Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh stabbed to death, son charged with his murder

News of Crows coach Phil Walsh's death has rocked Australia

Australian Rules football coach Phil Walsh has been stabbed to death and his son charged with his murder.

Police and ambulance crews were called to the Adelaide Crows coach’s Adelaide home in the early hours of Friday morning and found the 55-year-old coach had suffered multiple knife wounds after a dispute with his son.

Paramedics attempted to resuscitate Walsh but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Walsh's son Cy, 26, was charged with murder after being arrested at a friend's house and detained for psychological assessment.

Police understood that the son lived with his parents. Walsh's wife also suffered a "non-life threatening" leg injury in the incident and was taken to hospital.

Australian Rules football, the country's high-contact indigenous sport, is hugely popular in the nation's southern states and draws huge crowds in the top-flight Australian Football League (AFL).

Born in a country town in southern Victoria state, Walsh played 122 games for three elite football teams before moving into coaching in the 1990s.

He took over as head coach of the Crows during the off-season.

Crows chairman Rob Chapman said the club were devastated

"This is a crisis unprecedented, there is no rule book, and we are dealing with it," Adelaide club chairman Rob Chapman said. "The point is just to get people through today."

The news of his death stunned the football-mad capital of South Australia state, where crowds of 50,000 regularly pack out the Adelaide Oval to watch the Crows, back-to-back champions in 1997-98.

Counsellors were being flown into Adelaide to help players deal with their grief, as tributes from fans, rival teams and other Australian sports figures flooded social media.              

"Sad news about the passing of Phil Walsh, our thoughts are with his family and friends," Australia national cricket coach Darren Lehmann posted on Twitter.              

"RIP Phil Walsh," Australian tennis coach and respected ESPN pundit Darren Cahill tweeted. "So sad & tragic."   

The AFL cancelled their game against Geelong Cats on Sunday after talking to clubs and players. The teams will split the championship points.