Walter Raymond Whalley was born in Manchester where he served an apprenticeship as a boilermaker. In Adelaide by 1912 he initially joined the South Adelaide soccer club, switching to Hindmarsh in 1913 where he would play in the Reds’ defence alongside Henry Duce. He quickly won recognition as one of the state’s best full backs. Hindmarsh lost 3-0 to Adelaide in the 1913 Cambridge Cup final, but Whalley was named “best on ground”– his defensive work keeping the score down. He played in the 1915 cup final in which Hindmarsh gained revenge over league champions Cheltenham with a 4-1 win.
Whalley enlisted in the AIF in January 1916, aged almost 28. He married Violet Fagg in May 1916, a few weeks before departing from Outer Harbor on the transport Afric. A private in the 43rd Battalion, he joined them in France in mid 1916. As the Australians advanced after the Battle of Amiens in August 1918 he became a victim of a mustard gas attack. Hospitalized for some time in England but with no chance of regaining fitness, he was returned to Australia and demobilized in early 1919.
Once fully fit, he resumed his trade as a boilermaker and his football career, now with the Prospect club. He was soon noticed as “one of the best fullbacks in the state”, even being dubbed “Wonderful Whalley” in one match report! State team caps were won against Canada and Victoria in 1924, by which time he was 36.
Walter Whalley died in Adelaide in 1964.