Fos Williams

Foster Neil "Fos" Williams (21 February 1922 – 1 September 2001) was a leading Australian rules footballer who played for and coached the Port Adelaide and West Adelaide Football Clubs and coached South Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) in a career spanning 1946–1978.

Williams enlisted in the Australian Army on 5 March 1942, serving as a signalman.

On 32 March 1943 Williams transferred to the Royal Australian Navy where he served as a telegrapher on the corvette HMAS Kiama.

HMAS Kiama's initial duty was to escort convoys along the New Guinea coastline.

In June 1944 she was given a reassignment to perform anti-submarine patrols in the Solomon Sea.

In September Kiama was used to transport soldiers between New Guinea and New Britain.

On conclusion, she resumed her convoy escort role until the end of 1944, when she departed for Sydney.

In September 1944 Commandos from 'C' Troop and a small detachment from 'B' Troop, the 2/8th Commando Squadron were landed from HMAS Kiama on a reconnaissance operation at Jacquinot Bay on the island of New Britain to collect intelligence in preparation for an assault by the 5th Division.

On 25 December the crew was recalled from leave to go to the assistance of the liberty ship SS Robert J. Walker, which had been torpedoed by German submarine GERMAN SUBMARINE U-862.

Kiama, along with HMAS Quickmatch (G92), HMAS Yandra, and USS PC597 found the 67 survivors of the attack at but failed to locate U-862.

Kiama was assigned to anti-submarine patrols near Sydney for the final days of 1945 before a month-long refit in Adelaide starting on 3 January 1945.

After the refit Kiama was assigned to Fremantle for two months of anti-submarine warfare exercises with the United States Navy, before returning to New Guinea on 7 May 1945.

In May and June, the corvette performed several coastal bombardments in the Bougainville area.

In July, Kiama transported Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester from New Guinea to the Solomon Islands, then spent the rest of the month moving troops and military cargo between these two locations.

From 5 to 24 August, the corvette was based in Brisbane, before returning to New Guinea waters.

Kiama spent the rest of 1945 as a troop and supply transport, minesweeper, and general duties vessel.

When the war ended, Kiama took part in the Japanese surrender at Rabaul.

In November, Kiama was assigned to escort demilitarized Japanese cruiser JAPANESE CRUISER Kashima as the cruiser embarked Japanese soldiers in New Guinea for repatriation.

Fos Williams was discharged from service on HMAS Kiama on 6 June 1946, nine months after the conclusion of World War II.

Williams had a late start to football due to World War II, returning to Adelaide to start his career as a league footballer in July 1946 at the age of 24.

Williams initially wanted to play with Port Adelaide where his brother Frank had been playing.

However, because he was living in the Hilton district within the West Adelaide zone, he was required by the SANFL to play for the latter club.

Subsequently, Williams became the 609th player selected to play for club in the SANFL making his league debut on 20 July 1946.

Williams played as a rover in West Adelaide's victorious 1947 Grand Final against Norwood at the Adelaide Oval.

West Adelaide looked likely to repeat their success of the previous season but would fall four points short to eventual premiers Norwood in the year's preliminary final.

Williams first gained state selection for South Australia while with West Adelaide and also kicked 112 goals for the club until the end of 1949.

At the end of 1949 Fos Williams was approached by representatives of clubs from Western Australia and Victoria, particularly Geelong and Subiaco, in attempts to lure him away from West Adelaide.

Despite Williams having lucrative offers from clubs interstate, Port Adelaide's first preference to replace Jack McCarthy as head coach was to appoint South Adelaide's Jim Deane.

However, despite Jim Deane being Port Adelaide's first preference for head coach, South Adelaide vehemently refused to release him from his contract.

Subsequently, on 22 January 1950 Fos Williams was released in good faith by West Adelaide so he could become the captain-coach of Port Adelaide.

In his first year at Port, he won the club's best and fairest award and led the team to a preliminary final, where they were however well beaten by Glenelg.

Under the coaching of Williams from 1950 until 1958, Port returned to a position of power in the league and along with the 1951 win they won five consecutive from 1954 to 1958 and finished second to West Torrens in 1953.

After 1950, Port Adelaide only missed the Grand Final under Fos Williams guidance when they lost the preliminary to Norwood by eleven points in 1952.

In 1951, he won his second SANFL premiership as a player and the first of a then record nine as a coach when he led Port Adelaide to an eleven-point win over North Adelaide in the Grand Final after losing only one game on a Thebarton Oval mudheap all season.

In 1953, Fos Williams returned Port Adelaide to the Grand Final, a stage where the club would remain for seven consecutive seasons.

During the 1953 SANFL Grand Final Port Adelaide would fall to West Torrens by 7 points.

He also played 34 interstate games for South Australia, captaining the team from 1954 to 1958 and he coached the team in 45 games from 1955 to 1969.

Born in the town of Quorn, located in the Flinders Ranges and some 39 km north-east of Port Augusta, the son of Melville George Williams and Emma Otellia Williams (née McMillan).

The only football Williams played prior to World War II was in Quorn.

He played for the Quorn Albions and also was a start player for Quorn High School.