West Perth Football Club


The West Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Falcons, is an Australian rules football club located in Joondalup, Western Australia. West Perth competes in the West Australian Football League and WAFL Women's and is the oldest existing Australian rules football club in Western Australia. Originally located at Leederville Oval, the team was relocated in 1994 to Arena Joondalup, a sports complex in the northern suburbs of Perth. The team's club song is "It's a Grand Old Flag" and its traditional rivals are East Perth.

History

The Victorian Football Club was established at a meeting on 2 May 1885. The new team was to play its games at the Recreation Ground and wear the colours cardinal and navy. Two weeks after the establishment of the new club it formed the WAFA together with Rovers and Fremantle. The three clubs, along with High School were to play out the 1885 season, however High School dropped out after just two rounds.
The West Australian Football Club was established in 1886 and were admitted to the competition for the 1887 season. At a meeting of the two clubs on 16 April 1889, it was unanimously decided to amalgamate the two clubs – West Australian and Victorians – into a single club known as the Metropolitan Football Club for the 1889 season. The West Australian colours of black and red were to be maintained for the new club. In 1891, a meeting of footballers was held to form a new team, to be called West Perth, which embraced the members of the then-defunct Metropolitan Football Club. The new club was immediately granted entry into the WA Football Association and won its first premiership in 1897.
In 1915 the team became the original tenant of the newly built Leederville Oval where it would remain based until 1993, at which time the team moved to Joondalup to play games at Arena Joondalup from the 1994 season onwards. Since relocating, the Falcons have enjoyed relative success with five premierships from nine grand finals, the most recent flag coming in 2022.
In 2022 the club became the seventh active club to participate in the WAFL Women's, the premier state-based competition for female footballers.
In February 2024, the City of Joondalup asked the football club to consider changing their name to the 'Joondalup Football Club' or 'Northern Football Club,' considering they have resided in Joondalup for 30 years. The football club and the City of Joondalup are yet to agree on a naming deal.
Since joining the WAFLW competition, the club celebrated real success with a Preliminary Final appearance in just their third season in the competition. Marking West Perth Football Clubs' Women's WAFLW side as the most successful expansion side since the WAFLW began.
West Perth Football Clubs' Rogers Cup side is amongst some of the most successful teams in Australian sporting history. Winning the flag in an undefeated season in 2021, this was backed up by 2-undefeated seasons in 2023 and 2024, culminating in a further 2 premierships for the club. As at August 2024, the Rogers Cup team sit at 34 wins in a row - An impressive undefeated streak.

Club song

Honours

Club honours

Individual honours

Sandover Medallists:
Simpson Medallists:
Bernie Naylor Medalists:
All-Australians:
300 games
200 games:
''Indicates current listed players''

Club records

Highest score:
Lowest score:
Most games:
Highest goal kicker :
Highest goal kicker :
Highest goal kicker :
Longest serving captain:
Longest serving coach:
Most club champion awards won:
Record home attendance:
'''Record finals attendance:'''

WA Football Hall of Fame

West Perth players who have been inducted into the West Australian Football Hall of Fame:
PlayerYear inducted
Fred Buttsworth2004
Bill Dempsey2004
Brian Foley2004
Barney Grecian2004
Stan Heal2004
Fred McDiarmid2004
Ray Schofield2004
Ray Scott2004
Max Tetley2004
Ted Tyson2004
Mel Whinnen2004
Jim Craig2005
Les Fong2006
Brian France2006
Jim Gosnell2007
Alan Watling2009
Wally Price2010
Don Marinko, Sr.2011
Frank Hopkins2013
John Wynne2015
Derek Kickett2017
John Loughridge2019

Premierships

Grand finals

Last premiership team

Club coaches

Club captains

Current squad

''As of October 2022:''

Team of the Century

AFL/VFL players (including rookies)

This is a list of West Perth players who have played at AFL/VFL level: