West 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 and women's competitions.
The WAFL was founded in 1885 as the West Australian Football Association, and has undergone a variety of name changes since then, re-adopting its current name in 2001. For most of its existence, the league was considered one of the traditional "big three" Australian rules football leagues, along with the Victorian Football League and South Australian National Football League. However, since the introduction of two Western Australia-based clubs into the Victorian Football League – the West Coast Eagles in 1987 and the Fremantle Dockers in 1995 – the popularity and standard of the league has decreased to the point where it is considered a feeder competition to the Australian Football League.
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. The league is currently affiliated with the two Western Australia-based AFL clubs. The competition is governed by WA Football.

Clubs

The West Australian Football League operates on a single table system, with no divisions, conferences nor promotion and relegation from other leagues.

Current clubs

  • Denotes that the club is the reserves team of a senior club of the Australian Football League
  • Denotes that the club is the affiliation team of a senior club of the Australian Football League

    Uniforms

Former clubs

Eleven other clubs formerly competed in the competition:

Competition timeline


ImageSize = width:720 height:580
PlotArea = width:620 height:500 left:92 bottom:50
AlignBars = late
BarData=
bar:WP text:West Perth
bar:WC text:West Coast
bar:WA text:West Australian
bar:SD text:Swan Districts
bar:Su text:Subiaco
bar:SF text:South Fremantle
bar:Ro text:Rovers
bar:PH text:Perth High School
bar:Pe text:Perth
bar:PT text:Peel Thunder
bar:NF text:North Fremantle
bar:MJ text:Midland Junction
bar:Im text:Imperials
bar:Ft text:Fremantle
bar:Fr text:Fremantle
bar:Ea text:East Perth
bar:EP text:East Perth
bar:EF text:East Fremantle
bar:Cl text:Claremont
bar:Ce text:Centrals
Colors =
id:grey value:gray
id:lgrey value:gray
id:vlgrey value:gray
id:premier value:brightblue legend:Premier
id:spoon value:rgb legend:Last_place
id:rup value:powderblue # legend:Runner_Up # need more data
id:minor value:orange # legend:Minor_Premier # need more data
id:rup&minor value:lightpurple # legend:R-Up&Minor_Premier # need more data
id:future value:rgb
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1884 till:2025
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1890 gridcolor:lgrey
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1884 gridcolor:vlgrey
PlotData=
color:lgrey width:12
bar:Ce from:1891 till:1891
at:1891 mark: shift: text:Withdrew
bar:Cl from:1925 till:end
at:1926 mark:
at:1927 mark:
at:1928 mark:
at:1931 mark:
at:1932 mark:
at:1933 mark:
at:1934 mark:
at:1938 mark:
at:1939 mark:
at:1940 mark:
at:1945 mark:
at:1946 mark:
at:1958 mark:
at:1962 mark:
at:1963 mark:
at:1964 mark:
at:1973 mark:
at:1975 mark:
at:1981 mark:
at:1987 mark:
at:1989 mark:
at:1991 mark:
at:1993 mark:
at:1996 mark:
at:2011 mark:
at:2012 mark:
bar:EF from:1899 till:end
at:1900 mark:
at:1902 mark:
at:1903 mark:
at:1904 mark:
at:1906 mark:
at:1908 mark:
at:1909 mark:
at:1910 mark:
at:1911 mark:
at:1914 mark:
at:1918 mark:
at:1925 mark:
at:1928 mark:
at:1929 mark:
at:1930 mark:
at:1931 mark:
at:1933 mark:
at:1937 mark:
at:1943 mark:
at:1945 mark:
at:1946 mark:
at:1957 mark:
at:1965 mark:
at:1974 mark:
at:1979 mark:
at:1985 mark:
at:1992 mark:
at:1994 mark:
at:1998 mark:
at:2004 mark:
at:2006 mark:
at:2018 mark:
at:2023 mark:
bar:Ea from:1906 till:end
at:1906 mark:
at:1911 mark:
at:1913 mark:
at:1919 mark:
at:1920 mark:
at:1921 mark:
at:1922 mark:
at:1923 mark:
at:1926 mark:
at:1927 mark:
at:1929 mark:
at:1936 mark:
at:1944 mark:
at:1956 mark:
at:1958 mark:
at:1959 mark:
at:1964 mark:
at:1972 mark:
at:1978 mark:
at:1985 mark:
at:1989 mark:
at:2000 mark:
at:2001 mark:
at:2002 mark:
at:2008 mark:
bar:EP from:1891 till:1892
at:1891 mark:
at:1892 mark: shift: text:Withdrew
bar:Ft from:1886 till:1899
at:1887 mark:
at:1888 mark:
at:1889 mark:
at:1890 mark:
at:1892 mark:
at:1893 mark:
at:1894 mark:
at:1895 mark:
at:1896 mark:
at:1898 mark:
at:1899 mark: shift: text:Withdrew
bar:Fr from:1885 till:1886
at:1886 mark: shift: text:Withdrew
bar:Im from:1895 till:1897
at:1897 mark: shift: text:Withdrew
bar:MJ from:1905 till:1910
at:1909 mark:
bar:MJ from:1914 till:1917
at:1917 mark: shift: text:Withdrew
bar:NF from:1901 till:1915
at:1914 mark:
at:1915 mark: shift: text:Withdrew
bar:PT from:1997 till:end
at:1997 mark:
at:1998 mark:
at:1999 mark:
at:2003 mark:
at:2005 mark:
at:2009 mark:
at:2011 mark:
at:2012 mark:
at:2013 mark:
at:2016 mark:
at:2017 mark:
at:2020 mark:
at:2024 mark:
bar:Pe from:1899 till:end
at:1900 mark:
at:1907 mark:
at:1912 mark:
at:1921 mark:
at:1922 mark:
at:1923 mark:
at:1935 mark:
at:1942 mark:
at:1955 mark:
at:1966 mark:
at:1967 mark:
at:1968 mark:
at:1976 mark:
at:1977 mark:
at:1981 mark:
at:1983 mark:
at:1984 mark:
at:1993 mark:
at:1994 mark:
at:2000 mark:
at:2007 mark:
at:2010 mark:
at:2014 mark:
at:2015 mark:
at:2017 mark:
bar:PH from:1885 till:1885
at:1885 mark: shift: text:Withdrew after two rounds
bar:Ro from:1885 till:1899
at:1885 mark:
at:1891 mark:
at:1892 mark:
at:1893 mark:
at:1894 mark:
at:1896 mark:
at:1897 mark:
at:1899 mark: shift: text:Withdrew midway through the season
bar:SF from:1900 till:end
at:1904 mark:
at:1916 mark:
at:1917 mark:
at:1920 mark:
at:1925 mark:
at:1936 mark:
at:1943 mark:
at:1944 mark:
at:1947 mark:
at:1948 mark:
at:1950 mark:
at:1952 mark:
at:1953 mark:
at:1954 mark:
at:1961 mark:
at:1965 mark:
at:1966 mark:
at:1969 mark:
at:1970 mark:
at:1972 mark:
at:1980 mark:
at:1987 mark:
at:1997 mark:
at:2005 mark:
at:2009 mark:
at:2020 mark:
at:2025 mark:
bar:Su from:1901 till:end
at:1901 mark:
at:1902 mark:
at:1903 mark:
at:1905 mark:
at:1907 mark:
at:1908 mark:
at:1912 mark:
at:1913 mark:
at:1915 mark:
at:1916 mark:
at:1924 mark:
at:1937 mark:
at:1947 mark:
at:1949 mark:
at:1950 mark:
at:1953 mark:
at:1954 mark:
at:1955 mark:
at:1967 mark:
at:1973 mark:
at:1976 mark:
at:1979 mark:
at:1980 mark:
at:1982 mark:
at:1986 mark:
at:1988 mark:
at:1996 mark:
at:2004 mark:
at:2006 mark:
at:2007 mark:
at:2008 mark:
at:2014 mark:
at:2015 mark:
at:2018 mark:
at:2019 mark:
at:2021 mark:
bar:SD from:1934 till:1941
at:1940 mark:
at:1941 mark:
bar:SD from:1943 till:end
at:1948 mark:
at:1951 mark:
at:1952 mark:
at:1956 mark:
at:1957 mark:
at:1959 mark:
at:1960 mark:
at:1961 mark:
at:1962 mark:
at:1963 mark:
at:1968 mark:
at:1970 mark:
at:1971 mark:
at:1977 mark:
at:1978 mark:
at:1982 mark:
at:1983 mark:
at:1984 mark:
at:1986 mark:
at:1988 mark:
at:1990 mark:
at:1995 mark:
at:2001 mark:
at:2002 mark:
at:2010 mark:
at:2016 mark:
at:2019 mark:
bar:WA from:1887 till:1888
at:1887 mark:
at:1888 mark: shift: text:Withdrew
bar:WC from:2019 till:2019
at:2019 mark: shift:
bar:WC from:2021 till:end
at:2021 mark:
at:2022 mark:
at:2023 mark:
at:2024 mark:
at:2025 mark:
bar:WP from:1885 till:end
at:1889 mark:
at:1890 mark:
at:1895 mark:
at:1897 mark:
at:1899 mark:
at:1901 mark:
at:1905 mark:
at:1918 mark:
at:1919 mark:
at:1924 mark:
at:1930 mark:
at:1932 mark:
at:1934 mark:
at:1935 mark:
at:1938 mark:
at:1939 mark:
at:1941 mark:
at:1942 mark:
at:1949 mark:
at:1951 mark:
at:1960 mark:
at:1969 mark:
at:1971 mark:
at:1974 mark:
at:1975 mark:
at:1990 mark:
at:1991 mark:
at:1992 mark:
at:1995 mark:
at:1999 mark:
at:2003 mark:
at:2013 mark:
at:2022 mark:
color:future width:12
bar:WP from:2019 till:end
bar:Wc from:2021 till:end
bar:SD from:2019 till:end
bar:Su from:2019 till:end
bar:SF from:2019 till:end
bar:Pe from:2019 till:end
bar:PT from:2019 till:end
bar:Ea from:2019 till:end
bar:EF from:2019 till:end
bar:Cl from:2019 till:end
Legend = left:50 top:20 columnwidth:90

Venues

Salary cap

Although players are paid, the WAFL is considered a semi-professional competition with a salary cap in place and Total Player Payments equating to around. This is the third highest Australian rules football salary cap after the AFL and SANFL. Each WAFL club has 2 squads of 22 players. In 2023, this equates to approximately on average for a player per season, however some players may be paid much more than this.
YearTPP
2023245,000-
2016294,000191,000
2012217,000-