Phil Walsh’s death prompted an incredible outpouring as thousands gathered at Footy Park and Adelaide Oval
THE state had never seen anything like it. As the news broke of Phil Walsh’s death, they came — a trickle that became thousands, turning Adelaide Oval, Footy Park and Crows HQ into makeshift memorials.
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IN their thousands they came to West Lakes. To Football Park, just to leave an offering, a footy, a jumper, a note, flowers. Just a token of respect. Of sorrow. Of love.
From his office on the first floor of the Adelaide Crows’ administration building, club chief Andrew Fagan watched thousands come and go, touched by the power of the moment and the capacity for footy clubs to unite in times of adversity.
The murder of Crows’ coach Phil Walsh last year sparked a public mourning, perhaps unprecedented in South Australian history.
Even though the vast majority of people who quietly, tearfully, shuffled forward to leave their tribute, had never met Walsh their sadness was genuine.
“The procession of people who came here and cried openly, sobbed openly, while laying their flowers and saying a few words. It was genuine and it was heartfelt and it hurt a lot of people,” Fagan said in an interview this year with SAWeekend.
“Everyone wrapped their arms around everyone and it happened immediately. That doesn’t happen in life very often.’’
Even more than a year later, the events of the morning of July 3, 2015 have a surreal quality. Many South Australians woke up that Friday morning to news that was incomprehensible.
Phil Walsh had been murdered in his Somerton Park home and his 26-year-old son Cy had been taken into custody.
Within football circles and among the more attentive fans, Walsh had been a familiar figure for decades.
He had played 122 games, was assistant coach at Port Adelaide when it won the 2004 premiership. Had served in a similar role at West Coast before returning to Adelaide and the Power.
But it was when he was unexpectedly named Crows’ coach that he strode more fully into public consciousness.
There was a straightforward ‘no bullshit’ aura to a man who clearly loved football and just as clearly loved his players.
A man who had shunned the media for most of his career emerged as a funny, engaging, direct deep thinker. And his players could not speak highly enough of him.
Speaking on the anniversary of his death, Adelaide captain Taylor Walker remembered a man who “left a massive footprint on the footy club’’.
“I had a great relationship with him so it’s probably fair to say I do think about him quite often,” he said. “He was a great man, Phil.”
It was a view that spread beyond the usual insular confines of the football club and Walsh, despite his Power heritage, was embraced as the leader who could drag the Crows’ towards the premiership glory that had for so long escaped them.
The spontaneous outpouring of grief that followed then was a tribute to the impact Walsh had made on so many in such a brief time.
In the numb days that followed, with understanding of the tragedy elusive, many found comfort in that shared sense of loss. It was okay to cry, okay to mourn a bloke you had only seen on television or in the middle of the Adelaide Oval directing his troops.
That Sunday, the Crows were to play Geelong at Adelaide Oval. That was an impossibility in the circumstances. The game was cancelled but the Oval gates were thrown open to allow anyone who wanted to come along, not only to commemorate Walsh, but to seek a little comfort in the company of fellow fans.
Around 20,000 fans, both Crows and Port, turned up.
The broader footy community also stopped to acknowledge the tragedy. Collingwood and Hawthorn played the Friday night of Walsh’s murder. The players and crowd stopped for a minute’s silence before the first bounce, but an even more remarkable scene played out after the game.
Players from both teams, and coaches Alistair Clarkson and Nathan Buckley, linked arms in the middle of the MCG and stood in silence in respect to Walsh. It was an emotional, touching gesture that was followed at all other games that weekend.
Clarkson said afterwards both teams wanted to demonstrate the unity of the wider AFL.
“Show the footy world that we are going to mourn together and support the family and the Adelaide footy club as best we can through this really tough next few days,” he said.
In a statement the Walsh family acknowledged the outpouring of sympathy and sadness.
“We take comfort in knowing so many people are thinking of Phil and us,’’ they said. “ Our hearts are broken. How much we miss him is beyond measure. Our lives will never be the same, now that Phil is gone.’’
The formalities of death also had to be played out. The family held a private service at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart at Henley Beach to remember their lost husband, father, brother and friend. A larger, although, still private memorial was also held at the Adelaide Oval, where 1000 attended including many from both Adelaide clubs as well as many from interstate.
The Crows, however, still had to return to the field.
With emotions still raw, Adelaide travelled to Perth to play the West Coast Eagles. In the highly pressured, professional world of elite sport, it is rare when results don’t really matter.
Adelaide lost the game, but no one really cared. The act of just taking the field was a first step in the healing process. But the impact of Walsh’s death on the players was obvious as players left the field once the game was done and dusted, tears streaming down their face, no longer able to hold in the emotion of the occasion.
Fittingly, the first Adelaide home game following Walsh’s death was against his old team Port Adelaide. The usual enmity between the rivals was forgotten for a week. Walker and Port captain Travis Boak spoke lovingly of Walsh. Both teams ran through the one banner, Crows fans were invited to join the traditional Power march to the ground across the Riverbank bridge.
A record crowd of 54,468 turned up (and it seemed like more) and witnessed an epic game of football where the Crows squeaked home by three points. The Crows had adopted their motto of weflyasone as a rallying point and as a statement the club would deal with this calamity as a group.
After the game, emotions were again heightened when Quinn Walsh, presented Scott Thompson with a medal named in honour of her father for being recognised as the best player in the game.
The death of Phil Walsh affected many. It was a tribute to the man himself. It was also reminder of how powerful and rooted in our hearts football clubs can be.
Walsh is gone, but he is also part of the ongoing story of Adelaide and Port Adelaide and he always will be.
It was a point Andrew Fagan was keen to emphasise.
“I look at the reaction and I will forever be inspired by it,’’ he said.
Originally published as Phil Walsh’s death prompted an incredible outpouring as thousands gathered at Footy Park and Adelaide Oval
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