Tara Murray
Former Werribee Football Club coach Mark Williams was last week inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Williams was one of seven inductees who were recognised for their contributions on and off the ground.
Williams has been involved at top-level football since 1976 and, alongside father Fos, becomes just the third father-son pair in the Hall of Fame as a four-time premiership player with Port Adelaide, premiership coach and two-time Collingwood best and fairest.
Williams coached Werribee for two seasons before returning to the AFL in an assistant coaching role with Melbourne.
Speaking after receiving the honour Williams was filled with emotion.
“As the boys were saying to go in that room beforehand, that was my childhood dream seeing all those players I admired from Adelaide, the South Australian ones and the Victorian ones, to be included in this is unreal,” he said.
Williams said playing was always the dream, but said coaching came a close second. Having been born in a football family, Williams, who is a qualified school teacher, hasn’t known much else.
“I wanted to get everything out of playing, playing is the number one thing in football,” he said. “Coming very close second is coaching. The ability to help people and recognise what they cant do and find a way solution.
“Hold their hand, try and make them better. It’s something that I love doing, having that success along the way, been terrific. It’s not easy coaching.”
Williams admits there have been some tough times, with his family getting bullied and abused on the streets while he was coach of Port Adelaide’s AFL team.
For Williams the sport provides and opportunity for everyone to be involved and he wants that to continue to grow and the sport to be ‘be best on ground’.
“The game is everything, I love the fact that the game brings my mates the Aboriginal world and gives them the opportunity, my mates in the multicultural world, opportunity to play and show what they can do.”
