AFTER the passing of Western Bulldogs Life Member Eddie Walsh on Christmas Eve, AFL.com.au looks back on a column written by Luke Darcy in August.

Walsh was the Dogs' longest serving employee, spending over 71 years at the club - predominantly as a volunteer - beginning in 1940 as secretary for the thirds and more recently as property steward.

Earlier this year, the Bulldogs named the Eddie Walsh Property Room in his honour, in recognition of his loyalty and work over seven decades at Whitten Oval.

Former Bulldogs champion Darcy remembers Walsh as the heart and soul of the club.

IT'S GREAT to be reminded of what I love about football clubs. Earlier this week, David Smorgon officially honoured a legend of the Western Bulldogs, the 88-year-old property steward Eddie Walsh.

Incredibly, Eddie has spent the past 71 years of his life at the Whitten Oval, working mostly as a volunteer, after having been invited to help in 1940 by Footscray Football Club secretary Roy Russell. He was made a life member 53 years ago.

At 16, Eddie moved from Shepparton to Melbourne into his first and only house located a few hundred metres from the Bulldogs' home ground. Every day since then he has crossed the Footscray station bridge on foot to arrive at the club he has devoted his life to.

Saying 'hello' to Eddie at the start of the training day, then collecting your keys from him at the door on the way out, regardless of how late you had stayed back, was the routine for me and hundreds of others throughout their football careers.

It is very hard to describe the spirit and fabric of a football club to outsiders. In the end it's really about the character of the people present at the time. For the last 70 years, one constant at the Bulldogs has been Eddie Walsh, the quiet, humble man in the property room.

At the end of each season the club would pay Eddie a nominal fee for the thousands of hours of work he'd put in over the year, only for Eddie to promptly donate it back to the club.

A man of relatively few words, you'd know you've made the big time at the club if Eddie sidles up to you on game day with a brand new pair of footy socks without having asked for them.

The level of respect the players have for Eddie was summed up this week by the sheer number of past champions who returned to catch up with the great man.

He has always been a revered figure among the playing group, which made it all the more surprising a few years back to hear a commotion outside the property room.

A high-profile second-year player had a first-year rookie by the throat: "If I ever catch you talking that way to Ed again, I'll knock you out."

It was a fairly direct way to learn that, at the Bulldogs, Eddie Walsh is untouchable.

My fear is that, in our race to expand the game and create an increasingly professional environment, there will soon be no room left in AFL football for people like Eddie.

With the advent of free agency upon us and a clear desire from the AFL for greater player movement, it looks as though we are heading into a future where club loyalty means very little.

Earlier this week, Kevin Sheedy spoke of adopting the NRL style of transfer, where players openly declare mid-season that, the following year, they'll be at another club. 

To me, this clinical approach to transfers doesn't capture the spirit of the game or the passion we have for our clubs and their players.

It is often said that the only constant in life is change and that the faster you adapt the better off you'll be.

That said, it was nice to walk back into the rooms again and say 'hello' to Eddie, just as I've done a thousand times before, and to see Eddie with his head down, marking off names. Business as usual.

And to see the unbridled joy on Ryan Griffen's face when the lid on the salt shaker he'd strategically removed dislodged at the perfect moment, covering Ben Hudson's roast-beef roll in enough salt to make it inedible.

Perhaps some things never change.

The boys tell me that it's not unusual these days to find Ed asleep in his chair, although they swear that the moment you cross the line into the property room, thinking you might get a free crack at the lollies, he jolts back to life in time to catch you out.

The footy club is now giving back some of the enormous debt it owes to Eddie: picking him up from home every morning now that the walk is too much for him and making sure there's enough of a job to keep him important.

In six weeks' time Eddie Walsh will turn 89, and embark on his 72nd year of service at the club. What an amazing story. I look forward to dropping in to say 'hi' for a few more years yet.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs