Christy was a highly successful ruckman and centre half-forward who was one of the founders of football in Western Australia.

He became a driving force in establishing football in Western Australia, playing sixteen of his twenty-six seasons there.

Christy retired midway through the 1912 season, a week before his 43rd birthday, and his career total of 345 games remained an elite Australian rules football record until it was broken by Graham "Polly" Farmer in Round 11 of the 1971 WANFL season (Farmer retired at the end of that season with 356 games).

Christy also played 20 interstate football matches for Victoria and Western Australia; if these are included, then he played a total of 365 senior career games, which remained an elite Australian rules football record until it was broken by Farmer in Round 13 of 1970.

Christy's 26 career seasons and ten career premierships (equal with Alfred "Topsy" Waldron) are both records for elite Australian rules football as of 2022; given the nature of the modern game, these records are highly unlikely to ever be broken.