Wally stories spice up all-stars breakfast

The son of legendary ABC broadcaster Wally Foreman will be the guest speaker at the Great Northern Football League’s All-Stars Breakfast tomorrow morning.

Glen Foreman will share stories about his father during the breakfast, which will be held at Skeetas Restaurant and Cafe.

In July, Glen released his debut book, The Legend from Bruce Rock: The Wally Foreman Story, which details the remarkable, emotional and humorous life of the sports administrator and commentator.

But the book isn’t your ordinary biography — instead it’s written for his three-year-old daughter, Charlotte, introducing her to a grandfather she’ll never meet.

“I started writing it like a normal biography, ‘Wally did this’ and ‘Wally did that’,” he said.

“It felt really forced and clunky, but I thought everyone wanted it like a normal biography.

“I thought, ‘Bugger it, I’m going to write it how I think it should be written’.

“If other people want to read it and enjoy it, that’s fantastic; if they don’t I haven’t lost anything because I’ve written it for my daughter.”

Born in Kalgoorlie and raised in Bruce Rock, Wally Foreman worked as a sports journalist for more than 30 years.

In the early 1980s, he was asked by the State Government to be the inaugural director of the WA Institute of Sport, a position he held for 17 years.

He returned to the ABC in 2001, working with the broadcaster until he died from a heart attack in November, 2006.

Glen Foreman said he was inspired to write his father’s biography after discovering the influence he had had on the community.

“I was doing a journalism lecture at Curtin and a student came up to me,” he said.

“They said, ‘I want you to know it’s because of your dad that I’m doing sports broadcasting and journalism.’

“That was great, but at some point of time there’s going to be a generation that’s never heard of Wally Foreman.”

Glen said he was looking forward to visiting Geraldton for the first time this weekend.

“One thing about Dad is everyone seems to have a Wally story,” he said.

“Everywhere I go someone has a new story about Dad and I enjoy hearing other people’s stories.

“Whoever comes along, I encourage people to come up and have a chat.”

The GNFL All-Stars Breakfast will kick off at 8.30am and is open to the public.

Tickets can be booked through the GNFL.