Born Stawell, Victoria, July 16, 1889 - died Cheltenham, Victoria, November 18, 1960
Recruited to Carlton from Fitzroy (VFL)
Carlton player No. 255
At Carlton
100 matches, 35 goals 1911-1918
Premiership player 1914
Captain 1914-1917
William John (‘Billy’) Dick to this day remains a poster boy for the player who overcame physical disability to compete in the highest level of League competition. A renowned high mark, Dick was noted for his curious habit of turning his face side-on to the right as he leapt for the football – a perfectly understandable trait considering he lost sight in his left eye as the result of an accident in his schooldays.
Despite that obvious physical handicap, Dick strung together 153 senior League appearances (the first 53 of them for Fitzroy) topped the goalkicking tables at each club, and ultimately led Carlton to the 1914 Grand Final triumph.
It’s a little known football fact that when Dick was playing with bayside outfit Brighton at the time of Carlton’s 1906-07-08 Premiership three-peat, he actually wrote to the club requesting an opportunity to test himself at the highest level by way of a trial – only to be turned down by the then powers that be.
Following up with Fitzroy, Dick was quickly welcomed, and rewarded the Maroons’ faith with his aerial strength, versatility and competitive drive in three seasons through to 1910.
Carlton then launched a spirited effort to land the player it had effectively overlooked, and in 1911 it got its man.
By 1912, Dick’s leadership qualities were recognised with his appointment as Carlton Vice-Captain to Jack Wells – and he was called upon by Coach Norman Clark to take over the key defensive post at centre half-back. This was the making of Dick – an outstanding contributor in Carlton’s dramatic six-point win over South Melbourne on Grand Final day 1914. The Argus correspondent covering that contest noted that throughout the torrid encounter, Dick was “cool and sure in defence’ and clearly the Blues most effective player.
Six months later, during Carlton’s round 10, 1915 clash with the Maroons at Brunswick Street oval, Dick was reported for striking Fitzroy’s Jack Cooper, and for using insulting language to the field umpire. At the subsequent VFL hearing, the second count brought a reprimand – but the first charge resulted in a 10-week suspension that effectively ruled Carlton’s captain out of the 1915 finals series. Club delegates were incensed by the penalty, and vigorously appealed the suspension on the grounds that it was unconstitutional - all to no avail. The League stood its ground, forcing Dick to watch on from the stands on Grand Final day as his Blueboys went back-to-back with an emphatic win over arch-rivals Collingwood.
Though the loss of vision put paid to his wartime enlistment aspirations, Dick continued to turn out for Carlton through those wartime years – and in July 1918, after handing the Club captaincy to Rod McGregor, Dick ended his on-field career where it had begun – at the Junction Oval.
In 1919, Dick chased the leather for VFA club Brunswick, in a landmark player swap that involved a talented wingman named Newton Chandler heading to Princes Park.
Forty-one years later, Chandler was still very much a part of Carlton when Dick passed away at the age of 71.
