Stephen Sells was a mercurial forward with serious X Factor. A “Collingwood six-footer” he was deceptively strong and was very rarely beaten one on one. Sellsy was lured to Subiaco from Geelong where he played in their 1986 WAFL Premiership. He kicked 3 goals and got reported in the same game, a game that was littered with up and coming Eagles stars such as Mainwaring, Wilson, Lamb and Zanotti.

Sellsy arrived at WFC in 1988, the club’s final year in Division 2. The coach at the time was the legendary Des Tuddenham. Sellsy had an outstanding year and was justly awarded the Best and Fairest for WFC and the Field Medal for the B&F in the competition.

To digress slightly, I do have a vivid memory of “Tuddy” and Sellsy returning from the Field Medal vote count in the city a little “worse for wear”. We had training and weren’t expecting them to be at training so it was a surprise to see Sellsy who we gave a big cheer to as Tuddy disappeared down the race into the changerooms. You could smell the booze on Sellsy so we were equally surprised to see Tuddy come jogging out of the race to do his normal lap before training.

For those younger than 55, Des Tuddenham’s bravery during his career reached mythical proportions. Stories of his capacity to absorb pain are etched on the walls of Victoria Park! The stories of his sit up prowess are extraordinary and Tuddy was happy to walk around with his shirt off at Chirnside Park and display a lower abdomen that quite frankly was concave…inverted!…I mean a six pack that refused to play anymore! Tuddy wasn’t an overly skilled player but his “will” was unrivaled.

So Tuddy finishes his lap and joins the team in the centre of Chirnside Park. Immediately the odour of Scotch Whiskey comes wafting from his pores. He quickly acknowledges Sellsy’s achievement then turns to our soft performance the previous week, suggesting that perhaps the bigger blokes didn’t stamp their authority. He then invites the 2 biggest players on the team to charge at him off a 5-6m run-up and try and run through him. Players Goode and Synott step up to the plate and do their best. Sadly for them this 5 ft 6 inch lunatic in his 50’s tackled them head on and unceremoniously dumped them into the muddy cricket pitch! We only got to know Tuddy for a short time but be was lovely bloke who had overcome much adversity in his life to achieve a lot.

Sellsy continued to have a great career at WFC but sadly had his injury problems late. His left foot was devastating and I always felt confident when he was shooting for goal on the run. Not so much from the set shot! His “helicopters” were memorable! Some went through but the majority had you holding your breath. A great clubman and a more social man you would never find. That’s where the False Idols came in. Sellsy had some serious time management issues when it came to post match drinks. Sellsy just loved spending time with his mates and there’s nothing wrong with that….unless you were Mrs Sells! I don’t think Sellsy owned a watch and regularly measured his time by whether it was daylight or not!

Enter “Ode to Mrs Sellsy” sang to Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs Robinson”, a short “filler” of a song we sang at the first show at Point Lonsdale.

And here’s to you Mrs Sellsy

Stephen loves you more than you will know oh oh oh

God bless you please Mrs Sellsy

Stephen just can’t mend his wicked ways hey hey hey, hey hey hey

 

What’s that you say Mrs Sellsy?

Stephen hasn’t rung since yesterday? Hey hey hey

Where has he gone Mrs Sellsy?

He’s been down the club spending his pay hey hey hey, hey hey hey

 

Repeat Verse 1

Granted it’s not very imaginative but at least it’s something to acknowledge the great Sellsy and his significant contribution to WFC. Thanks for those fantastic memories Sellsy. One of the very best to play at WFC.