[citation needed] Although payments are made to players, it is generally considered to be a semi-professional competition, with a salary cap of A$245,000 per club.

[13] Before this, the WAFL match of the round was broadcast on ABC throughout Western Australia every Saturday afternoon during the regular home and away season.

Matches were replayed nationwide on-demand from the ABC iView service and re-broadcast on the ABC2 channel early Friday morning at 2.30 am local time.

[15] This ended a three year period where there no naming rights sponsor which were previously held by Optus (2019–2021),[16] And before that McDonald's (2015–2018)[17] and earlier still AAMI (2010–2014).

[18] Attendance at WAFL matches dropped when each of the two Western Australian based AFL teams entered the league.

[19] The largest recent crowd was 29,879 at the 2021 WAFL Grand Final between Subiaco and South Fremantle at Optus Stadium.

*Includes finals games Source(s): WAFL Fixtures & Results Organised football in the Perth/Fremantle region of Western Australia dates back to 1881.

In 1883 a second club, "Swans", emerged, but Australian Rules' growth remained much subdued compared to that of Victoria and South Australia.

[citation needed] However, in those days many young men of Perth's wealthier families were educated in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia.

[citation needed] 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.

[citation needed] 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.

[citation needed] However progress of Australian rules in Western Australia still lagged behind the big football cities of Melbourne, Adelaide and Geelong and is evidenced by the unstable nature of the clubs that participated in the early years.

[citation needed] In 1887 Fremantle left the WAFA and the West Australian Football Club joined but they would only play two seasons before they disappeared.

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.

The contest was played intermittently between 1903 and 1924 and the winning team accorded the title Champions of Western Australia.

The eight competing sides at this point still remain today and are often referred to as the "traditional eight clubs" as opposed to Peel who would join much later on.

WANFL secretary Billy Orr supported the admission of teams from Inglewood and South Perth.

From 1956 to 1961 it would be East Perth's turn to dominate the WAFL with them featuring in all 6 Grand Finals of this period and coming out with 3 victories.

Their team featured Graham Farmer who would leave at the end of the '61 season and carve out a reputation in the VFL as one of the game's greatest ever players.

This is perhaps best evidenced in that Victoria (i.e. the VFL representative team) had by far the best record in interstate games for a long time.

But in 1977, when the first proper State of Origin match was played, it saw Western Australia inflict its biggest defeat on a Victorian team.

All 5 of these grand final wins came at the expense of East Perth who earned the bridesmaid tag in this era.

Crowds had been buoyed by State of Origin football that saw Western Australia's best players return home briefly, but this effect was short lived.

In 1986 the decision had been made that the WAFL needed to become involved in helping the VFL, where several clubs were also struggling financially, to become national.

Another locally based AFL team, the Fremantle Football Club were formed in 1994, and this cemented the position of WAFL as a second-class competition.

However, they have enjoyed some benefits, such as the funds flowing from the WA-based AFL teams and the influx of talented players from other states, attempting to make a name for themselves.

It is becoming fairly common, however, for young players to be drafted as 17- or 18-year-olds directly to the AFL and not play in the WAFL football for more than a few games.

On 12 March 2004, a West Australian Football Hall of Fame was formed when 81 former players, coaches, umpires, administrators and media representatives were inducted.

The judges were The West Australian's sports reporter Ross Lewis, Football Budget editor Tracey Lewis, Claremont CEO Todd Shimmon, former players Clint Roberts, Bill Monaghan, Todd Ridley plus historians Greg Wardell-Johnson and Steve Davies.