Vale Wally Miller OAM

Wally Miller leaves a legacy built on decency and extraordinary commitment that made the Norwood Football Club, South Australian football and Australia’s game greater. He did so with honour and no fanfare.

BY MICHELANGELO RUCCI 

Wally Miller is – and always will be – known as one of the most powerful figures in South Australian football. For all his significant achievements during his long tenure in football administration at the Norwood Football Club, the SANFL and the Adelaide Football Club, there is one telling note from Miller’s passage in Australian football: he did everything for the right reason – and never for self gain.

Miller died on Wednesday evening, five days after his 88th birthday. The SANFL recognises Miller as one of the most-influential – and sage – figures of South Australian football through its most exciting, challenging and turbulent eras from the 1950s with post-war growth to the 1990s with national expansion.

SA Football Commission Chairman Rob Kerin paid tribute to Miller’s life-long love for the game of Australian football that is noted with his commitment to writing modified rules for junior grades to his guidance of an AFL club as a director at Adelaide. His strongest passion, of course, was at Norwood.

“Wally Miller gave to our game and to our league – and most clearly to the Norwood Football Club – a guiding hand that lifted the sport and his club to great heights. He did so with one underlying theme – care for the game, the people who make our great game and with a wonderful understanding they are the most important people in football,” Kerin said.

“He never put himself before them or the game.

“Wally had strong belief in developing the skills of Australian football, as noted with his care for building those skills with a modified game at junior level. This is a significant legacy that lives on today.

“As the Norwood Football Club has said today, Wally’s contribution was incredible. Simply incredible.”

The SANFL honoured Miller with League life membership in 1986.

Miller’s immense contribution to football administration stands alongside three South Australians who have been recognised with national Hall of Fame honour for their administrative careers – former SANFL presidents Thomas Hill and Max Basheer and Port Adelaide legend Bob McLean. The combination Basheer-McLean-Miller in the halls of power through the 1970s and 1980s was vital to protecting SA football interests during tumultuous political moments on the national agenda.

Miller has been recognised with Hall of Fame status at Norwood and the SANFL, nationally with life membership of the AFL and with the Order of Australia Medal.

Miller, born in the Adelaide Hills, made his first mark on SANFL league football in 1958 as a player at his beloved Norwood in the Anzac Day clash with Port Adelaide after being called to the club from Mount Gambier (where he was teaching) by coach Haydn Bunton.

Miller did not grow up as a Norwood fan. He became one of the true “Red and Blue blooded” heroes on The Parade. Starting as a half-forward, he became a rebounding half-back alongside Ron Kneebone and John Inglis.

His 64th league match – against North Adelaide at Prospect Oval in 1961 – ended with injury and the medical diagnosis of polio that left him in a wheelchair.

From the late 1960s, Miller was in the administrative halls of the Norwood Football Club rising from promotions officer in 1968 to club secretary in 1970, selector, director and guardian of the club’s values during the tumultuous 1990 season when the VFL changed the local landscape with national league expansion.

The SANFL was blessed with Miller’s wisdom at committee level from 1970-1999, most importantly with the technical and development committee across two stints from 1972-1987 and 1993-1999.

Miller served on the Adelaide Football Club board from 1997-2002.

Norwood premiership hero and former SA Football Commission member Phil Gallagher paid tribute to Miller for “dedicating his life to the game”.

“Wally played an integral part in the revival of the Norwood Football Club when it was enduring the lack of a premiership triumph after 1950,” said Gallagher, the 292-game champion who captained Norwood in 1981 and 1982.

“I arrived in 1972 when Wally and (senior coach) Robert Oatey were recruiting young blokes from the country to build the success the club achieved through the 1970s and 1980s.”

The symbol of this recruiting theme – of believing in youth and local talent – is the advent of Phil Carman and Neil Craig at The Parade and the SANFL league premierships that followed with Bob Hammond in 1975 and 1978 and Neil Balme in 1982 and 1984.

“Wally was the man – a fundamental part – of why Norwood became a force in South Australian football again,” Gallagher said.

“Wally had a strong focus on the playing group. He was a great friend of mine. His integrity is noted by many – and I know I never needed a contract while playing at Norwood. I simply asked Wally what he thought I should be paid, we shook hands and he ensured everything was honoured by his word – that meant everything – rather than any written words on a contract.

“Wally’s greatest legacy was his approach to football and life. Polio put him in a wheelchair. But I never saw Wally in that wheelchair – I always saw a man who continued to live without regret nor animosity to the cards he was dealt. To have lived to 88 – when illness would have shortened the life expectancy of many others – is as remarkable as all he achieved in football.

“Wally stopped playing, but he never stopped giving to the game. His work on modified rules lives on across Australia today. All he achieved as a football director at Norwood – to put the club at the forefront of the SANFL – is a phenomenal tribute to his dedication and commitment.

“Sadly, the national game – that needs people of Wally’s leadership style – only saw Wally serve as a board member at the Adelaide Football Club. The game would have been better had Wally taken a seat at another big table across the AFL. He had a tremendous amount to offer.”

Gallagher lives with one lasting thought from Miller that remains true to all today.

“Wally would say that Australian football was the last bastion of paces where you could not hide,” Gallagher said. “He made the point, the game reflects what you put into it. Your performance is a measure of your work before a game. You cannot hide from that.”

Miller put his life into Australian football. His commitment is reflected in much more than the Norwood Football Club.

Legendary sportswriter Mike Coward, a devoted Norwood man, regards Miller as “the greatest and most visionary sports administrator I have known.”

It is a strong tribute from a man who has toured the world in sport, particularly in cricket.

“A wonderful, compassionate man,” adds Coward.

“True to the Norwood theme – Fortis in Procella (Strength in Adversity).”