William Thomas

1905-1913
135 games
2 goals
Premiership Player 1909
Captain-Coach 1910-1911

Bio 

In the late 1800s, the Victorian Junior Football Association was established effectively as the VFA’s reserves competition. In 1904, the Rose of Northcote Football Club joined the league at the instigation of the owners of the Croxton Park Hotel. According to the influential Randall family, their pub needed a team to play on the adjoining oval, so they quickly formed a new club under the guise of representing the ‘northern’ part of Northcote.

One of their original players was William ‘Bill’ Thomas. After only four years, Rose of Northcote amalgamated with Northcote to play in the VFA, essentially disbanding. Fortunately, Thomas joined South Melbourne as an 18-year-old in 1905, and his career lasted much longer than his former club, although he only played 23 games across his first three seasons.

In 1907, new captain Bill Dolphin led the Southerners into the Grand Final against Carlton. Thomas watched from the stands as his teammates lost by an agonising five-point margin, and he used the disappointment of being left out to drive his ambition. In 1908, he featured 15 times in defence alongside Dolphin and fellow Swans Hall of Famer Arthur ‘Poddy’ Hiskins as South finished fifth.

Under Dolphin’s stewardship, South Melbourne began their ascent towards the game’s pinnacle. At a fundraising ‘smoke night’ during the ‘08 season, 700 guests heard club president Mr Henry Skinner announce, “The members of the team are good sportsmen, and are not daunted by defeat. When they’re beaten fairly, they take the defeat like men and look round to see how they could win the following Saturday. They’re going to do their best to be at the top of the tree.”

The game’s powerhouse at the time was Carlton. They’d been the first to appoint a coach when former Test cricketer Jack Worrall took charge in 1902, leading them to three successive flags in 1906-1908. Ahead of the 1909 season, South looked to follow suit and appointed Charlie Ricketts as its first senior coach. Also named captain, Ricketts now had control of the plan and the method.

Emulating Worrall’s rigorous training methods, Ricketts put the Southerners through an arduous fitness regime; Thomas and his teammates had never trained so hard. They were fit, and before long, they were firing. After completing 14 wins from their 18 matches, South Melbourne claimed the minor premiership, facing Collingwood in the first semi-final.

Nicknamed ‘Sonna’, Thomas had established himself as one of the competition’s most consistent defenders, and he played a crucial role in keeping the Magpies’ forwards in check, named as one of South’s best performers in a 21-point win. The following week, with Thomas again named among their best, South Melbourne lost to Carlton. However, as minor premiers, they held the right of challenge, playing the Blues again in the Grand Final a week later.

Ahead of the game, ‘Observer’ wrote in The Argus, “It is for keeps next Saturday, and public interest in football will be demonstrated by their having paid over £5,000 to see the League finals. I find popular desire rather in favour of South Melbourne because of purely sporting reasons, as people want to see the Carlton conquerors checked for a season.”

On a cold, windy October day, players from both teams battled with the conditions. Still, Ricketts encouraged his men to employ quick ball movement, finding vacant space against their heavier opponents. Thomas, named as one of South’s best players in 11 matches throughout a stellar campaign, patrolled the centre half-back position with superiority, thwarting opposition attacks while bouncing South into action from the defensive half.

South Melbourne held a seven-point lead at three-quarter time, but their supporters feared a final flurry from the triple premiers. ‘Observer’ wrote, “The whole of the last quarter was a period of wild excitement, with trembling South Melbourne hands counting the minutes on their watches and the Carlton thousands roaring their heroes on. It was desperately hard — no player cared for consequences. There was only one thought. Win.”

In a near-best afield display, Thomas clutched a game-saving mark in the final moments of play, and South claimed a memorable victory, winning the 1909 premiership by two points. Thomas won acclaim for his resolute defence, and The Australasian named him one of the best players on the field. Red and white supporters stormed the MCG, chairing their victorious heroes shoulder-high from the ground.

According to Jim Main, “South celebrated its 1909 premiership long and hard and, following a civic reception and dinner at the South Melbourne Town Hall, nursed its collective sore head through a brief tour of country Victoria before playing a ‘premier of premiers’ match against South Australian champions West Torrens.” South won, with Thomas’ supreme form continuing, named the Southerners’ best.

When Ricketts relinquished his captain-coach post before the 1910 season due to illness, South appointed Thomas his successor. Australia’s fifth prime minister, Andrew Fisher, was among the dignitaries to witness the club’s flag unfurling ahead of the Round One match against Richmond at the Lake Oval. In front of a vast, vociferous home crowd, Thomas led South to a superb 46-point win.

Guiding his young South team to 12 wins from 18 starts, Thomas showed impressive leadership as another finals series beckoned. Finishing third, they faced minor premier Carlton in the second semi-final. Carlton removed three players an hour before the match, and rumours circulated that they were withdrawn due to match-fixing allegations. Unperturbed, Thomas devised a superior plan, and South prevailed by 12 points. After losing to Collingwood in the preliminary final, ‘Markwell’ said in The Australasian, “It must be said of them (The Southerners) that they wound up their season in a way that brought honour and credit upon themselves and the club.”

In 1911, Thomas again led the side, and for a long time, South challenged Essendon for top spot until losing its last two matches. With Jack Scobie and Tom Grimshaw, he made up a mighty half-back line crucial to the team’s success. Finishing second, they played fourth-placed Collingwood in their semi-final. Despite heavy favouritism, South’s premiership dream ended with a 30-point loss. Thomas was, unsurprisingly, among their best.

Ricketts returned as captain-coach for the 1912 season, and Thomas lined up at centre half-forward in another Grand Final. Outplayed by Essendon, though, they lost by 14 points. In 1913, Victorian selectors named Thomas the state’s captain for the match against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval. The Argus described the match as “A splendid exhibition of fast and strenuous open play.” Thomas represented Victoria four times.

Thomas joined Richmond in 1914, captaining the Tigers for his first three seasons there and again in 1919. During the 1919 season, he flew for a mark and fell awkwardly, breaking his leg in two places. The injury ended a fine career, with Thomas playing 197 League games. Renowned as one of the premier centre half-backs of his era, Thomas was a dashing player and fine mark who possessed outstanding ball-handling skills.

In 1927, Bill’s son Len debuted for South Melbourne. The son of ‘Sonna’ starred in the club’s 1933 premiership team, with the pair holding the distinction of being the only father/son combination to win a premiership with the Swans, and both maintain a special place in club history as members of the Swans Hall of Fame. In 1974, aged 87, Bill Thomas passed away, 31 years after Len was tragically killed during the Second World War.