Copyright – Marc Wickert 2002
www.knucklepit.com
At just 41 years of age, Bill Wakefield has been one of the most successful promoters of Australian martial arts.
Born in New South Wales, a young Bill Wakefield took up boxing lessons at the local Police Boys club in Dubbo, a country town noted for being the birthplace of such other renowned martial artists as Grant Barker and Colin Johns. Being an impressionable six years of age he was inspired by well-known boxing champions Bob "Bomber" McCarney, Wayne Tinker and Olympic silver-medalist Brian Tinker who regularly trained there.
"My father died in a car accident when I was quite young, so my uncle helped to bring me up and he taught me some boxing techniques. I soon learned that in order to gain respect in those days you had to be able to stand up for yourself. In a small country town, if you couldn't take care of yourself, you were in for a hell of a time. I also looked up to people like Bomber McCarney, who fought for Australia and was a really good bloke. He would take the time to show us young kids how to throw a punch and move around the ring," says Wakefield.
At 12, Bill moved to Queensland's Cold Coast and commenced his football career. Not only was rugby league a showcase for the young lad's natural athleticism, but it also revealed a man-sized temper. "They say that everyone has a big monster inside them, well I have a big, big monster inside me. And I grew up with this temper. If anything went wrong I'd just throw a tantrum: it worked at home and it worked at school, so I thought this was the way life was going to be."
A few years later, Bill met Australian rugby-league hooker Mick Turner who told Wakefield that if he controlled his temper he would go to Sydney to play league, but if he didn't control it he'd be going to goal. Turner then advised Bill to enrol in karate classes and learn some self-discipline.
"I started training in Zen Do Kai Karate during the off season from football. The first night I walked in there I said, 'This is bullshit! Nobody's getting thrown on their arse.' I had such a big ego it was unbelievable. At 17, I was strong as a bull from the football and had something to prove. When the football season restarted, I was doing footy training two nights a week and Karate two nights."
By coincidence, Ray Maxwell, a third Dan in Goju Kai also worked as a foreman with Bill. He'd just cut a finger off on a grinding machine and was looking for accommodation, so Bill gave him a place to stay and commenced training under Ray in Goju Kai.
"Ray was incredibly strict and would only take ten dedicated students at a time, and they had to train every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. He'd say, 'If you want to train you have to put yourself out. I'm putting myself out as a serious teacher so you have to do likewise as a serious student.' If you missed a single Sunday session you were out of the club."
After being tutored by Sensei Maxwell for three years, Wakefield's mentor married and retired from instructing. A friend in Bill's football team then recommended he take up Tae Kwon Do under Robert Muir, which led to Bill's studying the Korean art for the next eight years.
A career opportunity saw Bill and his wife Liz transfer to the NSW town of Forbes where they managed a motel. But Bill realised his life was meant to evolve around martial arts, and whilst travelling up to the Gold Coast for TKD gradings, he also drove to Dubbo for Karate training and commenced classes in Goshin Ryu at Forbes.
"I was instructing in Tae Kwon Do and had a loyal following of students that I taught. We were winning all the sparring and breaking competitions we entered, but for some reason we weren't winning the kata events. Then Shihan Terupe called me aside and said that it was obvious the judges were favoring the Japanese katas. He then advised me to make the transition to Shotokan Karate instead of the Korean art of TKD. Immediately our club started taking out the medals for competition katas."
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