Bill McSpeerin

Bill McSpeerin
Personal information
Full name	William McSpeerin
Nickname(s)	The Shark
Date of birth	25 September 1874
Date of death
Position(s)	Rover
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1897–1904	Fitzroy	126 (93)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1904 season.

William "Bill" McSpeerin (25 September 1874 – 3 June 1943) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

A rover, McSpeerin debuted with Fitzroy when the club was still in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) and was a member of their 1895 premiership side. When the Victorian Football League was formed in 1897, McSpeerin was a key member of the team and appeared in 10 out of a possible 14 games that season, including one match against St Kilda Football Club where he reportedly ran the entire length of the oval to kick a goal. McSpeerin became one of the leading players of the early VFL years, playing in Fitzroy premierships in 1898 and 1899, appointed club captain in 1901 and in 1903 he became the first Fitzroy footballer to play 100 VFL games.

McSpeerin retired at the end of the 1904 VFL season, his last game being Fitzroy's Grand Final win over Carlton Football Club.

Sources

• Atkinson, G. (1982) Everything you ever wanted to know about Australian rules football but couldn't be bothered asking, The Five Mile Press: Melbourne. ISBN 0 86788 009 0.

External links

• Bill McSpeerin's statistics from AFL Tables
• Bill McSpeerin's profile from AustralianFootball.com