It was the epitome of unselfishness. A coach announcing mid-season that he would stand down with a year still to run on his contract at a club which had been his life. And still coach out the season.
This was Brisbane Lions Hall of Famer Bill Stephen. He was Fitzroy personified. He still is. He’s Brisbane Lions personified too after playing a key behind-the-scenes role in the Brisbane-Fitzroy merger. And today he will be 92 years young.
Certainly, there was nothing foolish about his actions on 8 July 1980, when he announced eight games before the end of the season that he would stand down as Fitzroy coach at the end of the season despite being contracted for 1981.
He was partway through his third stint as Fitzroy coach, having played 162 games and coached 204 games for the club, and knew it was a decision that would end his active involvement.
But there was no room for sentiment, he decided. With Fitzroy coming off an 88-point loss to Hawthorn and struggling at the bottom of the ladder with two wins and a draw from 14 games, It was time to stand aside.
His decision was reported by Geoff Slattery and Damien Comerford the following day in The Age under a big heading “Stephen to quit as Lion coach”.
The journalists wrote: “Typically Stephen bowed out with grace. The last of the ‘nice guy’ coaches was not about to criticise his club or his players. Nor was he suggesting he’d been pressured to leave because of Fitzroy’s dismal showing this year.”
More, they wrote, it was a time for people to listen to Stephen’s advice.
Said Stephen: “The building of a strong club, the winning of a premiership and maintaining a level of excellence in play comes from a combination of strong leadership and strong discipline on the field, strong recruiting, which probably comes back to finance, and good coaching.
“These are the areas the club must look to if it is to compete with the successful sides. The whole club must be terribly strong if it is to be in that league.
“The Committee has a lot of very drastic decisions to make and it will be easier for them if my intentions are made clear.
“The club has got problems and needs a lot of help. I can’t say too much really but decisions have got to be made. I’ve tried to be a leader and I’ll go out trying to be a leader.
“This is a time of decision. If I make a decision perhaps other people will make a decision,” he said.
This from a person who had been captain-coach of Fitzroy from 1955-57 and coach again from 1965-70, was sacked in 1970 as he was recovering from pneumonia in hospital, and returned again to coach his beloved club in 1979-80.
From a person so highly regarded by Fitzroy people that, in response to his selfless decision, his players found something extra special three days later against a Richmond side that sat 10 points clear on top of the ladder.
So special that they kicked 8-3 to 2-4 in the first and beat the side that would go on to win the flag from third place, belting Collingwood by 81 points in the grand final.
A person who had had been Fitzroy club champion in 1950 and 1954, who finished equal seventh in the Brownlow Medal won in 1950 by teammate Alan Ruthven and equal eighth in 1956. Who represented Victoria 14 times and was chosen in the 1952 Sporting Life Team of the Year, the forerunner to today’s All-Australian side.
Happy birthday Bill.
