It was a side effect of the Great War that resulted in Bill Towers playing with Perth Football Club and Western Australia.Born in Melbourne, the need for his father, Bill, to seek a warmer climate because of the gassing he received in World War One forced the family West. Bill Towers senior was no slouch as a sportsman himself, having been invited to Collingwood as a youngster, and wooed by St Kilda Cricket club as a promising spin bowler. He tried out at St Kilda, but the presence of two Australian spinners, Don Blackie and Bert Ironmonger, hampered his prospects somewhat.Bill Towers initially played in the West Perth district in Western Australia, before the family moved to Kensington. He then joined South Perth juniors under Jack Ensor before teaming up with Ensor again at South Perth Amateurs. An outstanding key position player used mainly at centre half forward, he represented Western Australia in two consecutive State Schoolboys Carnivals(1950 and 51) as a full back, and played Amateurs for his State as full forward in 1955 and 56. Among his team mates in the State Schoolboys were Len Pavy(captain both years), who played cricket for WA, Test cricketer and State cricket captain Barry Shepherd, another cricketer Keith Gillam, Les Mumme, Ray “Oscar” Howard, Brian Ray, Bruce Douglas, John Todd, and Colin Hebbard. Bill wrote at the time:  “ First ever experience of travel by plane.  Friends made.  Pride and thrill of representing your state.  Mud heaps (Hobart) called ovals.”  While doing National Service, Bill Towers was invited to train at Perth from 1953, and learnt from the likes of Merv McIntosh, Ron Tucker, Terry Moriarty, and in particular coach Ern Henfry. A dependable mark and penetrating kick, he made his league debut after completing National Service in round one of 1958, at East Fremantle Oval, against the club he would later play in his hundredth game. It wasn’t a happy result for the club, going down by six goals, but the newcomer did enough on a half back flank against the blue and white pair of Alan Preen and Brian Lawrence to keep his place in the side. Lawrence would eventually transfer to the Demons and become president of the club. Perth made the grand final that season, but it was to be the closest they would get to a flag during Towers’s tenure. Semi finalists in 1959 and out in straight sets in 1963, it would be the arrival of Mal Atwell in 1966 that saw them become a dominating combination for three seasons. Towers made the State second side for two games against Hawthorn in his second season of league football, lining up at centre half back with Denis Marshall and Wally Brown on the flanks. Injury curtailed a solid career for Bill, with shoulder and knee problems eventually making him resemble an Egyptian Mummy on game days. At the age of twenty six and after a hundred and seven games, a conversation with umpire Ray Scott saw him turn to umpiring. Not keen on travelling to the country each week, as was the policy with new umpires, he officiated in Sunday League fixtures for four years, with appointments in grand finals in each of them. It was Barry Cable who initiated Towers’s return to Perth as a selector, and he embarked on a decade long involvement with the club in various roles. Bill’s teaching career holds many memories, with a heavy football involvement at Hale School and Perth Modern.  Retired these days, Bill reckons his grand daughters keep he and wife Lynn on their toes, and he enjoys jogging and surfing. Bill and Lynn have a son, Ross, and daughter, Kelly, and enjoy travelling as often as they can. Daughter of long serving Perth committeeman and life member Gordon Winter, and sister of former player Mal Winsor’s wife, Patricia, Lynn is a fanatical West Coast supporter, and goes to the games regularly.   Bill Towers’s sister Coralie was made a life member of the Western Australian Cricket Association in 2008. An outstanding player for Western Australia and Australia, she became the youngest to ever to represent this State when debuting in 1953 at the age of thirteen, and it’s a record that still stands. Her contribution to womens cricket has been immense, with her playing and administrative career covering over half a century.  Towers says he was privileged to play against some of the game’s best, in Ken Bagley, John Gerovich, Brian France, Ted Kilmurray, and Denis Marshall, while Dickie Walker, Neville Beard, Keith Harper, Bert Wansbrough, and Frank Pyke, and of course Barry Cable, were the best he played with. “Memories of those special times abound, with great times, great people, and let’s not forget the WACA when it rained, water over your ankles, and icy cold,” he reminisced. “Thank god for the sherry and port at quarter and three quarter time!”Bill Towers was a fine player for Perth, in both defence and attack, in the late fifties and early sixties, his one hundred and seven games yielding ninety eight goals. He began three years too late and retired three years too early to be part of a premiership, but can be proud of his career, both on and off the field.