William John Luff (15 January 1886 – 6 September 1952) was an Australian rules footballer who played with the Richmond in the Victorian Football League (VFL).^[1]

The son of Richmond City Councillor, Charles Osborne Luff (1851-1922),^[2] and Charlotte Luff (1854-1943), née Entwhistle,^[3] William John Luff was born on 15 January 1886.

He married Sarah Ross (1888-1976) in 1909. Their son, William Norman Charles Luff, a.k.a. "Bill Luff" played with Camberwell in the VFA and, then, with Essendon in the VFL.

He died on 6 September 1952.^[4]

He was a "tall, lightly-built" half-back flanker, "who was a fine high mark [and] possessed sound judgement and a good football brain".^[5]

Along with his brother Jim, Luff played for Richmond in the VFA competition from 1905 to 1907.

Richmond entered the VFL competition in 1908; and Luff played with 39 senior games for Richmond over three seasons (1908-1910). He was the first Richmond (VFL) footballer to represent Victoria — he played three games for Victoria in the Jubilee Australasian Football Carnival of 1908.

He transferred to Prahran in 1911.^[6] Where he played one game. ^[7]

In 1914, he was cleared from Prahran to the Beverley Football Club, in the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association.^[8]

• 1908 Melbourne Carnival

• Hogan P: The Tigers Of Old, Richmond FC, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-646-18748-1
• Holmesby, R. & Main, J., The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (Tenth Edition), BAS Publishing, (Seaford, Victoria), 2014. ISBN 978-1-921496-32-5

• Bill Luff Sr.'s playing statistics from AFL Tables
• Bill Luff Sr. at AustralianFootball.com