Billy Young

[saynta]

https://www.saints.com.au/news/572014/v ... -superstar

"“He is probably the most accurate kick in football today,” the Herald wrote after naming him recruit of the year."

"On top of his great club standing, he left behind a legacy as the inventor of the kick for goal that would come to be known as the ‘banana’, ‘checkside’ or ‘boomerang’ kick. He perfected the kick during hours of practice in the paddocks of Gippsland

Richmond’s Blair Campbell was said to have introduced the kick to League footy in the 1960s, but he said he learned it as a young Saints fan watching Billy Young in the 1950s."




Rest in peace mate.

Best kick at goal I ever saw, bar none

[Junction Oval]

At full forward, Bill Young put some real excitement into St Kilda at a time when there was none. A bag of bones, Bill's style was built around his quick leads. After a great first 12 months with his accurate kicking, other teams got on to his style and crunched him on his leads. In those days, the ball only came in to the forward line directly and only to him - crunch!

I think that he headed the League's goal kicking for 2 or 3 years, with around 56 goals. Bill Stephenson was to follow.

A great playing contribution to the St Kilda story.

[George27]

Billy retired just before I was old enough to follow the Saints, so I appreciate the comments from Saynta and JO.

There is an interesting symmetry between the careers of Bill and George Young ( no relation ).

Both came late to the Saints ,at age 24, after successful careers elsewhere

Both also were very good cricketers.

Both were undersized full forwards ( though George of course started at HFF)

Both were beautiful kicks for goal.

Both played 6 seasons.

Very similar stats - Billy 276 and George 284 goals.

[Trev from the Bush]

Very sad, thanks for posting this. I last saw Bill a bit over a year ago heading for home in Sale on his mobility scooter. I ran into him for a chat about a year earlier and, naturally, the conversation was all about the Saints. When I asked him how he was travelling he said he was going okay but nothing a pair of replacement knee joints wouldn't fix!

I first got to know Bill in the mid 90s when I started working in Sale. He ran the TAB with his wife for many years before his retirement. He also established and ran the now-defunct Saints Gippsland supporters group and organized many enjoyable functions.

One great story he told me, typical of the Club's riff-raff administration of the day, concerned a function put on at Moorabbin for volunteers, including country supporters groups. Bill, who was standing in front a a photo of himself, was approached by some hot shot club administrator with the intent of making a conversation.

"So Bill, did you ever play the game yourself?" the hot-shot enquired. "I played a bit of footy in the bush" was the response.

That pretty well summed up StKilda at the time, not recognizing one of the Club's all time great. But it summed up Bill, unassuming as always.

I'll miss seeing him around.

[Enrico_Misso]

I hope they honour him in Round 1.
One of our greats.