Australian rules football in Western Australia
| Australian rules football in Western Australia | |
|---|---|
| Governing body | West Australian Football Commission |
| Representative team | Western Australia |
| First played | 1881, Fremantle |
| Registered players | 100,009 (total) 12,050(adult) |
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Club competitions
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Audience records
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| Single match | 52,781 (1979). WAFL Grand Final. East Fremantle v South Fremantle. (Subiaco Oval, Perth) |
Australian rules football in Western Australia is the most popular sport in the state.
Organised football in the Perth/Fremantle region of Western Australia dates back to 1881. Back then though rugby union was the dominant football code. Only one senior club, "Unions", played 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 The High School. 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.
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