page_title: Australian rules football in Western Australia
section_title: Early Beginnings
hierarchical_section_title: Australian rules football in Western Australia / History / Early Beginnings
caption_attribution_description: Statue by Robert Hitchcock outside the gates Fremantle Oval of the famous mark by South Fremantle's John Gerovich over East Fremantle's Ray French at the 1956 WAFL preliminary final- Fremantle, Western Australia.
context_page_description: Australian rules football in Western Australia is the most popular sport in the state.
context_section_description: 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.
  Progress of Australian Rules in Western Australia still lagged behind the big football cities of Melbourne, Adelaide and Geelong however and is evidenced by the unstable nature of the clubs that participated in the early years.
  In 1886 a new club Fremantle based club Unions joined.
  In 1887 Fremantle left the WAFA and the West Australian Football Club joined but they would only play two seasons before they disappeared.
  In 1890 Unions would rename themselves Fremantle as those involved in the game saw the need to identify themselves with the region they were located in.
  1891 Saw two new clubs arrive, Centrals and East Perth, but they would be gone after one and two seasons respectively.
  1899 would be the last season Fremantle would take part. Despite Unions/Fremantle being the most dominant club in the WAFA up to this point winning the competition 10 times in its 13 years of existence, problems with debt saw the club disappear and some people involved with the old entity formed South Fremantle Football Club in its place. Despite the fact that many involved with Fremantle moved onto South Fremantle the new club is not seen as a continuation of the old and did not lay claim to its proud records to that date.
  1899 was also the last time Rovers would take part. The move to regionalisation which saw Unions take on the old Fremantle's name and colours made it difficult for this club that didn't represent a particular area to attract players. They folded and were immediately replaced by Perth Football Club who were promoted from the Perth First Rate Association.
  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 Midl
caption: Statue by Robert Hitchcock outside the gates Fremantle Oval of the famous "specky" by South Fremantle Football Club's John Gerovich over East Fremantle Football Club's Ray French at the 1956 WANFL preliminary final.
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