Founded | 1896 |
---|---|
Country | Australia |
Number of teams | 12 |
Level on pyramid | 2 |
Relegation to | State League 1 |
Domestic cup(s) | Football West State Cup Australia Cup |
Current champions | Stirling Macedonia (2023) |
Current premiers | Perth RedStar (2023) |
Most championships | Perth SC (Azzurri, Italia) (25 titles) |
TV partners | NPL.TV |
Website | Football West NPL |
Current: 2023 NPL WA |
The National Premier Leagues Western Australia is a regional Australian semi-professional soccer league comprising teams from Western Australia. The league name is often abbreviated to NPL Western Australia or NPL WA. As a subdivision of the National Premier Leagues, the league is the highest level of the Western Australian league system (Level 2 of the overall Australian league system). The competition is administered by Football West, the governing body of the sport in the state. In 2014, the league – formerly known as the Football West State League Premier Division – was rebranded into what exists today.
This article or section appears to be slanted towards recent events.(July 2020) |
NPL WA traces its origin to the formation of a league by the Perth British Football Association in 1896. [1] By the 1950s, the association was known as the Western Australian Soccer Football Association (WASFA). In, 1960 eight teams formed their own association, the Soccer Federation of Western Australia (SFWA). The WASFA and SFWA ran rival leagues between 1960 and 1962 before the SFWA prevailed. [2] Ahead of the 1991 season, 11 SFWA clubs broke away, forming the Soccer Administration of Western Australia (SAWA). The SAWA ran the rebel Professional Soccer League (PSL) in parallel with the SFWA first division until merging before the 1993 season to form the Professional Soccer Federation of Western Australia (PSF). [3] [4]
Several of the clubs currently playing in the league were formed as the soccer arm of cultural associations of recently migrated Australians, with certain teams having associations with particularly nationalities e.g. Swan Italian Club (now Swan United), Bayswater Inter (now Bayswater City) and Perth Italia (now Perth SC) with Italian Australians, Morley Windmills with Dutch Australians, Floreat Athena with Greek Australians, Benfica United (now Fremantle Spirit) with Portuguese Australians, Inglewood Kiev (now Inglewood United) with Ukrainian Australians, North Perth Croatia (now Western Knights) with Croatian Australians, Spearwood Dalmatinac (now part of Cockburn City) with Yugoslavian Australians, Shamrock Rovers with Irish Australians, Dianella White Eagles with Serbian Australians and Stirling Macedonia with Macedonian Australians. In 1994 clubs were forced by the sport's governing body to remove all references to ethnicities from their names, which resulted in several forced name changes. Some clubs reverted back to their former names after 2019, when the National Club Identity Policy was revoked. More recently, new clubs have begun to be based geographically, such as with Armadale SC and Cockburn City.
The West Australian National Training Centre included a team for the 2011–2013 seasons. They did not play for competition points, and were mostly used for development of the upcoming youth players.
In 2013 Football Federation of Australia introduced the new second tier competition for football in Australia, the National Premier Leagues. In 2014 Football West then reorganised the former State Premier League into the National Premier Leagues Western Australia conference and the State League (Division One and Division Two). The NPL WA competition fields a Senior first team, as well as youth teams from U12 to U20 age groups. The Perth Glory FC Youth team competes in the Senior category and has additional age restrictions. [5]
Promotion and relegation between the NPL and the State League Division 1 became possible for the first time at the end of the 2015 season, provided the winner of the State Division 1 met Football West's promotion requirements. [5] Two teams were promoted after the 2016 season to expand the league into a 14 team competition. [6] After a further competition review the 2019 NPLWA season returned to a twelve-team competition. [7] In 2020, promotion and relegation was suspended for the season, due to the impacts on the competition from the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. [8]
The following 12 clubs are competing in the 2023 NPL WA season.
Club | Location | Ground | Capacity |
---|---|---|---|
Armadale | Armadale | Alfred Skeet Oval | 500 |
Balcatta | Balcatta | Grindleford Reserve | 1,000 |
Bayswater City | Bayswater | Frank Drago Reserve | 5,000 |
Cockburn City | Cockburn | Dalmatinac Park | 2,000 |
Floreat Athena | Leederville | Litis Stadium | 5,000 |
Inglewood United | Inglewood | Inglewood Stadium | 5,536 |
Olympic Kingsway | Madeley | Kingsway Sporting Complex | 2,000 |
Perth Glory Youth | Perth | Hartfield Park, Forrestfield | 2,000 |
Perth SC | West Perth | Dorrien Gardens | 4,000 |
Perth RedStar | Joondalup | RedStar Arena | 2,500 |
Sorrento | Sorrento | Percy Doyle Reserve | 5,000 |
Stirling Macedonia | Balcatta | Macedonia Park | 5,000 |
Year | Premiership | Champions | NPL Finals Representation |
---|---|---|---|
2014 | Bayswater City | Bayswater City | Bayswater City – Quarter Finalist |
2015 | Bayswater City U | – | Bayswater City – Runners up |
2016 | Perth SC | Perth SC | Perth SC – Semi Finalist |
2017 | Bayswater City | Bayswater City | Bayswater City – Quarter Finalist |
2018 | Perth SC | Perth SC | Perth SC – Quarter Finalist |
2019 | Perth SC | Perth SC | Perth SC – Semi Finalist |
2020 | — [lower-alpha 1] | ECU Joondalup [lower-alpha 2] Floreat Athena [lower-alpha 3] | — [lower-alpha 4] |
2021 | Perth SC | Perth SC | — [lower-alpha 5] |
2022 | Floreat Athena | Perth RedStar | |
2023 | Perth RedStar | Stirling Macedonia |
Soccer in Western Australia is the most participated code of football, though it is a distant second in overall interest behind Australian rules football in Western Australia. It is governed by Football West. Football West runs the National Premier Leagues Western Australia, State Leagues, Sunday League and Metropolitan League. There are also numerous casual and school competitions, as well as futsal and indoor soccer in competitive and social games.
Western Knights Soccer Club is an Australian soccer club currently playing in the Football West State League Division 1 in Perth, Western Australia. Its home ground is Nash Field, in the Town of Mosman Park. Since 2018, the club expanded its junior program to include Len Packham Reserve in the City of Cockburn as well as Nash Field.
Floreat Athena Football Club is an association football (soccer) club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club competes in the National Premier Leagues Western Australia. The club's founders were of Greek heritage.
Inglewood United Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Inglewood, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. The club competes in the National Premier Leagues Western Australia. The club is based at Inglewood Stadium.
Gwelup Croatia is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Gwelup in Perth, Western Australia, founded in 1988. Gwelup Croatia currently competes in the Football West State League 1, with matches played at the Croatian Sporting Complex in Gwelup. They also compete in the Metropolitan League, Masters League, Ladies League, and in Juniors teams. The club regularly competes in the Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament.
The Football West State League Division 1 is a regional Australian semi-professional association football league comprising teams from Western Australia. The league sits at Level 2 on the Western Australian league system. The competition is administered by Football West, the governing body of the sport in the state. The league has been called the All Flags State League Division 1 due to sponsorship arrangements since 2011.
Subiaco AFC is a soccer club based in the city of Subiaco, Western Australia, with their home grounds at Rosalie Park. They are considered one of the biggest footballing teams in the state, with over 110 teams participating in various Football West competitions.
Football West National Training Centre, simply known as FW NTC, is a soccer academy based in Perth, Western Australia.
The 2014 Football West season was the first season under the new competition format in Western Australia. The overall premier for the new structure qualified for the National Premier Leagues finals series, competing with the other state federation champions in a final knockout tournament to decide the National Premier Leagues Champion for 2014.
The 2015 Football West season was the second season under the new competition format in Western Australia. The overall premier for the new structure qualified for the National Premier Leagues finals series, competing with the other state federation champions in a final knockout tournament to decide the National Premier Leagues Champion for 2015.
Western Australian soccer clubs competed in 2015 for the Football West State Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the Cool Ridge Cup. Clubs entered from the National Premier Leagues WA, the two divisions of the State League, a limited number of teams from various divisions of the 2015 Amateur League competition, and from regional teams invited from the South West, Goldfields, Great Southern and Midwest regions. This knockout competition was won by Sorrento FC, their third title.
The 2016 Football West season was the third season under the new competition format in Western Australia. The overall premier for the new structure – Perth – qualified for the National Premier Leagues finals series, competing with the other Federation champions in a final knockout tournament to decide the National Premier Leagues Champion for 2016.
Western Australian soccer clubs will compete in 2016 for the Football West State Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the Cool Ridge Cup. Clubs entered from the National Premier Leagues WA, the two divisions of the State League, a limited number of teams from various divisions of the 2016 Amateur League competition, and from regional teams from the South West, Goldfields, Great Southern and Midwest regions.
Forrestfield United Soccer Club is a football club in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1962 as Cottesloe Soccer Club. It is a regional community club in the City of Kalamunda situated at Hartfield Park in the foothills of the picturesque Darling Ranges, with over 600 players and close to 800 members. The club offers a development pathway with Football Federation Australia accredited coaches via its Junior NPL program all the way through to its semi-professional senior team. Forrestfield United is known to have some of the best Junior NPL squads in the state and is an NPL club to keep your eyes on for the future.
The 2017 Football West season was the fourth season under the new competition format in Western Australia. The NPL premier Bayswater City qualified for the National Premier Leagues finals series, and were eliminated at the quarter-final stage.
The 2018 Football West season was the fifth season under the current competition format in Western Australia. The NPL premiers Perth SC qualified for the National Premier Leagues finals series.
The 2019 Football West Season was the sixth season since the National Premier Leagues was established in Western Australia.
The National Premier Leagues WA Women, also known as the NPL WA Women, is a soccer competition in Western Australia. The competition is conducted by Football West, the organising body in Western Australia. The league is a subdivision of the second tier National Premier Leagues Women's structure, which sits below the national A-League Women, it is the highest tier of local women's competition in Western Australia. The league was founded in 2020 in Western Australia, several years behind equivalent leagues in other states.
The 2022 Football West season was the ninth season since the establishment of the National Premier Leagues in Western Australia.
Western Australian soccer clubs competed in 2022 for the Football West State Cup. Perth-based clubs entered from the National Premier Leagues WA, the two divisions of the State League, a limited number of teams from various divisions of the 2022 Amateur League and 2022 Metropolitan League competitions. There were also regional teams from the South West and Great Southern regions.