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Vale Robert Walls

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CharacterFirst said:
Well, yeah.

I think anytime some commits suicide, there is an element of cowardice. It is terribly sad, and I have prayed that God would have mercy on Wallsy, as I don't every recall him ever expressing any acknowledgement of God's incredible care and love for him.

Assisted suicide seems particularly at odds with someone who made a life/career out of being tough and courageous.

He wouldn't see it through it seems.
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When you keep letting God interfere with your argument, no one is going to take you seriously. This isn't America ffs.

Projecting your religious ideals onto other people is the most pathetic thing you can do.
 
CharacterFirst said:
Well, yeah.

I think anytime some commits suicide, there is an element of cowardice. It is terribly sad, and I have prayed that God would have mercy on Wallsy, as I don't every recall him ever expressing any acknowledgement of God's incredible care and love for him.

Assisted suicide seems particularly at odds with someone who made a life/career out of being tough and courageous.

He wouldn't see it through it seems.
Click to expand...
I don't think God cares, given He allows things like cancer to exist.
 
Disgraceful thing to say to suggest he has taken the coward's way out. Anyone who has stood by helplessly while a close family member deteriorates from cancer will understand his decision.

One of the toughest to ever do it, really did the hard yards when Brisbane was a laughing stock and set us up for the great success that followed.

As per other comments his Open Mike episode is one of the best.

I hope that Brisbane pay tribute to him this weekend, their social media team hasn't even posted about it yet which is slightly disappointing.
 
iameviljez said:
Robert Walls' Open Mike interview is probably (and I'm not just saying this in light of his death), my favourite Open Mike interview. He completely changed my mind on him over the space of 30 minutes.

Going in, I didn't really rate his as a commentator, nor as a coach - he seemed to be a bit of a grumpy old dinosaur from a bygone era.

However, his honesty, frankness and openness was completely disarming, as well as his pride in his own achievements (especially at Brisbane and Fitzroy). I've never seen someone on Open Mike ever openly admit that he deserved to get the arse as a coach, or that he was a dirty footballer who owed Peter Knights an apology. And he was dead right about his achievements at Brisbane; the winning percentage wasn't great, but the trajectory was.

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I never saw him in his playing days.

Won a flag as a coach with Carlton in 1987.

But his coaching stint with Brisbane from 1991-95 will always be underrated.

Yes Leigh Matthews was coach when Brisbane won those flags in 2001-3, but Walls laid the foundations in 1991-95 coaching stint.

Brisbane made their 1st final in 1995.

Brisbane got their 1st finals win in 1996.

Brisbane got their 1st flag in 2001
 

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CharacterFirst said:
But you can project your views onto me?

Is that how it works?
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Mate you're deflecting. You're the one who shifted the blame onto a dead person for not "expressing any acknowledgement of God's incredible care and love for him." Is your head so far in the sand that you don't realise we live in a secular country where not everyone needs an imaginary figure to guide us through life?

Being as rigid as you are must be really frustrating.
 
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Wow thats sad he was a big part of my childhood as a member of the best commentary team in history ( imo ) Robert Walls, Clinton Grybus and Rex Hunt on 3AW late 90s / early 2000s. Yes younger people who only know Rex Hunt from his scandals and lack of wokism the past 20 years will be rolling their eyes but he was something else back then and 3AW dominated the ratings.

My dad was driving a truck and I used to go with him and the radio was always on 3AW thanks for the memories Robert!!
 
CarterS said:
Disgraceful thing to say to suggest he has taken the coward's way out. Anyone who has stood by helplessly while a close family member deteriorates from cancer will understand his decision.

One of the toughest to ever do it, really did the hard yards when Brisbane was a laughing stock and set us up for the great success that followed.

As per other comments his Open Mike episode is one of the best.

I hope that Brisbane pay tribute to him this weekend, their social media team hasn't even posted about it yet which is slightly disappointing.
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Lions chief executive Greg Swann said the club would honour Walls by wearing black armbands in its match against Melbourne at the Gabba on Sunday.
“Wallsy made a massive contribution to our club and the game as a player, coach and commentator,” Swann said.

“His fingerprints were all across the club’s three-peat of successes.”
 
CharacterFirst said:
It is always sad when a public figure dies.

I didn't mind Wallsy.

I pray God may be merciful to him.

But a part of me can't help but think he took somewhat of a cowardly way out.
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The dumbest thing i've read on this website in 18 years, well done.
 
CharacterFirst said:
Well, yeah.

It is terribly sad, and I have prayed that God would have mercy on Wallsy, as I don't every recall him ever expressing any acknowledgement of God's incredible care and love for him.
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Funny way to show his incredible care and love for him by giving him a horribly, painful, incurable disease. And giving his wife the same thing.
 
CharacterFirst said:
Assisted suicide does not engender respect or honor in my opinion. There is not inherent 'dignity' in it.

Dignity means being worthy of honor or respect.

A human being is dignified because they are human beings, made in the image of God. This truth underpins the whole Western World's understanding of value for individuals and life itself.

Respect and honor for one's self would be to allow life to take its full course with grace and humility.
  • To suffer the 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune'.
  • To live one's life out fully, especially if one is of sound mind.
  • To allow family and friends to experience all the glory of life and death as they walk that path with you.
  • To let them mourn, and grow, and and receive comfort in the reality of hope in this life, and after death.
  • To set a standard and example of courage even in the face of our own mortality.

I am pro-life, whether that is at its earliest stages, or at its latest.
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2025 doesn't quite suit you it seems
 

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Espe said:
If you cant distinguish the difference between the two, then that is very very concerning.
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The concerning thing is that people feel themselves qualified to rationalise other people's experiences with pain and suffering. At what point do you draw the line? Because there has to be one. Where it is acceptable for someone to choose to end their life. Or you take the Beyond Blue/Lifeline approach, that no situation is desperate enough to take one's own life.

You can't have it both ways.
 
CharacterFirst said:
Assisted suicide does not engender respect or honor in my opinion. There is not inherent 'dignity' in it.

Dignity means being worthy of honor or respect.

A human being is dignified because they are human beings, made in the image of God. This truth underpins the whole Western World's understanding of value for individuals and life itself.

Respect and honor for one's self would be to allow life to take its full course with grace and humility.
  • To suffer the 'slings and arrows of outrageous fortune'.
  • To live one's life out fully, especially if one is of sound mind.
  • To allow family and friends to experience all the glory of life and death as they walk that path with you.
  • To let them mourn, and grow, and and receive comfort in the reality of hope in this life, and after death.
  • To set a standard and example of courage even in the face of our own mortality.

I am pro-life, whether that is at its earliest stages, or at its latest.
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I wonder if you'll still be this arrogant should you ever experience a fraction of the suffering someone like Walls would have went through before making the decision he did about his own life .
 
CharacterFirst said:
Suffering and pain is part of life. You may have noticed that.

There is no life without suffering and pain. Even childbirth - the emergence of a life into the world - is very painful.

Suffering and pain are not great. God has promised an end to these things, and it came at the expense of his own son - himself - on the cross.

The cross is suffering beyond belief. Not just physical suffering, but the unknowable suffering of the perfect God in human form - Jesus - taking on all the sin f history upon himself.

And here's the kicker. The tomb was empty 3 days after the crucifixion.

God is life, and he has overcome even death.

“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?” 1 Cor 15:55

Read 1 Cor 15.

Rev 21: 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
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Go and start a thread on the SRP board about it rather than stinking up a thread about someone who has just passed.

Please.

No class. No respect.
 
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Toomuchtime said:
The concerning thing is that people feel themselves qualified to rationalise other people's experiences with pain and suffering. At what point do you draw the line? Because there has to be one. Where it is acceptable for someone to choose to end their life. Or you take the Beyond Blue/Lifeline approach, that no situation is desperate enough to take one's own life.

You can't have it both ways.
Click to expand...
Take it to the SRP
 
BigFrizz36 said:
Imagine a centre half forward getting the ball 24 times, taking 9 marks and kicking 6 goals in a grand final. Robert Walls did it in 1972.

Was a genuinely great footballer, a coach who changed the game (the huddle etc) and a commentator who called it as he saw it.

Well played Wallsy, rest in peace. Sincere condolences to his family.
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He was mobile too, and good when the ball hit the ground, not always common for a key forward back in those days.
 
CharacterFirst said:
Well, yeah.

I think anytime some commits suicide, there is an element of cowardice. It is terribly sad, and I have prayed that God would have mercy on Wallsy, as I don't every recall him ever expressing any acknowledgement of God's incredible care and love for him.

Assisted suicide seems particularly at odds with someone who made a life/career out of being tough and courageous.

He wouldn't see it through it seems.
Click to expand...
Have you ever watched someone die of cancer? If you haven’t then you are fortunate and I hope you never do.
I watched my dad.
Let me tell you it is a living hell.
Especially when he was allergic to morphine. The pain that man went through…
Who in their right mind would choose to do that over ending it with dignity on their own terms.
If it happens to me, I’m not going to die like my dad.
 
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CharacterFirst said:
Suffering and pain is part of life. You may have noticed that.

There is no life without suffering and pain. Even childbirth - the emergence of a life into the world - is very painful.

Suffering and pain are not great. God has promised an end to these things, and it came at the expense of his own son - himself - on the cross.

The cross is suffering beyond belief. Not just physical suffering, but the unknowable suffering of the perfect God in human form - Jesus - taking on all the sin f history upon himself.

And here's the kicker. The tomb was empty 3 days after the crucifixion.

God is life, and he has overcome even death.

“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?” 1 Cor 15:55

Read 1 Cor 15.

Rev 21: 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
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Thrawn 21:3

And I heard a loud voice from the computer chair saying, "Look! It's another CharacterFirst post that dwells in this thread rolleyes emoji. They will be ridiculed, and God himself will roll His eyes as well. Thus it is so. Amen.
 
tugga said:
Have you ever watched someone die of cancer? If you haven’t then you are fortunate and I hope you never do.
I watched my dad.
Let me tell you it is a living hell.
Who in their right mind would choose to do that over ending it with dignity on their own terms.
If it happens to me, I’m not going to die like my dad.
Click to expand...
Had the same experience and i agree entirely.
 
CharacterFirst said:
Suffering and pain is part of life. You may have noticed that.

There is no life without suffering and pain. Even childbirth - the emergence of a life into the world - is very painful.

Suffering and pain are not great. God has promised an end to these things, and it came at the expense of his own son - himself - on the cross.

The cross is suffering beyond belief. Not just physical suffering, but the unknowable suffering of the perfect God in human form - Jesus - taking on all the sin f history upon himself.

And here's the kicker. The tomb was empty 3 days after the crucifixion.

God is life, and he has overcome even death.

“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?” 1 Cor 15:55

Read 1 Cor 15.

Rev 21: 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
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It is extremely selfish to impose your own beliefs on the VAD issue into a discussion honouring a man who we only found out passed a few hours ago. Have some respect.
 
I had the pleasure of meeting Robert whilst he was walking his little dog near the MCG. I spoke to him for around 45 minutes about his career in football. At the end I said I am sorry to hold you up and he came back with "no dramas I love talking to people like you about footy".
Fair dinkum made me feel 10 feet tall!!
Robert was a thorough gentleman!!
RIP!!
 
Posted elsewhere, but I like sharing...

Robert Walls passing has saddened me. He was one of my favourite people in football, ever.

Nobody in the history of the game carried his experience in my opinion, and his forthright honesty is something I always respected and admired in him.
The fact that he experienced success at a wealthy club like Carlton and finished off his playing days at a comparatively threadbare Fitzroy where sacrifices had to be made alone gives him a degree of depth of experience.

Coaching Fitzroy to moderate success from 81-85 is an effort too-easily dismissed considering the lack of resources at the club. It was a club whose only strength was its people, and Walls clearly commanded a great degree of loyalty from those players, otherwise he would never have made the finals three times in five years.

Returning to Carlton netted him a premiership, a runners up, a third placing, and then the sack after Capper kicked a late goal at Princes Park to see the lowly Brisbane Bears defeat Carlton.

His Brisbane Bears experience is perhaps his most compelling. We will never see an under-resourced, hardly-professional club like the original Brisbane Bears, and their rise by the mid-90s was purely Robert Walls' demands for greater professionalism as well as offloading the deadwood and bringing in youth. His stories regarding then-owner Reuben Pelerman are mind-boggling.
Brisbane under Walls saw Michael Voss (1992), Craig McRae (1995), Jason Akermanis (1995), Darryl White (1992), Justin Leppitsch (1993), Chris Scott (1994) and Nigel Lappin (1994) start their careers and be developed further in subsequent years. I see Walls as crucial to Brisbane's rise as a power. All except Chris Scott were three-time premiership players (except Scott, who was not fully fit in 2003), with Voss being a Brownlow Medallist.

His story about going to McDonald's around 1991 with his sons wearing his Brisbane Bears t-shirt and the kid behind the counter asked, "Oh, you go for the Bears? You going to the game?" Walls responds with, "Yeah, I'll be there." The kid reached under the counter and gave him a heap of entry tickets.

Finishing at Richmond, his insights into the culture there are also fascinating (Richmond: The Lost Years).

I enjoyed his straightforward commentary once he had finished. His vast experience allowed him to be qualified to make comments far more than most others. Few had a broader range of experience than he.

Whether you liked him or not, his experience and insight into the game will never be matched by anybody again, and I don't think people appreciate the uniqueness or his breadth of experience.

Condolences to all of his family, close friends, and the countless people who he helped in their careers.
 

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