Western Australian Football League
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The Western Australian Football League (WAFL) was formed in 1885 and has since remained the premier Australian rules football league in Western Australia.
A nine team, single division competition, the season is based around a 22 week or so "home-and-away" (regular) reason starting in March through to August. The top four teams play off in a series of finals culminating in the Grand Final, always held at Subiaco Oval and usually sometime in September.
Although payments are made to players, generally they are so low that no player in the league could be considered a professional. In saying that however players not required by the two Western Australian-based AFL clubs (West Coast Eagles and Fremantle FC) will usually play for a WAFL club instead that weekend.
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Current teams
Teams currently playing in the WAFL include:
History
Organised football in the Perth/Fremantle region of Western Australia dates back to 1881. Back then though rugby was the dominant football code, with only one senior club, "Unions", playing Australian Rules.
In 1883 a second club, "Swans", emerged, but Australian Rules' growth remained much subdued compared to that of Victoria and South Australia.
However in those days many young men of Perth's wealthier families were educated in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia.
On returning home from there they naturally wished to play the sport they'd grown up with and no doubt exerted some influence on their less affluent peers as to such. Coincidentally, the press at the time reported there was a growing dissatisfaction with rugby as a spectacle.
During the 1880s, the discoveries of gold, firstly in the Kimberley, Pilbara and Murchison regions, led to a dramatic increase in WA's population, including many players and supporters of Australian Rules from the eastern colonies.
In 1885 one of the leading rugby clubs, Fremantle, decided to change to Australian Rules. It was quickly joined by three other clubs - "Rovers", "Victorians", and a team of schoolboys from Perth High. The schoolboy side lasted just two matches, but the three other sides went on to contest what in retrospect was viewed as the first ever official Western Australian Football Association (WAFA) premiership, won by Rovers. And virtually overnight Australian Rules football became the dominant code for the spectator as well.
Progress of Australian Rules in Western Australia still lagged behind the big football cities of Melbourne, Adelaide and Geelong however. Numerous clubs came and went giving a very unstable look to the WAFA.
However, the major gold discoveries at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie, coupled with a major international economic depression, caused immigration from the eastern colonies to accelerate. These migrants included a large number of footballers, including some celebrated players and the Goldfields competition,(later known as the Goldfields Football League), was comparable in status and standard to the Perth competition for many years. (This was shown by the fact that it had a separate seat on the Australian National Football Council until 1919.) The higher standard of play that naturally followed, helped to increase the game's popularity and increased the professionalism of the WAFA.
By 1901, the WAFA had grown to have six teams. Up to this point, five sides at most had been in the competition, and this number had invariably changed from year to year, as clubs came and went. And by 1906 there were eight teams — being West Perth, East Perth, East Fremantle, South Fremantle, North Fremantle, Subiaco, Perth and Midland Junction.
In 1908 the WAFA was renamed the Western Australian Football League (WAFL).
Unlike many other sporting competitions, the WAFL didn't go into recess during World War I, although two teams — North Fremantle and Midland Junction — were "casualties" of the war, competing for the last time in 1915 and 1917 respectively.
In 1921, the WAFL followed the idea of the SANFL's Magarey Medal and introduced the Sandover Medal, for the fairest and best player over a season, as voted by the field umpires. The medal has been awarded annually ever since.
Claremont entered the league in 1926, bringing the number of teams back to seven.
In 1932, the WAFL was renamed the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL) - the "national" concept in the name being adopted by the SANFL and a couple of other leagues a few years earlier.
Swan Districts entered the league in 1934. The eight competing sides still remain today and are generally referred to as the "traditional eight clubs".
Because of World War Two, the league only ran an "under age" competition between 1942-44. However, the three premierships won during this time are given equal status to any other, in official records. All clubs competed, with the exception of Swan Districts who could not form a team in 1942, although they were back in 1943.
The 1960s saw crowds get bigger and bigger, as WAFL football captured the hearts and minds of the WA public like never before, and in the 1970s it was easily the biggest show in town.
However, during this period more and more star WAFL players were looking to head to the Victorian Football League (VFL), enticed by the bigger money and the fact that it was more and more gaining a reputation as the "big" league.
This is perhaps best evidenced in that Victoria (i.e. the VFL representative team) had by far the best record in interstate games for a long time. But in 1977, when the first proper State of Origin match was played, it saw Western Australia inflict its biggest defeat on a Victorian team.
In 1980, the WANFL dropped the "N" and reverted back to being called the WAFL.
At this time crowds were as big as they ever were. Soon afterwards, however, interest in the WAFL begain a slow decline, as it became increasingly obvious that even larger numbers of the WAFL's best players were going to head east.
By 1987, the WAFL had decided that the future of the game in WA depended on it entering a team in the VFL. The West Coast Eagles were formed and entered the VFL (the VFL was renamed the AFL in 1990). With many of Western Australia's best players now competing in a team that represented Western Australia on a national scale, it was suddenly apparent that the WAFL was now a second-class competition.
In 1990 the league was renamed the Western Australian State Football League, but it had reverted back to WAFL by 1991.
Another locally-based AFL team, the Fremantle FC were formed in 1995, and this cemented the position of WAFL as a second-class competition. (Indeed, the 1991 introduction of the Adelaide Crows to the VFL/AFL meant that the SANFL was now on the same level as the WAFL.)
WAFL clubs have struggled ever since with their sudden demise from being technically equal to any VFL club, to second class status. However, they have enjoyed some benefits, such as the funds flowing from the WA-based AFL teams and the influx of talented players from other states, attempting to make a name for themselves.
In 1997, Peel Thunder — somewhat controversially — become the ninth WAFL club. Throughout their brief history, they have struggled to compete with the traditional eight clubs, which are generally opposed to their presence. This is partly because having an odd number of teams forces one team to have a bye each week.
Also in 1997, the WAFL was renamed Westar Rules, in a failed attempt to revamp the league's image. However the name again reverted to WAFL in 2001.
Recent years have seen the WAFL stabilise itself as a league a step down from the AFL. Obviously the sudden player drain brought on by the expansion of the VFL into the AFL has lessened the standard of play, however this has recovered somewhat, with "veteran" AFL players returning and new players coming through.
West Australian Football Hall of Fame
On March 12, 2004, a West Australian Football Hall of Fame was formed. On that day a total 81 former players, coaches, umpires, administrators and media representatives were inducted. Further to that eight of these inductees were give the status of "Legend".
While the Hall of Fame exists to honour "West Australian football", a majority of the 81 inaugural members were inducted due to their time in, or their service to the WAFL. Most, if not all, future inductees will most likely be those of Western Australian origin who excel in the AFL.
The original legends (in alphabetical order):
- George Doig
- Barry Cable
- George Moloney
- W.J. "Nipper" Truscott
- Graham Farmer
- John Todd
- Merv McIntosh
- Bill Walker
See also
External link
- Official website (http://www.wafl.com.au/)