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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL) with the

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers or colloquially the Dons, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCrac ...

, 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 Name * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Stage name * Rover (musician), French singer-songw ...

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 an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around 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 by Kensingt ...

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-perfo ...

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 ...

and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

, 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. 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 Bert or BERT may refer to: Persons, characters, or animals known as Bert *Bert (name), commonly an abbreviated forename and sometimes a surname *Bert, a character in the poem "Bert the Wombat" by The Wiggles; from their 1992 album ''Here Comes a ...

in 1947. * Finishing third to Bill Morris in 1948. * Finishing eighth to Ron Clegg, who won on a count-back from Col Austen, in 1949. * Finishing sixth to Allan Ruthven in 1950. * Finishing third to Bernie Smith 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). * 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, 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 1996 AFL season, centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media pe ...

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.''Local Footy Stats'': W. Hutchison Medal.
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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 Australian people of Scottish descent All-Australians (1953–1988) Brownlow Medal winners Crichton Medal winners Australian rules footballers from Melbourne VFL/AFL premiership players People from Kensington, Victoria