First published in The Age, September 25, 1986.

Sir Les wins a Wilkie and Anna eats the booby prize

SYDNEY. — Sir Les Patterson won the Anti Football League’s highest award yesterday, the Wilkie Medal.

The medal, a lustrous gold affair on a red velvet ribbon, is awarded annually to the person who has done least for football in the best and fairest manner.

The AFL Commissioner, Phillip Adams, said he was keen that the award should go to New South Wales because Sydney so desperately needed help in the battle against the spread of the Victorian disease.

This was the 20th award of the medal and it is part of the tradition that the Wilkie recipient must destroy a football. Since 1967 footballs have been burned, carved, melted, chopped with chainsaws, exploded from aloft attached to balloons and even buried at sea.

Sir Les, who is starring in the movie ‘Les Patterson Saves the World’, had an entirely different, approach. He chose to have it eaten by a camel.

The ceremony, moving to all those who observed it, took place on the set of Humstead Productions at Botany. An Arab coup d’etat was taking place, so there was a background noise of tanks, guns and the odd, wounded terrorist.

Anna, the movie’s lead camel, performed the task. Admittedly it took a little subterfuge and persuasion. Evanne Brand, one of the production assistants, smeared the football with delicious cream cake. After that it was no trouble at all and with a little more encouragement we could get rid of all the footballs and most of the cream cake in Sydney, making for a healthier society.

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