Ian Fulwood

Ian began his senior career in 1948 playing for the Waybacks B grade coached by his father Jack. Jack Fulwood was a Waybacks legend having played for the club for twenty six years, he coached Waybacks for three years and was a member of nine premiership teams. Jack was renowned for his all round sporting ability and his elite fitness. Such was his standing in football, he was recruited by Port Adelaide as a thirty three year old and played ten games for them.

Ian did not play his first A grade game until 1951 but soon began to show his potential by playing well and kicking a goal in his first premiership and being named as Waybacks most improved junior. He soon began to make his mark with selection in Port Lincoln representative and Mortlock Shield teams from 1952. Ian was now showing himself to be a consistent team player but in 1956, he announced himself as a truly elite player. Ian won his first Waybacks best and fairest award but more significantly won his first Mail Medal. He followed this up in 1957 scoring the double once more at league and club level.

South Adelaide approached Ian in 1957 and he played his first game for them scoring two Magarey Medal votes in the process. He would play 18 games over three years for South Adelaide while remaining available for the odd match with Waybacks. During his time with South Adelaide Ian went head to head with many of the games greats including Fos Williams and Neil Kerley. Ian rates his South Adelaide team mate Jim Deane as the best he had played with.

In one of football’s great anecdotes, South Adelaide played Port Adelaide in the final minor round game of 1958 and Ian was directly opposed to Fos Williams. About a week prior to the match, Fos William’s wife gave birth to twin boys and then four days after the match Ian’s wife gave birth to twin girls.

Ian was appointed captain coach of Waybacks in 1960 and immediately took them to a premiership. He coached the club for four seasons for two premierships from four grand final appearances.

After thirteen years at Waybacks that realised five best and fairest awards and eight premierships, Ian moved to Tasmans as captain coach in 1964. He coached them for four season making the grand final three times for two premierships. Ian captained Tasmans for six seasons and despite now being in the twilight of his career won a Tasmans best and fairest in 1969 to compliment the five he won with Waybacks.

Ian Fulwood can legitimately lay claim to being the Port Lincoln Football Leagues most successful player ever. In his twenty years of A grade football in Port Lincoln Ian played in 14 grand finals, including a Port Lincoln record ten premiership wins. Ian is the only Port Lincoln and Waybacks player to have played in 11 consecutive grand finals. He represented Port Lincoln in Inter-League teams in over 50 matches from 1952-1970, he was captain or vice-captain for eleven years and captain coach for five years. Ian played in thirteen Mortlock Shield Carnivals from 1953 to 1967 and was a member of a Port Lincoln team that won the shield a Port Lincoln record five times. He was selected to play in Eyre Peninsula teams on seven occasions, being captain coach of three of them.

As well as his two Mail Medal victories, Ian was runner up once, third three times and in 1967 came fourth just one vote behind the winners. Ian also won two Gynell Medals in 1956 and 1962 awarded to the best player in Port Lincoln football independent of the Mail Medal. Amongst the best players Ian played against in the Port Lincoln league were Graham Charlton and Roger Dunn and the best of his teammates were Waybacks players Bill Woods and John McGeever.

Ian received life membership of the Port Lincoln Football League in 1971 and along with his father Jack, Ian was named in the Waybacks ‘Team of the Century’ in 2003. Waybacks also presented Ian with life membership in the same year. In 2003, Ian was also named as captain of the best Tasman team of the last fifty years.