West Australian Football Commission

Last updated

West Australian Football Commission
West Australian Football Commission logo.png
Sport Australian rules football
Jurisdiction Western Australia
AbbreviationWAFC
Founded1989;35 years ago (1989)
Headquarters Tuart Hill, Western Australia
ChairmanIan Callaghan (from 1 January 2025) [1]
CEO Michael Roberts
Official website
wafootball.com.au
Flag of Western Australia.svg

The West Australian Football Commission (WAFC) is the governing body of Australian rules football in the state of Western Australia. The organisation is registered as a not-for-profit association. [2]

Contents

The WAFC assists in administering the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and is the owner of Australian Football League (AFL) teams Fremantle Dockers and West Coast Eagles. [2]

History

Football in Western Australia was broke in the late 1980s and reliant on State Government handouts. State sports minister, Graham Edwards, demanded changes to the game's administrative structure, which led to the establishment of the WAFC in 1989. Future Hall of Famer Peter Tannock was chair of the WAFC for its first 10 years. [3]

When the WAFC was formed, the Eagles were insolvent and unsuccessful, the WAFL was in serious trouble and Subiaco Oval needed an overhaul desperately. By 1991, the Eagles and WAFL were rescued from financial ruin and planning began for a second WA AFL team. Both the Eagles and Dockers had $4 million upfront licence fees upon joining the AFL, which attributed to the financial troubles of the WAFC. [4]

In 2020, a parliamentary committee inquiry into the WAFC was established [3] [5] after it was revealed that a third of its revenue went to commission staff payments. [6] Sports Minister Mick Murray had concerns that not enough money was being spent on grassroots football by the WAFC. [7] The WAFC sought to make drastic spending cuts following the revelations [6] but the organisation defended its staff structure and salaries. [7] As of 2020, the State Government provided $11 million a year to the WAFC as part of the proceeds from Optus Stadium. [6] The inquiry found that the Eagles and Dockers had "too much power" in deciding the make-up of the WAFC board and the election of commissioners had to be reformed to be more representative of community football. [8] [9]

Districts

The WAFC has three Regional Development Councils in the Perth metropolitan area, with each council consisting of three districts. [10] [11] [12]

CouncilsDistrictsLocation
Metro North Claremont Claremont
Subiaco Leederville
West Perth Joondalup
Metro Central East Perth Leederville
Perth Lathlain
Swan Districts Bassendean
Metro South East Fremantle East Fremantle
Peel Mandurah
South Fremantle Fremantle

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Coast Eagles</span> Australian rules football club

The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football League. The club plays its home games at Optus Stadium and has its headquarters at Lathlain Park. The West Australian Football Commission wholly owns the West Coast Eagles and the Fremantle Football Club, the AFL's other Western Australian team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fremantle Football Club</span> Australian rules football club

The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of Fremantle, a stronghold of Australian rules football in Western Australia. The Dockers were the second team from the state to be admitted to the competition, following the West Coast Eagles in 1987. Both Fremantle and the West Coast Eagles are owned by the West Australian Football Commission (WAFC), with a board of directors operating Fremantle on the commission's behalf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Australian Football League</span> Australian football league

The West Australian Football League is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from April to September, with the top five teams playing off in a finals series, culminating in a Grand Final. The league also runs reserves, colts (under-19) and women's competitions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peel Thunder Football Club</span> Australian rules football club

The Peel Thunder Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The team is based in Mandurah, Western Australia, with their home ground being Rushton Park. The club joined the WAFL as an expansion team in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian rules football in Western Australia</span>

Australian rules football is the most popular sport in Western Australia (WA). There are 29 regional club competitions, the highest profile of which is the semi-professional West Australian Football League. It is governed by the West Australian Football Commission (WAFC). With more than 95,000 registered adult players, it has the second largest of any jurisdiction, accounting for almost a fifth of players nationally and growing faster than any other state.

Fremantle Football Club's drafting and trading history is often cited as a reason for their poor on-field record; the club took eight years to reach a final, and won their first final in 2006. In recent years, however, they have been successful in finding good players with late round and rookie list selections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Walters</span> Australian rules footballer

Michael Walters is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Originally playing mainly as a small forward, Walters has recently spent more time in the midfield. In 2019 he was rewarded with his debut selection in the All-Australian team.

Adam Cockie is a former professional Australian rules footballer. He played with the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 2009 to 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Morabito</span> Australian rules footballer

Anthony Morabito is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was delisted in 2016 after multiple knee reconstructions and several other injuries.

The 2012 WAFL season was the 128th season of the West Australian Football League and its various incarnations. The season opened on 17 March, with Subiaco hosting West Perth at Leederville Oval, and concluded with the 2012 WAFL Grand Final, in which Claremont defeated East Fremantle by 26 points. The 2012 Sandover Medal was won by Kane Mitchell of Claremont, while the leading goalkicker was South Fremantle's Ben Saunders.

Brady Grey is an Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cam McCarthy</span> Australian rules footballer (1995–2024)

Cameron Alex McCarthy was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Greater Western Sydney Giants and Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Joshua Deluca is a former professional Australian rules footballer who last played for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) after being delisted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shane Yarran</span> Australian rules footballer

Shane Yarran was an Australian rules footballer. He played for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) in the 2016 season. Yarran also played for Subiaco and Peel Thunder in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and for Kelmscott and Gosnells in the Western Australian Amateur Football League (WAAFL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiah Toth</span> Australian rules footballer (born 1993)

Tiah Toth is an Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Dixon</span> Australian rules footballer

Hugh Dixon is an Australian rules footballer who currently plays for the Southport Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL), having previously played for Fremantle and West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL) and East Fremantle in the West Australian Football League (WAFL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trent Cooper</span> Australian rules footballer and coach

Trent Aaron Cooper is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. Cooper was the senior coach of Fremantle Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW) for five seasons before departing the club in November 2022 after not being offered a new contract.

The 2021 WAFL season is the 137th season of the various incarnations of the West Australian Football League (WAFL). The season commenced on 2 April and concluded with the Grand Final on 2 October. The West Coast Eagles reserves re-joined the competition, which increased the number of competing clubs to ten.

Greg Clark is a former Australian rules footballer who last played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Joshua Draper is an Australian rules footballer, currently playing for Fremantle in the Australian Football League.

References

  1. ↑ Quartermain, Glen (22 August 2024). "Wayne Martin to step down as chair of West Australian Football Commission at the end of 2024". The West Australian . Archived from the original on 22 August 2024.
  2. 1 2 "About Us". West Australian Football Commission. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  3. 1 2 Law, Peter (2 September 2020). "Former State sports minister Graham Edwards adds to outrage over WA Football Commission". The West Australian . Archived from the original on 7 June 2024.
  4. ↑ King, Rhianna (26 September 2013). "Growing pains long and hard". The West Australian . Archived from the original on 7 June 2024.
  5. ↑ Law, Peter (25 June 2020). "Parliamentary inquiry announced into WA Football Commission following salary scandal". The West Australian . Archived from the original on 7 June 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 Townsend, John (12 June 2020). "WA Football Commission set to make drastic spending cuts after staff payment leaks". The West Australian . Archived from the original on 7 June 2024.
  7. 1 2 de Kruijff, Peter (19 August 2020). "WA Football Commission inquiry: Chairman Wayne Martin slams staff number 'speculation'". The West Australian . Archived from the original on 7 June 2024.
  8. ↑ de Kruijff, Peter (12 November 2020). "Inquiry calls for Eagles and Dockers' power over WA football to be reined in". WAtoday . Archived from the original on 7 June 2024.
  9. ↑ Law, Peter (12 November 2020). "Parliamentary inquiry finds Eagles, Dockers have 'too much power' and WAFC board election must be reformed". The West Australian . Archived from the original on 7 June 2024.
  10. ↑ "Metro North Regional Development Council". West Australian Football Commission. Archived from the original on 7 June 2024.
  11. ↑ "Metro Central Regional Development Council". West Australian Football Commission. Archived from the original on 7 June 2024.
  12. ↑ "Metro South Regional Development Council". West Australian Football Commission. Archived from the original on 7 June 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.