Goldfields Football League

The league was formed during a meeting held in the Great Boulder Hotel, Kalgoorlie, on 29 July 1896 as the Hannans District Football Association.

Up until the end of the First World War the GFL was considered equal on ability with the WAFL, and a State Championship was contested 12 times between 1903 and 1924, with Goldfields sides winning twice, in 1903 and 1912.

[2] The league also had a seat and full voting rights on the Australian National Football Council until 1919, but participated together with the WAFL as Western Australia in inter-state and inter-colonial matches.

The 1904 Western Australian inter-state touring team included seven GFL players, and half of the 1908 Melbourne Carnival team were GFL players, including the captain Billy Trewhella.

[3] Former clubs include Victorians (1896–97), White Feather (1896–98; 1903–06), Bulong (1897), Rovers (1897), Britannia (1897), Cementers (1898), Kanowna (1899–1901), Paddington (1899), Coolgardie (1901–03; 1905–06), Trafalgar (1902–05), Horseshoe Warriors (1903–08), City (1903), Boulder Stars (1905–06) and Norseman (1971–72; 1974–82).

Bonnie Vale Football Club in 1896, one of dozens of clubs which sprang up during the West Australian gold rushes