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Key Facts
Full name
Walter Scott
Known as
Walter Scott
Nickname
Wacca, Wat
Born
2 September 1899
Place of birth
Stirling, SA (5152)
Died
27 July 1989 (aged 89)
Senior clubs
Norwood
State of origin
SA
Hall of fame
Australian Football Hall of Fame (1996); South Australian Football Hall Of Fame (2002)
Family links
Basil Scott (Brother)
Walter Scott
Club | League | Career span | Games | Goals | Avg | Win % | AKI | AHB | AMK | BV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norwood | SANFL | 1920-1932 | 174 | 3 | 0.02 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Total | 1920-1932 | 174 | 3 | 0.02 | — | — | — | — | — | |
Walter 'Wacca' Scott was one of South Australia’s finest ever defenders and arguably the most illustrious name in the history of the Norwood Football Club.
His abilities were evident right from the start of his League career in 1920 when, in a Norwood team that was good enough to play off for the premiership, he won the club’s best and fairest award. The following season saw Scott (known affectionately as ‘Wat’ or ‘Wacca’) make the first of what would end up being an Australian record 38 consecutive interstate appearances. He was also runner up in the Magarey Medal despite receiving the same number of votes as the winner, South Adelaide’s Dan Moriarty.¹ Consolation of a kind was later to arrive in the shape of the 1924 and 1930 Medals.
Along with Dan Moriarty and Jack 'Snowy' Hamilton (who was later replaced by Jim Handby), Walter Scott completed South Australia’s most celebrated interstate half-back line. Normally placed on a flank, with Moriarty in the middle, Scott was arguably the most defensively-minded member of the unit. A strong, safe mark when in front position, he was also a redoubtable spoiler from behind, with uncanny judgement of the flight of the ball the key to both skills. Sound judgement was also a major element in Scott’s prowess as a ground player, and he shared with the likes of Bruce Doull, Guy McKenna, Frank Jenkins and Kevin Murray the quintessential defender’s capacity for seldom lowering his colours in a one on one contest.
A club record (shared with Michael Taylor) six-time winner of the Norwood best and fairest award Walter Scott’s career effectively ended after he sustained a serious knee injury in the last minor round game of 1930 against Port Adelaide. He did later play two further games, taking his final tally to 174, but all this did was prove to him that his knee was genuinely ‘gone’. It is perhaps no coincidence that the Redlegs, who had won four premierships and contested seven Grand Finals during Scott’s 11-year career, would have to wait another 11 years for their next flag.
During the 1930s, Walter Scott undertook coaching stints at Norwood, West Adelaide, Glenelg and Sturt, but failed to lift any of these teams above third place on the ladder. As a player, however, there have been few better.
Author - John Devaney
Footnotes
1. The rules of the time dictated that, in the event of two or more players tying for the Medal, the umpires would be required to convene and decide the winner. In 1921, after prolonged deliberation, they chose Moriarty. 77 seasons later the SANFL, following the highly dubious example set by the AFL in regards to the Brownlow, decided that all players who lost Magarey Medals either on countback or through some kind of post-count adjudication process should retrospectively be declared 'joint winners'. The implications of this kind of historical revisionism are potentially enormous - and quite disturbing. What next, one wonders? If, let's say, the criterion of 'fairness' is at some stage in the future removed from the Brownlow, will we end up with votes being retrospectively allowed for all disqualified players, thereby effectively generating a completely new list of winners? What if some future rules committee decides to tinker with the game's scoring system? Would any modifications be applied retrospectively? (Football's scoring system has been sacrosanct for over 100 years now, but since when did genuine tradition, as opposed to manufactured 'tradition', count for anything with the AFL?) These examples might, on the face of it, seem farfetched, but they differ from the process of retrospectively awarding extra Brownlows, Magareys or Sandovers only in scale. When one generation makes assumptions of moral superiority over another (and that, when all is said and done, is what the awarding of retrospective medals is all about) it is actually doing the precise opposite of what it claims, and declaring itself morally bankrupt.