastor Doug, Adams warned the players before taking the ground that although "they had colour in the side, they were to kick to the guernsey and disregard the colour".^[2]

Adams trained with Richmond in 1928 but failed to come to terms with the club and he returned to Preston for two seasons. He had his best year with them in 1929 when he won both their best and fairest award and kicked 69 goals to top their goal kicking.^[1]

Adams then moved to Tasmania for the 1930 season, being playing coach of North Launceston in the Northern Tasmanian Football Association (NTFA) competition.

After spending the first half of the 1931 football season as playing coach of Prahran, Adams returned to the VFL and signed up with Melbourne where he would play until his retirement as a player at the end of the 1932 season.^[1] He continued his coaching career with Melbourne, coaching their reserves to five premierships between 1933 and 1939.

His coaching career peaked in 1945 when he was appointed coach of South Melbourne and steered them to the 1945 VFL Grand Final. South Melbourne lost the game and despite remaining with them for another three years he was unable to qualify the club for another finals series and after finishing tenth in 1948 was replaced by Jack Hale.^[1]

From various reports during his years at Preston, Adams was just as colourful character off the football field as on, having played senior cricket in Perth and won state swimming championships. Off the field, he was no mean pianist, entertaining at many club socials, and was described as a "dab hand" at chess. He also had a fondness for poetry, and more than once quoted lines from the classics in his addresses to players. According to the Northcote Leader in 1927 when he was coaching the local club, Adam's favourite lines were from English poet, Sir Henry Newbolt:

"and the captain's hand on his shoulder smote, play up, play up and play the game"

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Donald, Chris (2002). Fitzroy: for the love of the jumper : 100 players who made the "Lions" roar. Pan Macmillan Australia. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-1-877029-18-9.
↑ "Pastor Doug", Mavis Thorp Clark, Lansdowne Press, 1965

External links

Bill Adams's statistics from AFL Tables
Bill Adams's profile from AustralianFootball.com
Coaching record at All The Stats
DemonWiki profile

Coaches of the South Melbourne Football Club/Sydney Swans

1909: Ricketts 1910–1911: Thomas 1912: Ricketts 1913: H. Kelly 1914–1917: Belcher 1918–1919: Elms/Howson 1920: Hiskins 1921: Wood 1922: Cazaly 1923–1928: Pannam 1929: Caldwell 1929: Fleiter 1930–1931: Scanlan 1932: Leonard 1933–1936: Bisset 1935: Diggins 1937–1938: Cazaly 1939: Matthews 1940: Baggott 1941–1944: J. Kelly 1945–1948: Adams 1948–1949: Hale 1950–1952: Lane 1953: Nash 1954–1957: Matthews 1958–1959: Clegg 1960–1961: Faul 1962–1964: McMahen 1965–1966: Skilton 1965: Lahiff 1967–1968: Miller 1969–1972: Smith 1973–1975: John 1976–1977: Stewart 1978: Tuddenham 1979–1981: Stewart 1982–1984: Quade 1984: Franklin 1984: Hammond 1985: Northey 1986–1988: Hafey 1989–1991: Kinnear 1992–1993: Buckenara 1993: Scott 1993–1995: Barassi 1996–2002: Eade 2002–2010: Roos 2011–: Longmire

Italics denote caretaker coach

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