Vale Fred Bills

I have only just seen this online I don't have any information .
Vale Freddie Bills
A great West Torrens footballer

My main memory is the famous “count” & Fred jumping over the fence & putting a coat on to cover up his jumper, I think a few players did something similar...this from a distant memory

RIP Fred Bills

bayman wrote:My main memory is the famous  “count” & Fred jumping over the fence & putting a coat on to cover up his jumper, I think a few players did something similar...this from a distant memory

RIP Fred Bills

I was watching the game
And I got that totally wrong


RIP Fred

I was there too and Fred wasn't on the stretcher, John Cassin was the injured player and Fred came on to the field as his replacement while Cassin was still on the ground. Norm Dare did jump the fence and hide in the crowd.
But Fred Bills was a great servant of West Torrens and a big character in footy in those days.

Flag No.10 wrote:I was there too and Fred wasn't on the stretcher, John Cassin was the injured player and Fred came on to the field as his replacement while Cassin was still on the ground. Norm Dare did jump the fence and hide in the crowd.
But Fred Bills was a great servant of West Torrens and a big character in footy in those days.

Oops **** I got that wrong
Your right Flag 10
I was there to a younger version of me

Wonderful man was Fred, one of those people that would light up a room. May he rest peacefully.

I remember meeting Freddy when I was a little tacker playing school footy. We were entertained for dinner after at a West Torrens training session at Thebby one evening. I think Freddy helped me out with my pea and ham soup.

Great clubman

R.I.P Freddie Bills

That game involving the count

It was in the last quarter, with the scores
12-10 West Torrens
10-7 West Adelaide

Johnny Cassin was STRETCHered off the field
Freddie Bills did come off the interchange
Therefore a count would have had 1 extra West Torrens player on the ground

Had the count been administered the West Torrens score would have been back to 0-0
The final score ended up
15-10 West Torrens
12-10 West Adelaide

Before the match
West Torrens were bottom of the ladder
West Adelaide were 7th and were still a rough hope to catch North Adelaide or Centrals for the 5th spot

At seasons end
8-10 North Adelaide 44.78%
7-11 West Adelaide 48.37%

On face value it cost West a finals spot by not having the count
But who knows how the last 3 rounds would have panned out if West Adelaide did win this match
West Adelaide did win 2 of the last 3 matches in 1975 , only losing to Norwood, the 1975 Premiers
West Torrens lost their last 3 games, and conceded a total of 86 goals in those matches


As for Freddie Bills
A few of my mates back then were West Torrens supporters , they idolised Freddy
He played over 300 games, captained West Torrens and played state football
My memories of Freddie, were that he was a ruck rover, who played a kick behind the play, and took a lot of marks

Scrappy wrote:

Johnny Cassin was STRETCHered off the field
Freddie Bills did come off the interchange
Therefore a count would have had 1 extra West Torrens player on the ground

Not quite Scrappy. Cassin was still on the ground and there was no interchange, Bills just came on as one of the reserves. The issue was that Torrens hadn't sought permission from West's captain, Bob Loveday for Bills to come on before Cassin was removed. If they had there wouldn't have been a problem.

Flag No.10 wrote:

Scrappy wrote:

Johnny Cassin was STRETCHered off the field
Freddie Bills did come off the interchange
Therefore a count would have had 1 extra West Torrens player on the ground

Not quite Scrappy. Cassin was still on the ground and there was no interchange, Bills just came on as one of the reserves. The issue was that Torrens hadn't sought permission from West's captain, Bob Loveday for Bills to come on before Cassin was removed. If they had there wouldn't have been a problem.

The problem as I saw it was that if a count had been undertaken Torrens would have only had 18 players. Norm Dare had also left the field on the outer side of the ground and no one would have been able to prove whether he had left the ground before the incident or not. What I don't know is whether Torrens had used both of their reserves or not. If they had, Torrens would have had to finish the game with 17 men on the field otherwise Cassin and Dare would have been replaced by Fred Bills and the 20th man.
It is important to remember that there was no interchange or gate in those days and players could leave the ground anywhere on the oval.

rocket_rooster wrote:

Flag No.10 wrote:

Scrappy wrote:

Johnny Cassin was STRETCHered off the field
Freddie Bills did come off the interchange
Therefore a count would have had 1 extra West Torrens player on the ground

Not quite Scrappy. Cassin was still on the ground and there was no interchange, Bills just came on as one of the reserves. The issue was that Torrens hadn't sought permission from West's captain, Bob Loveday for Bills to come on before Cassin was removed. If they had there wouldn't have been a problem.

The problem as I saw it was that if a count had been undertaken Torrens would have only had 18 players. Norm Dare had also left the field on the outer side of the ground and no one would have been able to prove whether he had left the ground before the incident or not. What I don't know is whether Torrens had used both of their reserves or not. If they had, Torrens would have had to finish the game with 17 men on the field otherwise Cassin and Dare would have been replaced by Fred Bills and the 20th man.
It is important to remember that there was no interchange or gate in those days and players could leave the ground anywhere on the oval.

As I found out decades later I met a lady one of who helped Hide Norm Dare.
I for one am glad the rules have changed