West Australian Football League

West Australian Football League

Current season, competition or edition: 2026 WAFL season
Formerly	1885–1907: West Australian Football Association 1931–1979: Western Australian National Football League 1990: Western Australia State Football League 1997–2000: Westar Rules
Sport	Australian rules football
Founded	1885 (1885)
First season	1885 (1885)
Owner	WA Football
No. of teams	10
Region	Western Australia
Most recent champion	Peel Thunder (4th premiership)
Most titles	East Fremantle (30)
Broadcasters	Seven Network AFL Media
Sponsor	Sullivan Logistics
Website	www.wafl.com.au

The West Australian Football League (WAFL /ˈwɒfəl/ "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league consists of ten teams which play a 20-round season from April to September. The top five teams then play a finals series, culminating in a Grand Final. The league also runs reserve, colts (under 19) and women's competitions.

The WAFL was founded in 1885 as the West Australian Football Association (WAFA) and, after several name changes, adopted its current name in 2001. For most of its existence, the league was considered one of the "big three" Australian rules football leagues with the Victorian Football League and South Australian National Football League. Since the introduction of two Western Australia-based clubs into the Victorian Football League (later renamed the Australian Football League)—the West Coast Eagles in 1987 and the Fremantle Dockers in 1995—the league's popularity and quality have decreased to the point where it is considered a feeder competition of the Australian Football League.

Although players are paid, the WAFL is generally considered a semi-professional league with a salary cap of A$245,000 per club. Affiliated with the two Western Australia-based AFL clubs, the league is governed by WA Football.

Clubs

The West Australian Football League has a single table system with no divisions, conferences, promotion or relegation.

Current clubs

Club	Colours	Nickname	Home ground	Capacity	Former league	Est.	Joined WAFL	Premierships
								Total	Most Recent
Claremont*		Tigers	Claremont Oval, Claremont[a]	5,000	WAFA	1906	1926*	12	2012
East Fremantle		Sharks	East Fremantle Oval, East Fremantle[b]	20,000	–	1898	1898-	30	2023
East Perth		Royals	Leederville Oval, Leederville[c]	18,000	PFRJA	1906	1906-	17	2002
Peel (A)		Thunder	Rushton Park, Mandurah	10,000	–	1996	1997-	4	2026
Perth		Demons	Lathlain Park, Lathlain[d]	6,500	PFRJA	1899	1899-	7	1977
South Fremantle		Bulldogs	Fremantle Oval, Fremantle	17,000	–	1900	1900-	15	2025
Subiaco		Lions	Leederville Oval, Leederville[e]	18,000	PFRJA	1896	1901-	16	2021
Swan Districts		Swans	Bassendean Oval, Bassendean	22,000	–	1934	1934-	8	2010
West Coast (R)		Eagles	Lathlain Park, Lathlain[g]	6,500	–	2019	2019-	0	-
West Perth		Falcons	Arena Joondalup, Joondalup[f]	16,000	–	1891	1891-	20	2022

^a Played at the Claremont Showground from 1925 to 1927 and from 2014 to 2016 when Claremont Oval was closed for re-development, and at Subiaco Oval from 1945 to 1947 when Claremont Oval was rebuilt after a 1944 grandstand fire. Known as Claremont-Cottesloe from 1926 to 1934.

^b Played at Fremantle Oval from 1898 to 1952 except 1906 (when home games were played at East Fremantle Oval), and at the WACA Ground (in 2022 and 2023), Fremantle Oval (2024) and Claremont Oval (2024) whilst East Fremantle Oval is re-developed.

^c Played at Wellington Square from 1902 to 1909, at Perth Oval from 1910 to 1987 and 1990 to 1999, and at the WACA Ground during 1988 and 1989. East Perth were affiliated with West Coast from 2014 to 2018.

^d Played at the WACA Ground from 1899 to 1958, and during 1987 and 1988.

^e Played at Shenton Park from 1901 to 1905, at Mueller Park in 1906 and 1907, and at Subiaco Oval from 1908 to 2003.

^f Played at Leederville Oval from 1915 to 1993.

^g Primarily play away games, and often sell their home matches to other clubs. When they play home games, they are at their training base at Lathlain Park.

• (R) Reserves team of a senior club of the AFL
• (A) Affiliated team of a senior club of the AFL

^* Claremont known as Claremont-Cottesloe from 1926 to 1934.

^* Peel have been aligned with Fremantle since 2014.

^* Perth was known as Victoria Park from 1934 to 1935.

Uniforms

Claremont	East Fremantle	East Perth	Peel	Perth
South Fremantle	Subiaco	Swan Districts	West Coast	West Perth

Former clubs

Eleven other clubs formerly competed in the league.

Club	Colours	Nickname(s)	Home ground(s)	Former League	Est.	Years in WAFL	WAFL Premierships		Fate
							Total	Most Recent
Centrals			None/Unknown[h]	–	1891	1891–1891	0	-	Folded after 1891 season
East Perth (I)			None/Unknown[h]	–	1891	1891–1892	0	-	Folded after 1892 season
Fremantle (I)		Fremantleites	Barrack Green, Fremantle	–	1882	1885–1886	1	1886	Folded after 1886 season
High School		Students	High School Grounds, Wembley Downs	–	1885	1885–1885	0	-	Folded two rounds into 1885 season due to lack of players
Imperials		Blue and Whites	Esplanade Park, Fremantle	WAJFA	1892	1895–1897	0	-	Replaced by East Fremantle after the 1897 season
Metropolitan				–	1889	1889-1890	0	-	Replaced by West Perth after the 1890 season
Midland Junction		Midlanders, Railways	Midland Junction Oval, Midland	PFRJA		1905–1910 1914–1917	0	-	Folded after the 1917 season
North Fremantle		Magpies	North Fremantle Oval, North Fremantle	PFRJA	19th century	1901–1915	0	-	Folded after the 1915 season; reformed in 1921, now in the Perth Football League
Rovers		Rovers, Tigers	None/Unknown[h][i]	–	1882	1885–1899	2	1891	Folded after the first 8 rounds of the 1899 season
Unions/ Fremantle (II)*		Ports, Fremantleites	Fremantle Park and Fremantle Oval, Fremantle	–	1882	1886–1899	10	1898	Folded after 1899 season
Victorian				–	1885	1885-1888	0	-	Merged with West Australian to form Metropolitan after 1888 season
West Australian		Wests	New Recreation Ground, Perth [h]	–	1886	1887–1888	0	-	Merged with Victorian to form Metropolitan after 1888 season

^* Fremantle Football Club (II) was known as Unions Football Club from 1886 to 1889.

^* West Australian (1887–1888) merged with Victorians (1885–1888) in 1889 to form the Metropolitan Football Club (1889–1890), which in turn became the West Perth Football Club in 1891

^h Until the turn of the century, there were a limited number of grounds available for the clubs; all clubs shared the different grounds. Esplanade Park and Fremantle Park in Fremantle, and the Old Recreation Ground (Wellington Square) and New Recreation Ground (Esplanade Reserve) in Perth were used as "home" grounds by the above teams.

ⁱ Rovers were a "wandering" team; they had no home ground, and drew players from throughout the metropolitan area.

Former-club uniforms

Centrals	East Perth (I)	Fremantle (I)	High School	Imperials	Metropolitan
Midland Junction	North Fremantle	Rovers	Unions/Fremantle	Victorian	West Australian

Competition timeline

Venues

Bassendean	Bassendean Oval East Fremantle Oval Lathlain Park Leederville Oval Fremantle Oval Claremont Oval Rushton Park Arena Joondalup		East Fremantle
Bassendean Oval			East Fremantle Oval
Capacity: 22,000			Capacity: 20,000
Lathlain			Leederville
Lathlain Park			Leederville Oval
Capacity: 20,000			Capacity: 18,000
Fremantle			Claremont
Fremantle Oval			Claremont Oval
Capacity: 17,000			Capacity: 5,000
Mandurah			Joondalup
Rushton Park			Arena Joondalup
Capacity: 10,000			Capacity: 10,000

Salary cap

Although players are paid, the WAFL is considered a semi-professional league with a salary cap in place and Total Player Payments (TPP) of about A$245,000. This is the third-highest Australian rules football salary cap, after the AFL and SANFL. Each WAFL club has two squads of 22 players. In 2023, this averaged about A$5,000 per player per season; however, some players may be paid much more than this.

Year	TPP	(AFL aligned clubs)
2023	245,000
2016	294,000	191,000
2012	217,000	-

Audience

Media

Television

The WAFL signed a 2022 agreement to broadcast 26 games (including all finals matches) on the Seven Network, with the remaining 72 matches available for streaming on the AFL's app and AFL On Demand service. In January 2015, the league announced a three-year agreement with the Seven Network for the telecast of 18 home and away matches and all finals matches throughout Western Australia. Before this, the WAFL match of the round was broadcast on ABC in Western Australia every Saturday afternoon during the regular home-and-away season. Matches were replayed nationwide on demand by the ABC iView service and re-broadcast on the ABC2 channel on early Friday mornings.

Radio

Radio stations which cover the league include ABC Radio Perth, ABC Radio Grandstand Digital, 91.3 SportFM, 107.3 HFM and KIX Country Digital.

Sponsorship

The WAFL is sponsored by Western Australia-based Sullivan Logistics, who signed a four-year naming-rights deal in 2025. This ended a three-year period with no naming-rights sponsor; previous sponsors were Optus (2019–2021), McDonald's (2015–2018) and AAMI (2010–2014).

Attendance

Attendance at WAFL matches dropped when each of the two Western Australian-based AFL teams entered the league. Attendance has increased slightly, with 2009 recording the first combined annual attendance of more than 200,000 since 1994.

The largest recent crowd was 29,879 at the 2021 WAFL Grand Final between Subiaco and South Fremantle at Optus Stadium. The all-time attendance record is 52,781 in 1979 for East Fremantle v South Fremantle at Subiaco Oval.

Year	# Games played*	H & A total	H & A average	Finals total	Finals average	Total	Average	Grand Final
2024	90	151,060	1,678	46,620	7,770	197,680	2,059	25,481
2023	90	142,120	1,519	43,737	7,290	185,857	1,936	27,104
2022	96	141,176	1,569	34,932	5,822	176,108	1,834	16,791
2021	96	143,454	1,594	50,204	8,367	193,658	2,017	29,879
2020	40	72,301	2,008	22,038	5,510	94,339	2,558	10,179
2019	96	148,281	1,648	32,677	5,446	180,958	1,885	18,941
2018	87	139,673	1,724	42,128	7,021	181,801	2,090	25,064
2017				36,678				18,180
2016				31,599				15,031
2015				30,114				13,094
2014				21,035				11,987
2013				32,565			1,694	20,008
2012				31,376				18,612
2011		199,002