And now for the first of our profiles, I have chosen to use Thomas Wentworth Wills, sportsman, purely due to the football season commencement. Tom has recently been commemorated by his name being used on a large interchange on the new Ringwood-Frankston Tollway. Thomas Wentworth "Tom" Wills (19 August 1835 - 3 May 1880) was an Australian all-round sportsman, umpire, coach and administrator who is credited as one of the inventors of Australian rules football.

He was born on 19 Aug 1835 while his parents lived at Burra Burra, Molonglo Plains, near Queanbeyan, NSW. He died on 3 May 1880 in Heidelberg, Melbourne, Vic.

He was the first of nine children born to Horatio Spencer Wills and his wife Elizabeth.

Tom Wills was educated at Rugby, Cambridge, where he received his "blue" for cricket. "Old Lilywhites" description of him was "he carries a 3lb bat and hits terrific!". After Tom's death "The Australasian" said "He was the best all round man in Australia and was a public favourite of the most profound type"! His cleverness in knowing when to take risks was the cause of much diversion to onlookers. He always had complete control and command of his field (quote from "the Story of an Athlete" H.C.A.Harrison's book).

He and H.C.A. Harrison were the originators of Australian Rules Football and both men were excellent athletes, winning many amateur foot races in Victoria. Tom was captain of Geelong Football Club and of Melbourne Football Club at different times.

In January 1864 he returned to Ararat to captain a district side against George Parrs touring All-England side and 3 months later played against the same side at Geelong. This was the end of the underarm bowling era (until Greg Chappel rediscovered it!) and Tom Wills was one of the few cricketers in the colony who could bowl round arm. The 1864 season was the first in which bowlers could raise their arm above shoulder height.

In 1866 Wills captained and coached the aboriginal side that included the famous "Mullagh", "Bullocky" and "Dick A Dick" - there was also "Tar Pot" who allegedly could run 100 yards backwards in 14 seconds. After Wills had left the side it made its 1867-68 tour of England - the first Australian side to do so. Tom Wills' interest in aboriginal cricket is interesting - as a boy he grew up in close contact with aboriginals and learned their dialects. According to Lorna Banfield in her history of Ararat, his ability to sing their songs and perform their dances, "was useful when he went to Rugby for he was granted release from fagging because of his entertaining ability".

Little appears to be known of his private life after 1861 when his father was killed (except for his sporting prowess). It is said that the manner of death of Horatio Spencer Wills and the fact that he hadn't been there to aid his father affected him deeply and later on attributed to his terrible depression, heavy drinking and finally his suicide. A shocking tragedy for one so well like. He was universally admired, extremely popular and a true sportsman (he interests me and I would like to know more. Will try and delve into things if possible - E Edward).

In the same year that Wills had coached his black cricketers he and Harrison were to see the football clubs accept the 12 basic rules drawn up by the two men. Wills continued to play football and in 1872 when he was 37 years old, he and two of his brothers were in a Geelong team that played Ballarat. Tom Wills was a fine footballer and all round athlete and in the opinion of many has a sounder claim to the title of "Father of the Game" than his brother-in-law, H.C.A. Harrison who received that accolade from the inaugural meeting of the "Australian Football Council" in 1906. Harrison in his "Story of an Athlete" said of Wills "...and I suppose that no man in this country had ever been such a popular hero as he was during his cricketing career".

Wills was one of the first great Australian Cricketers. W.R. Brownhills "History of Geelong and Corio Bay" says: "Wills was famous as a Victorian as well as a Geelong cricketer. He spent a lot of his sporting life in Melbourne but is was in Geelong that he made his first appearance as a cricketer of exceptional ability. He was captain of the Victorian Eleven in later years. At the Corio ground in 1873 an eleven representing South Melbourne played against fifteen representing Corio in a benefit match in honour of Wills. In a speech during the lunch interval the South Melbourne Captain said that Tommy Wills had done more for cricket than any other man in the colony. South Melbourne scored 37 and Corio scored 81, Wills contributing 28 not out and taking 5 wickets for 10 runs. This remarkable athlete - he was a courageous and skilful footballer as well as a cricketer - was 45 years of age when he died at his home in Heidelberg in 1880".

Wills was by 1880 an alcoholic and it was suggested many times that the horrors of the Queensland experience led to that condition. Wills was of a generation that was sadly sensitive to its convict background and indeed his Uncle Edward had some years before committed suicide apparently in a state of depression created by this knowledge. Taking into account Wills' readiness to assist the Aboriginal cricketers it is hard to believe other than that his problem was the result of other causes. Certainly it was an undesirable characteristic in a coach, handling people unused to such civilised refinements.

An excellent painting of Tom hangs in the foyer of the Geelong Football Club at Kardinia Park. The club is open every day, where one can view the painting.

Other information on this amazing sportsman can be found in the following references:
Book - Martin Flanagan - "The Call" Allen & Unwin, 1998
Book - Greg de Moore - "Tom Wills: His Spectacular Rise and Tragic Fall" - published recently