Edwin Lyall Williams (18 June 1906 – 2 October 1994) was a prominent Churches of Christ minister in Victoria and 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

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 ...

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).

Early life

The son of Arthur James Williams (1864–1935) and Annie Maria Williams, nee Petchell (1864–1928), Edwin Lyall Williams was born at Kaniva on 18 June 1906. After attending Sandsmere State School and then Nhill Higher Elementary School, Williams moved with his family to Ballarat in the early 1920's.

Football

Williams commenced his football career in Ballarat in 1923 before joining Camberwell in 1928. In 1929 he joined Hawthorn and played there for two years before returning to Camberwell. He played with Camberwell until the end of the 1934 season.

Church

Ordained as a minister with the Church of Christ in 1928, Williams moved from a parish in Boronia to the Glenferrie Church of Christ in 1929. A popular minister, he had the education and gift of expression to speak with depth and subtlety about big issues. In 1936 he accepted a call to the ministry of the Church of Christ at Ponsonby Road in Auckland, New Zealand. He subsequently served as Principal of the Church of Christ national college from 1945 to 1973.

Family

Edwin Lyall Williams married Bertha Lila Brown (1910–1996) on 25 January 1930 and they had two sons and a daughter together. Williams died at Murrumbeena on 2 October 1994.

Notes

External links

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Lyall Williams's playing statistics
from The VFA Project 1906 births 1994 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Hawthorn Football Club players Camberwell Football Club players Ballarat Football Club players 20th-century Australian clergy Australian expatriates in New Zealand Academic staff of the University of Divinity {{AFL-bio-1906-stub