Malcolm Walter Atwell (born 5 March 1937) is a former

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 ...

player and coach. He played for

East Perth East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

and

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

in the West Australian National Football League (WANFL).

Playing career

Atwell was a tough, hard hitting footballer and spent most of his time as either a defender or in the ruck. He started his career in 1958 at East Perth and played in their premiership team that season as well as the next. After 162 games with East Perth, he transferred to Perth where he played 76 games. After making his interstate debut in 1960, Atwell represented his state in both the 1961 Brisbane Carnival and 1966 Hobart Carnivals. In all he made 17 interstate appearances and coached his state at the 1969 Adelaide Carnival. He was an inaugural inductee in the

West Australian Football Hall of Fame The West Australian Football Hall of Fame was created in 2002 to recognise significant contributors to Australian rules football in Western Australia. Candidates are players, coaches, umpires, administrators and media representatives. The induct ...

in 2004.

Coaching career

He had a highly successful stint as Perth coach and was later named as the coach of Perth's official Team of the Century. From 1966 to 1969 he was captain-coach of

and led them to premierships in 1966, 1967 and 1968. He remained coach for the 1970 and 1971 seasons but retired as a player. The following year he joined South Fremantle as non-playing coach and spent two seasons in the role.

Personal life

His granddaughter Amy Atwell is a professional basketball player who has played for the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine,

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mercury compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. One of eight original franchises, it wa ...

and Perth Lynx.

References

External links

* * 1937 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Western Australia East Perth Football Club players Perth Football Club players Perth Football Club coaches South Fremantle Football Club coaches Perth Football Club administrators West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees {{AFL-bio-1930s-stub