Bill Fraser (Australian footballer)

William 'Buns' Fraser (29 March 1867 – 21 February 1938)[1] was an Australian rules footballer who played for South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL), and for both South Melbourne and Port Melbourne in the Victorian Football Association.

Bill Fraser
Personal information
Full name William Fraser
Date of birth 29 March 1867
Place of birth Merton, Victoria
Date of death 21 February 1938(1938-02-21) (aged 70)
Place of death Mansfield, Victoria
Original team(s) Port Melbourne (VFA)
Position(s) Utility
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1889–1893 Port Melbourne 98 (137)
1895–1896 South Melbourne (VFA) 35 (30)
1897–1904 South Melbourne 88 (18)
Total 221 (185)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1904.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Fraser joined Port Melbourne in 1889, and established himself as a forward. He was Port Melbourne's leading goalkicker each year from 1890 to 1893, including kicking 40 goals in the 1892 season.[2] Highly sought after, he joined the neighbouring South Melbourne Football Club – at that time a bitter rival of Port Melbourne – in 1894; but Port Melbourne refused to transfer him, and he ultimately stood out of football for the whole of the 1894 season.[3]

Prior to 1895, he was finally cleared to South Melbourne,[4] where he played in both the VFA and VFL until 1904. Fraser captained South Melbourne in its first two VFL seasons. He could play a variety of positions and was used as a winger, forward and centreman during his career. Fraser was a forward pocket in the 1899 VFL Grand Final loss to Fitzroy.

References
  1. "Bill Fraser - Player Bio". Australian Football. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  2. "Close of the Football Season". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. 26 September 1892. p. 6.
  3. Keenan, Terry (2001), "Keeping out the riff-raff – Port Melbourne's exclusion from the Victorian Football League in 1896", Sporting Traditions, 17 (2): 1–16
  4. "Football". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. 3 May 1895. p. 3.
  • Bill Fraser's playing statistics from AFL Tables
  • Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.


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