After Will passed away, the clubs, schools and communities he loved each created an award in his name, for the things he was best at and cared about most. Every year, his name is read out again.
His home clubs, where the local families watched him grow up.
Will played 106 matches for the Kensington Junior Cricket Club and 87 games for the Flemington Junior Football Club, and went back to coach Auskick.
He captained Kensington's Friday Night Under 14 Division 1 side, won the Under 14 Des Nolan Cup with North West, and won the JG Craig Shield with Brunswick, the first in that club's history. At 15 and 16 he played 12 senior games for Flemington Colts, two of them alongside his dad.
Junior batters retired at 50, which is why so many of Will's innings ended not out.
In Year 9, Will wrote about the night he captained Kensington into the grand final.
Kensington Junior Cricket Club now presents the Will Richter Memorial Award every year.
See the honour boardGame-Winner
Will Richter
Year 9
In Will’s words
Game-Winner
Kensington Junior Cricket Club, Friday Night Under 14 Division 1 semi-final
Game-Winner
Will Richter
Year 9
Game-Winner
It was finals time. I was feeling nervous but at the same time I was excited. We (Kensington Junior Cricket Club) had barely qualified for finals and were playing the number one team, Maribyrnong Park St Marys Cricket Club. They had Cooper Albers and Harry Fitzgerald (who had both played under-15 JG Craig Shield) and an all-round solid team. We, on the other hand, had me and Ben Hollow and we played under 14 Des Nolan Cup cricket for North West over the summer and had ended up winning it. Our club Kensington hadn’t won a single premiership for over 10 years, and we felt like we had a chance to break the drought and win the Friday Night Under 14 Division 1 title.
We arrived at the ground extra early as it was a final and took our team photo. As I was the captain, I went out to the toss knowing that I wanted to bat. Unfortunately, we lost the toss and they elected to bat first. I had opened our bowling and Flynn and I were tight and had them at 1-14 after four. Anthony came on and bowled really well but at the other end Campbell, Jack and
Sam were all being belted by the massive unit of Cooper Albers. He could hit some great shots, but he couldn’t run.
Eventually Anthony was rewarded for his bowling, and he removed their other opener, leaving them at 2-44. Their ’keeper came in and got off to a quick start. Anthony had the last ball of his spell at Albers, and he delivered. Albers was clean bowled and after being 1-44 Maribyrnong were now 3-47. The only downside of this wicket was that it brought in their captain and star bat Harry Fitzgerald. He sent Javier, Harvey and Jay out of the ground and raced to 30 before being forced to retire due to the league’s rules. Harris, our wildcard, came on and proved ‘shit takes wickets’ once again, removing their number six. I came on to bowl the death overs and I was really economical and snagged an lbw to end up taking a solid 1-14 from four overs. They ended up making 122 from 20 overs.
We then went into bat. I had opened all season, but as I had been one of two members of the team who had played in a grand final (The Des Nolan Grand Final) my role that night was going to be the finisher. I hadn’t played that role before and I was pretty nervous about it. I knew the result of the game would rest on my shoulders and I didn’t know if I could handle the pressure.
Jack and Meth opened the batting and got us off to a flying start, with Jack smacking six fours before retiring at 32* off 30 balls. Ben Hollow came in at three and unfortunately a direct hit from the lumbering Albers ran him out. The scorecard didn’t do him justice to how well he batted. Jack Campbell came in and hit a six but then two maidens followed, and he was eventually dismissed for six off 14. We were then 2/61 after 10 overs, exactly halfway to their total.
Unfortunately, we then went into a scoring slump. Campbell came to the crease and was eventually run out for six. That meant I had to come in earlier than I wanted. We needed 46 from seven overs and if we kept going at the current pace, we weren’t going to make it. Ben got to his 30 and was forced to retire and Anthony Rui came to the crease. It took him two overs to face a ball and unfortunately that ball bowled him. We were now struggling at 4-95 needing 28 from three overs. And that’s when it all changed.
Their opening bowler came back on. He bowled a couple of really nice balls that I swung and missed at. I was really nervous and I was thinking that our season was about to be cut short. But then it came. It was a juicy half volley on the fourth stump. I got my foot out of the way and took an all or nothing golf swing. I knew this would make or break the match for us. I was either going to get clean bowled, leaving the tail to finish off the job, something that no batsman should ever do. I have never hit a ball so well. It sailed over his head and he immediately knew that he had been BELTED. It ended up carrying to the scorer’s shed and hitting it on the full, a distance that was later measured to be 78 metres.
Suddenly, the tables had turned. We had the momentum. I got some more runs off the over and made the equation 15 off 12 with the new batsmen, Javier, on strike. The one obstacle in the way was that their star captain, Fitzgerald, had come on to bowl and he was a class above everyone else on their team. Javier managed to get a single off the first ball and get me back on strike. He was an erratic bowler, sometimes national level, other times off the pitch. This ball though, I got a full toss on the hips. Bye bye. I
sent it over the fence we had gone from needing 28 off 18 to eight off ten. Unfortunately for Harry the next ball he bowled was off the pitch, a no-ball! Now needing seven off 10 I worked away a length ball for two. And then came the cherry on top, a low full toss I hit over the rope for six!
We had done it! We had beaten MPSM! We were into the grand final after somehow defeating the top team. We went into the rooms, partied, ate fish and chips and celebrated after the best win any of us had experienced.
Kensington Junior Cricket Club now presents the Will Richter Memorial Award every year.
See the honour boardKensington Junior Cricket Club
Kensington's award for a junior cricketer who plays the way Will did: with skill, courage and real care for the players around him.
Presented by Will's family, Tim, Andie and Sophie. Eli's older brother was Will's best mate, and Eli had known Will all his life.
Flemington Junior Football Club
Flemington's award for a junior footballer who brings the same spirit, resilience and positive attitude Will brought to the club.
Presented by Will's mum, Andie, and one of his best mates, Jack.
German, Latin, and a scaled 50.
At University High, Will studied German and Latin. He finished with a scaled 50 in Latin and an ATAR above 99.
The school now recognises a Year 11 student in each of his languages, sends three Year 11 students to the Goethe-Institut's holiday language course every year, and awards a language prize in Year 12.
The University High School
For the Year 11 German student who brings the most to the language, in class and beyond it.
First presented 6 November 2026
The University High School
For the most improved Year 11 Latin student.
First presented 6 November 2026
The University High School
Three Year 11 students each year attend the Goethe-Institut's school holiday language course.
The University High School
A prize for a Year 12 student of languages.
Jahrgang 23/24.
Will's connection to Germany started with family. His German heritage ran deep, and the ties between Melbourne and Germany were part of his life long before he applied for a scholarship.
In 2023 he won a place in SAGSE, the Scholarships for Australian-German Student Exchange, which has sent Australian students to Germany since 1968. Over the summer between Year 11 and Year 12 he lived with a host family, went to a German school, and finished with the cohort's trip to Berlin and a reception at the Australian Embassy.
He came home with a gratitude for the exchange that went beyond politeness, and a sense of responsibility to give others the same chance.
At six, a family trip to relatives in Hamburg: bike rides, picking apples, fish sandwiches and board games. His hosts remember a boy who was open, curious and unusually kind for his age.
Jana, the daughter of that Hamburg family, came to Melbourne for her own exchange year, and credited Will with inspiring it.
Won a SAGSE scholarship and joined the 2023/24 cohort.
Ten weeks in Germany. Schloss Neuschwanstein with friends from the cohort, an HSV match in Hamburg, his first Franzbrötchen, and hours at the German Emigration Centre in Bremerhaven with an 87-year-old relative whose stories he wanted to hear. He spoke German whenever he could.
Spoke at the Australian Embassy in Berlin about what the scholarship had meant to him.
Vice-President of the University of Melbourne German Club.
Australian Embassy, Berlin
In February 2024, near the end of his exchange, Will spoke at the Australian Embassy about what the scholarship had meant to him.
„Diese Möglichkeit, die wir hatten, ist nicht etwas, das jeder hat und deshalb habe ich - tatsächlich haben wir - Dankbarkeit dafür für immer. Und jetzt fühle ich, dass es unsere Pflicht ist, SAGSE, GDANSA, GASS immer mehr zu verbessern und so vielen Leuten wie möglich diese Möglichkeit auch zu geben.“
SAGSE
Each year the scholarship funds a place for another student, doing the thing Will asked for in Berlin: giving the next person the chance to get on the plane.
Cut from one squad, never dropped from the next.
“Uni Blues is part of Melbourne University Football Club, which is the third oldest Australian Rules football club in Australia, being established in 1859, with only Melbourne and Geelong founded earlier.”
Will came home from Germany at the start of Year 12 having missed the entire Calder Cannons pre-season, and was cut from the squad. He joined University Blues instead, kicked three goals on debut in the Premier side, and was never dropped again. He was the only Year 12 student, and the only player under 18, in a side of first- and second-year university students.
In 2025 he was the best player across the Under 19 Premier finals, first in the semi-final against Old Scotch and again a week later in the preliminary final against St Kevin's Old Boys. The award had never had a name.
Will passed away after the finals series, before presentation night. On that night Football Director Peter Brukner OAM announced that the club had decided to name the award in Will's memory.
University Blues Football Club
Awarded to the best player of the finals series for the Under 19 Premier side.
William RichterWill won the medal before it carried his name.
The Under 19 Premier side did not reach the finals.
The Billiards Room.
At Trinity, Will kicked the winning goal in the college's historic football premiership. He also loved the Billiards Room: he bought his own cue, drafted the room's revised rules, and filled in for his dad's FK Colts team in Division 1 of the Melbourne Metropolitan Pool League.
Trinity College
An annual doubles pool tournament in the Trinity Billiards Room, played as a knockout over several weeks.
The William Richter SAGSE Scholarship sends a student to Germany each year. Gifts to the fundraiser help keep it going.
Go to the fundraiserIf your club, school or organisation presents an award in Will’s memory, let us know and we’ll add it to the board.
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