Robert Walls funeral: Family, friends and football royalty gather to farewell VFL/AFL legend at MCG
Robert Walls went out on his own terms, including specific instructions for those attending his funeral. Glenn McFarlane was among the family, friends and football royalty who paid tribute to his life and legacy.
Carlton
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Robert Walls left strict instructions for his celebration of life at the MCG on Thursday, including a five-minute warning for the speakers with a tongue-in-cheek threat of a headlock being applied if the time limit was exceeded.
It was typical of the AFL footy great, who was so meticulous about his timings that every training drill he organised as a coach and every school lesson he took as a teacher was timed — not just to the minute, but to the second.
But as the celebration of his life played out across an hour and a half of tributes and reflections of Walls as a father, grandfather, brother, teammate, coach, media colleague, mentor and friend, the headlocks would have been worth it.
This was an inspirational farewell to the Australian Football Hall of Fame member, three-time Carlton premiership player and Blues premiership coach, who died last Thursday — aged 74 — after choosing voluntary assisted dying over a second gruelling cancer fight.
It was attended by a who’s who of identities including Carlton luminaries Bruce Doull, John Nicholls, Stephen Kernahan, Craig Bradley, Mike Fitzpatrick, Stephen Silvagni, Syd Jackson, Percy Jones and David Rhys-Jones, as well as current Blues coach Michael Voss, whom Walls coached at Brisbane.
Among the 600-strong crowd were many of his past players from coaching stints at Fitzroy, Brisbane and Richmond, some of his great coaching rivals such as Kevin Sheedy and Mick Malthouse as well as AFL executives Andrew Dillon and Laura Kane.
It was fitting that the man himself had the last word, with master of ceremonies Stephen Gough reading a farewell letter Walls penned just before his death.
“I don’t want you to feel sad or cry, or if you do, don’t let it last long. I want you to remember the good times,” the letter said.
Walls detailed his “fortune” at being born in Australia to a wonderful family; growing up in Brunswick in a working-class, multicultural environment; and being able to kick a football good enough to be asked to join the Carlton Football Club, starting a 50-year footy journey.
“During that time I played with champions, was coached by the best in Ron Barassi and John Nicholls and made lifelong friends,” he wrote.
“I was fortunate at the age of 30 that Fitzroy were brave enough to appoint me coach … those were five fun years with the closest group of mates you could wish for.
“Then Carlton, which was tough, but the ‘87 premiership team was a determined, resolute group and we share a bond that lasts a lifetime. Brisbane was even tougher. I was fortunate to be given enough time to introduce a dozen teenagers to senior football and they eventually became triple premiership players and some even premiership coaches.
“(Then) working in the media was a fortunate way to end a career in football …”
But significantly one achievement always stood out for Walls — his close-knit family.
“The most fortunate thing in my life was meeting and marrying Erin. We raised three beautiful kids Rebecca, David and Daniel, who have become good, kind, respectful, decent people,” he wrote. “Unfortunately Erin didn’t get the chance to see our seven beautiful grandkids grow up … I have, and I am so very proud of them.”
Walls’ loving sister Annette Coonan said: “Ours was a divided house when it came to football,” explaining she and their father originally barracked for Carlton; Robert and their mother Essendon.
That is until Walls went to Carlton.
“Unfortunately, dad didn’t get the chance to watch Robert play his first game with Carlton (in 1967),” she said.
“I sat with dad listening (in hospital) … It wasn’t long after that dad passed away.”
Walls’ daughter, Rebecca, said as a father he was nothing like the stern disciplinarian he was as a coach, insisting he was “a girl dad” long before it became a popular term.
He used to watch The Wizard Of Oz and Charlie and The Chocolate Factory with her, and once carried a giant Minnie Mouse stuffed toy on his knee on the flight home from a Carlton Football Club trip to Los Angeles – just for his daughter.
Son David, who is head of player personnel at Fremantle, said Walls coached 269 players in his four-club coaching career and taught 600 children, including two of his three kids.
“We have been so lucky to have a brilliant father, who later in life became a great mate,” he said. “He and mum (Erin, who died in 2006) made a great team.
“He looked after mum in the good times and was right by her side through her illness and we are forever in debt to him for the love and care he showed our mum.
“As requested, we buried dad next to mum, side-by-side again.”
David joked about how he and brother Dan were keen to ride with their dad to the 1987 grand final showdown between Carlton and Hawthorn.
“He (Walls) was heading to the game from Park Orchards and Dan and I would say, ‘We’re riding with you’. Rob was having none of it and wanted to drive to the game by himself. A big argument ensued, and the last thing he heard as he was heading down the driveway was Dan yelling ‘You can stick it up your a —, I’m going for the Hawks’.”
Daniel spoke of how the boy from Brunswick who loved nothing better than a meal of sausages, chops and mashed potatoes ended up living for a time after his media career finished in the south of France, with his partner Julie.
Scott Clayton, who played with Walls and was coached by him at Fitzroy before working with him at Brisbane, said he preached messages that stick with him to this day.
“Be bold, take them on every single day, be forthright, be assertive, be selfless, take risks … he would say the greatest risk is not to take a risk,” Clayton said of Walls’ adages.
Two-time Brisbane best and fairest winner Michael McLean said Walls gave him a chance after being discarded by Footscray.
“He never called me ‘Magic’ (his nickname),” a tearful McLean said.
“Right through the five years he called me ‘Mick’, but when he got off his sick bed (in 2023) to see me get into the (Brisbane) Hall of Fame, he introduced me as ‘Magic’.”
David Barham, who recruited Walls into the media, said: “Wallsy was the leader of our (Channel 10) team, he set the standards.”
“His experience of being both a player and a coach, the highs and brutal lows, gave him everything a commentator needs to be able to expertly perform their role.
“He once said to me, ‘Until you have been let down by a player, or group of players, or an entire team, or sacked by a board, you have not gained a full appreciation of the game’.
Appropriately, Walls closed his own celebration of life with a stirring message that brought a round of applause: “Enough from me, goodbye, best wishes and be kind to each other.”
Originally published as Robert Walls funeral: Family, friends and football royalty gather to farewell VFL/AFL legend at MCG
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