On 21 July 1917, the Cumberland Argus reported:
during the week news has arrived that Billy Brickley, an ex-‘Magpie’ has paid the great price and played his last game. The G. and D.F.A. have sent condolences to the parents and family. In his day, and especially on his day, Billy was a champion winger and easily a State certainty. From his schoolboy days he was always a star, and followers of Soccer had many treats watching his brilliant runs and lightning shots.
The following week the same local paper added,
PTE. WILLIAM ERNEST BRICKLEY, of Clyde, killed in action. Soccer enthusiasts in the Granville district will regret to learn that Private W. E. Brickley, better known as Billy Brickley, paid the supreme sacrifice on the battlefield in France on 3rd May last. He was a prominent member of the old Magpie team and one of its best players. His poor old mother, Mrs. A. Brickley, who resides in Factory-street, Clyde, received word from the Defence Department on 3rd June that Billy had been reported missing on 3rd April. Then on 10th July she got further word that he was killed in action on 3rd May. The last letter she received from him is dated 2nd May, the day before his death. He was then in cheerful mood and seemed pleased to let his mother know that after waiting anxiously for many months for a letter from home, he had just got a whole bundle of letters. He belonged to the 18th Battalion and left for the front in October last year. He went straight to France after leaving Australia. He was 28 years of age, was married, and leaves one child. His father died about two years ago. He was the youngest son and was born at Kendal St, Clyde. He went to North Granville public school and afterwards was employed for years at the Clyde Engineering Works and later at Messrs. Ritchie Bros.”
In 1903, 15-year-old Billy Brickley was sentenced to two years at the Carpentarian Reformatory for stealing four fowls. Upon his his release he joined the Granville team as a junior and soon after debuted in the first grade team as a 17-year-old. He married Gertrude Barter in April 1912 and stopped playing for Granville after he became a father of twins. His daughter Lilian died soon after birth. His son William Clyde was killed in action in Papua New Guinea in 1942 at the age of 29 and 4 months, having lived 5 months longer than his father.