Vale Bill Dempsey: Former West Perth champion Les Fong pays tribute to humble premiership captain and mentor

Former Falcons captain Les Fong has paid tribute to his mentor and humble premiership captain Bill Dempsey.

The West Perth triple premiership player and member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame and Indigenous Team of the Century died on Sunday aged 83.

Fong first roved to Dempsey as a 16-year-old in 1973 before playing together in the then Cardinals’ 1975 premiership win over South Fremantle.

But the lion-hearted former Cardie and the legend Dempsey had been acquainted years earlier.

“I was eight years of age when I first met Bill,” Fong said.

“My Dad was the truck driver for Berry Joinery. And Bill worked as a clerk in Berry Hardware, which was at the front of the factory in Scarborough Beach Road, Mr Hawthorn.

“Dad was a West Perth person as I was even at that age. He introduced me to Bill, and that was my first time to be impressed with this big, tall guy.

“He’d been playing a number of years at that stage.”

Eight years later, Fong joined Dempsey in the league team at West Perth’s former home, Leederville Oval.

He was “fairly young and Bill was one of the guns”.

He admits he probably idolised the NT recruit who had also won three premierships with the Darwin Football Club.

But, importantly, Dempsey would become Fong’s mentor.

He would entrust Fong and his girlfriend and wife-to-be Shelley to babysit his son Joshua when Fong was too young to attend functions with alcohol.

“And that’s when Bill and I became even closer because he’d come home from a function and we would sit up for a number of hours and talk about life, his upbringing, my upbringing, his Indigenous background and the fact of my Asian background,” Fong said.

“We’d talk about life itself, what to try and do in life, and always to try and do it at your best.

“And he’d always leave a couple of beers in the fridge. So even though I was underage, he’d have a beer with me.

“Those times for me were very precious, very good to have him as one of my main mentors in life.

“And then I was fortunate enough to play with him for four-odd seasons, including the ‘75 premiership, and with his twin in crime Mel Whinnen.”

Fong said Dempsey, who played 343 games for West Perth and was named a “legend” in the inaugural induction of the AFL Northern Territory Hall of Fame, had a phenomenal leap and mark.

“Bill wasn’t that tall, as you know, but he had a really good leap on him,” Fong said.

“He knew how to use his body, and he made sure he protected us rovers the way that ruckmen were able to in those days.

“There was a game we played at the end of the season against North Melbourne and big Mick Nolan came towards me, and then Bill came and blocked him and said ‘don’t you hurt my little guys’.

“He was an exceptional mark. I remember a State game at Subiaco Oval where I think he rucked against Gary Dempsey.

“And Gary Dempsey was far taller than Bill, and Bill was out-knocking him, out-marking him.”

Dempsey’s premiership games total for West Perth is second only to teammate Mel Whinnen’s WAFL games record of 367 matches.

The champion ruckman won the Simpson Medal in the 1969 flag win over East Perth under coach Graham “Polly” Farmer, and held the 1975 premiership cup aloft as captain of the red and the blue.

Though Dempsey was inducted into the West Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2004, Fong was “extremely annoyed” that his mate had not been elevated to “legend” status.

But he was “thankful” he was able to visit him on several occasions in recent times, including for the last time in hospital on Friday morning.

He was able to record a video of Dempsey for the 1975 premiership squad who were meeting for lunch that day.

“Bill was disappointed he couldn’t get to the lunch,” Fong said.

The ex-players filmed their own message for their former captain and Fong was due to visit and deliver it to him when a phone call came through that he had died.

He was also going to take a bottle of Dempsey’s favourite red wine - merlot - to give to him.

“He’s a living legend as far as I’m concerned, and I was extremely close and indebted to him - to take me under his wing and be a mate,” Fong said.

“As (fellow ‘75 premiership player) Ronnie Wilson would say ‘we’re all in the last quarter’.

“And having lost Shane Sheridan followed by John Vukman, Dennis Cometti and now Bill Dempsey - I think that demonstrates exactly that.

“And that we’ve got to spend time with family and friends, and that’s why the ‘75 guys… got a luncheon together last year (for the 50th anniversary of the ‘75 flag) and we’ll continue to do it each year. We know our numbers will get smaller but we make the effort.”

Fong will remember Dempsey as a humble man.

“He was the most gracious, most humble guy going around,” he said on Sunday.

“Bill never talked about himself, never sang praises on himself.

“He was just a genuinely really nice guy who, at the end of the day, loved his merlot with ice.

“So I’m hoping I’m allowed at his funeral to place the bottle of red - that I was to deliver him today - on his coffin, so he can take it with him.”