‘Blubbering’ footy icon Billy Brownless goes rogue at daughter’s wedding

AFL cult hero Billy Brownless was left “blubbering” at his daughter’s wedding with some of his “frightening” antics coming to light.

Footy cult hero Billy Brownless has gone rogue at his daughter Ruby’s wedding and was left “blubbering” during the “emotional” event.

They are the claims made by Brownless’ long-time radio show partner James Brayshaw after the Geelong icon on Friday celebrated his daughter’s wedding in Noosa, Queensland.

Ruby tied the knot with partner Josh Wallis in style at a Sunshine Coast hinterland venue and Brownless appears to have lived his best life during the festivities.

Wallis, who is a member of the famous Western Bulldogs family, and Ruby, a popular lifestyle influencer with 38,000 Instagram followers, were engaged in December, 2022, and first began seeing each other in 2019.

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Billy Brownless remains one of the most popular characters in football in his ongoing media work with Triple M and is among Geelong’s most iconic players.

Wallis is the brother of former Western Bulldogs star Mitch Wallis and their dad is former Bulldogs star Stephen Wallis, who played 261 games for the club during a 15-year career before his retirement in 1996.

Left: Ruby Brownless and Josh Wallis in Queensland. Right: Billy Brownless and Crystle Fleur at the wedding. Photo: Instagram.

Proud father Brownless on Saturday discussed his antics at the wedding when speaking on Triple M’s Saturday Rub with Brayshaw, Bernie Vince and Damian Barrett.

Brayshaw had earlier in the show teased listeners that he had “frightening details” to share.

“I’ve had feet on the ground everywhere,” Brayshaw said of the wedding.

“I’ve had spies set up a network. I’m not just going to trust one person’s opinion. I’ve got about seven or eight of them up there and they have told me some frightening things.”

Brownless, who walked his daughter down the aisle, had recently told listeners he intended to read a poem at his daughter’s reception and Brayshaw suggested it was not well received.

“I don’t think the poem went well,” Brayshaw said.

“I don’t think it was going to work and it didn’t. I think he had a wardrobe malfunction and that’s not surprising anybody.”

It was a special moment for the family and Brownless was seen there with partner Crystle Fleur.

The 58-year-old’s ex-wife Nicky also attended with fiance Garry Lyon.

Lyon, the Melbourne Demons champion-turned leading Fox Footy analyst, popped the question to Nicky in December, 2024.

The happy Brownless family. L to R: Oscar, Ruby, Billy and Lucy. Picture: Tim Carrafa.

Billy Brownless and Lyon have been patching their relationship back together since it first emerged in 2016 that the former Demons captain had started seeing Nicky after she had split from Brownless.

Nicky and Billy have four children together, Lucy, Ruby, Oscar and Max.

Billy confirmed on Saturday’s show that he and the Wallis family had split the cost of the wedding equally.

When asked about the dollars involved, Brownless responded: “I’ll be doing extra hours at Triple M, I’ll tell you that.

“All I can say is thank god for the Wallis’ who have helped me out very well.

“They’ve been fantastic, we thought we’d split it down the middle which is only fair and thank god for that.”

Nicky Brownless and Garry Lyon at Fox Footy.

Brayshaw said privately Brownless was not happy about the final budget.

“He obviously had to put in a lot of cash,” Brayshaw said earlier.

“He’s sneaky tight Fat (Brownless’ nickname). He tries to act like he isn’t, but he is. He’s sneaky tight. He’s real pissed off about how much it cost him.

“So then he’s gone out to the Noosa hinterland venue and when he walked in and saw where his money’s gone...

“He went up to the Sofitel with his beautiful better half Crystle and these are my spies.

“I’ve got blokes with cameras at the pool. Fat started in the pool, you know the seats where you swim up to the bar. He’s sitting there. Crystle is on his lap and they start with vintage champagne.

Josh Wallis and Ruby Brownless celebrate their engagement. Photo: Instagram.

Crystle Fleur and Billy Brownless at the Piper Heidsieck party on Sunday. Picture: Supplied

“This is the w***er he’s turned into. He’s gone from only ever drinking beer. He starts on vintage champagne and then moves to pina coladas.

“I don’t know what’s happened to him. He’s turned into someone I don’t recognise.”

The cutest moment of the interview was when Brownless confirmed his emotions had got the better of him on the day.

Co-host Vince cheekily asked Brownless about his rich feelings on the day, saying: “It’s my mail that you were blubbering like the 2007 Grand Final (where the Cats thumped Port Adelaide)”.

Brownless beautifully responded: “I think the 2007 win was probably better… but it’s good to get emotional.

“You blokes should try it at some stage. It was good to get emotional and just show how much she (Ruby) meant to me.”

He also confirmed that he did in fact read out a poem of his own creation.

“When it’s your daughter’s wedding you speak from the heart,” he said.

“And then you just have to finish with a poem. So I’ll give you a bit of the poem: ‘Roses are red. Violets are blue. I love you from here to Timbuktu’.”

Perhaps the biggest incident Brownless confirmed was a shoe drama which required an emergency patch-up job to get him back on the dance floor.

Brownless said he had to tape the shoe back together because the sole of the shoe had malfunctioned at the reception.

It would have taken much more than that to ruin the former Footy Show panellist’s big night.

Originally published as ‘Blubbering’ footy icon Billy Brownless goes rogue at daughter’s wedding