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Greg "Diesel" Williams (born September 30 , 1963 ) was a former champion Australian Rules footballer with the Geelong Football Club , Sydney Swans and the Carlton Football Club . Nicknamed "Diesel", he was one of the finest Midfielders the game has ever seen. Williams is a dual Brownlow Medal winner (with the Sydney Swans in 1986 with 17 votes, a record low for the winner, and with Carlton in 1994 with 30 votes, close to the highest ever), a dual AFL Players Association MVP (with Geelong in 1985 and Carlton in 1994), and a Norm Smith Medal winner with Carlton in 1995. Often controversial, but always brilliant, Williams mastered the skill of the Handball and turned it into a lethal attacking weapon, and his football brain was as good as anyone's in the history of the game. The most controversial moment of his career came in his final season. In Round 1 after the Carlton vs Essendon game, following a scuffle with longtime rival player Sean Denham , Williams confronted the umpire in the centre of the ground. After saying what he had to say and making to leave, he pushed the umpire in the chest/shoulder area. The push was not very forceful, the umpire merely needing a backward step to steady himself. The umpire did not see the incident as sufficient for a report. The AFL match reviewers saw it differently, and forced Williams to front the tribunal. The tribunal then proceeded to suspend Williams for an outrageous ''nine games'' - bearing in mind that Phil Carmen was suspended for sixteen matches for headbutting an umpire. Carlton appealed the verdict, and it was overturned, allowing Williams to continue playing through the season. For whatever reason, the AFL decided to pursue Williams' case further through the Australian Legal System to try to get Williams' nine week suspension reinstated. Such a move had rarely, if ever, been made before in the VFL/AFL (outside of charges which were punishable under assault laws.) The matter continued long through the season, until the AFL had taken the matter before the High Court Of Australia , the highest legal authority in Australia. The AFL eventually won the case after Round 16, four months after the incident had occurred, putting a sour end to Williams' 250-game career. |
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