Australian Football

In the opening round of the 1931 season, a year after his older brother Perce had debuted as a senior player, Bill McCallum joined him in the Norwood side, and performed well as the Redlegs downed West Adelaide by 27 points at Wayville Showgrounds. It was the start of an auspicious career which would see him land the Magarey Medal in South Australia's centenary year of 1936, win two club best and fairest awards, represent South Australia, and participate in a premiership win in his last game of league football. His Medal win was somewhat unexpected as most pundits backed Port Adelaide's Bob Quinn, but McCallum, who earlier in the year had been shifted to what was to become his favoured centre position, had enjoyed a highly consistent year and finished two votes clear of runner-up Jim Dawes of South Adelaide, with Quinn a further three votes adrift in third place.

Tall for a centreman of his era at 187 cm, and weighing 80 kg, McCallum was strong overhead and a superb kick. He was also extremely versatile, and although centre remained his position of choice, he could do an almost equally good job across half forward, in the ruck, or even at the goal front. All told, he played 153 games for Norwood, and six for the state, including both matches at the 1937 Perth carnival. His final appearance in the navy blue and red came in a 14.16 (100) to 10.11 (71) Grand Final defeat of Sturt in 1941.

Author - John Devaney