AFL Chief Executive Andrew Dillon today said the late Bill Dempsey would be remembered as one of the rarest of great footballers from the state league era – a 12-month-a-year player who starred wherever he played and was a trailblazer for stars coming to the game from the Northern Territory.
Dempsey, 83, passed away in Perth today and was both a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame and the Indigenous Team of the Century. In 2022, he was also recognised by the game as the Sir Doug Nicholls honouree for that year, for his post-football work supporting Indigenous communities in Perth.
Growing up in Darwin, Dempsey’s football ability took him to Perth as a teenager, and for close to two decades, he played 12 months of the year, representing the Buffaloes in the NT competition (played in the southern summer), and rising to become captain at West Perth in the WAFL. Dempsey headed to Perth at a time when the NT was not considered as an option for recruiting great talent, paving the way for the likes of David Kantilla, Maurice Rioli, Michael McLean, Michael Long and Andrew McLeod who came after him over the next few decades.
His 343 games for West Perth remain the second highest in WAFL history, behind only long-time former teammate Mel Whinnen, and he was a three-time premiership player, club captain, regular state representative and winner of the 1969 Simpson Medal at the Falcons. He was also a three-time premiership player and club captain at the Buffaloes in Darwin.
Mr Dillon said Dempsey was revered in both WA and NT football and would be greatly missed by so many across the game, particularly by those players he inspired who came after him.
"In recent years, it was a great pleasure to be able to meet Bill at his Hall of Fame induction, and during his time as a Sir Doug Nicholls honouree, and the stories he told of football in the 1960s and 1970s and moving between Perth and Darwin for his extraordinary playing career," Mr Dillon said.
"He shared premiership rucking duties at West Perth with the greatest ruckman of them all – Polly Farmer – and he played state football with and against all the greats of that time in the days when state leagues were the pinnacle of our game, before the current national competition. His highlights show he was a big man who could move around the ground incredibly well with great agility, possessed a wonderful leap at the centre bounces to compete against taller opponents and was a consistently strong mark around the ground.
"He devoted his working life after football to supporting his community and was an incredibly humble recipient of the Sir Doug Nicholls award, talking always of his desire for people to be able to see the point of view of others. We send our sincere condolences to his partner Jeran, family and many friends and give thanks for a remarkable life," Mr Dillon said.
Dempsey was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2022, having been inducted into the WA Football Hall of Fame in 2004.
Bill Dempsey's career record:
•343 games for West Perth, 1960-76, 89 goals (second-most WAFL games ever)
•NTFL Player Darwin Buffaloes 1959-69, estimated 140 games
•14 games for WA
•Three-time WA Premiership player 1969, 1971, 1975
•Three-time NT Premiership player 1959, 1960, 1968
•Simpson Medal 1969
•West Perth Best and Fairest 1966
•West Perth Captain 1973-76
•Darwin Captain 1964-65
•West Perth Team of the Century, Indigenous Team of the Century
•Australian Football Hall of Fame
•WA Football Hall of Fame
