Douglas Wilkie Medal

Updated on Dec 23, 2023

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The Douglas Wilkie Medal is an award presented to those who do the least for Australian rules football, in the best and fairest manner. An accolade presented by the Anti-Football League, it is named after Douglas Wilkie, a Sun News-Pictorial columnist who wrote for the paper during the years 1946–1986. It was Douglas Wilkie who first suggested the notion of an Anti-Football League, which was brought into being by Keith Dunstan. The League exists as a response to the overwhelming obsession of football by the Melbourne public.

The award is the League's answer to the Australian Football League's Brownlow Medal, an honour bestowed on footballers who throughout the season play in a skilled and sportsmanlike fashion.

Following the suggestion of Wilkie's fellow writer Cyril Pearl, who wished to burn a football to express his disaffection for the game, the winner must destroy a football in a unique and creative manner on receiving their medal.

Previous winners

1967 – Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia

1968 – Bob Skilton, football player

1969 – Ron Frazer, actor

1970 – Barry Oakley, author A Salute to the Great McCarthy: a Novel (1970) ISBN 0-85561-008-5; the book was filmed in 1975 under the same name.

1972 – Cyril Pearl, author

1973 – Doug McClelland, politician

1974 – Leon Hill, former General Manager GTV-9

1975 – Barry Humphries, writer, actor, bohemian

1977 – Kate Baillieu, former GTV-9 personality

1979 – Pete Smith, television announcer

1980 – Jack Elliot, racing writer

1981 – Lindsay Thompson, Premier of Victoria

1983 – Julie Clarke, a suffering housewife

1985 – Shelley Dye, another suffering housewife

1986 – Sir Les Patterson, alter-ego of Barry Humphries

1987 – Peter Russell-Clarke, celebrity chef

1988 – Terry Lane, radio broadcaster

1989 – Raelene Boyle, athlete

1990 – Tim Bowden, ABC broadcaster and author

1992 – Wendy Harmer, broadcaster and comedian

1993 – Tim Bowden, broadcaster

1994 – Dennis Pryor, author and broadcaster

2007 – Barry Jones, former quiz champion, politician, author

2008 – Michael Leunig, cartoonist

2010 – Catherine Deveny, columnist

2011 – Brian Troy, a 74-year-old Melburnian, who has never attended an Australian rules football match.

References

Douglas Wilkie Medal Wikipedia

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