My day at the WAFL

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Over the Easter Weekend I went over to Perth to visit a friend and on the Saturday got him to drop me off at the WAFL match at Arena Joondalup between West Perth and Swan Districts. Arena Joondalup is the new home of West Perth who used to play at Leederville oval which is close to the city. West Perth moved to Joondalup for reasons similar to South Adelaide moving to Noarlungta however the ground isn't as far out of the city nor is it as cold.

The day started off by a West Perth volunteer convincing me to buy a raffle ticket. Next I entered the ground at a charge of $10 which included a free Budget.

The ground was surrounded by a grass mound apart from a Grandstand on the South Western flank which had a couple of blocks of terrace seating in front of it about 15 rows high. The only exception to the mounding was a little shelter shed where quite a few gathered which was in a very similar position to where the opposition supporters gather at Noarlunga on the North Western flank.

Catering and toilets were situated underneath the Grandstand. The other place to get food, drink and alcohol was in the South Western pocket.

Just before the match commenced I went up to the bar and grabbed a beer. My choices were Tooheys Extra Dry, Some light beer I can't remember what, Emu Bitter and 4x Gold all in cans. I grabbed an Emu bitter just to enter into the WA spirit for the day. I mentioned to the barman I was from SA and stirred him up by saying that in our comp 5mins before the game youd have to at least line up behind 1 or 2 people to get a beer. He came up with a good reply guaranteeing me I would not be tasting a beer as bad as West End or Southwark which turned out to be correct (all a matter of taste of course). Even allowing for the fact I was holiday and the beer generally tastes better Emu Bitter left West End and Southwark for dead.

The crowd seemed around the 1500 mark and most of the people I talked to agreed. Swan Districts had a fraction more supporters than South get to away games but no more than West or Glenelg. There were certainly less scarves and flags around than our comp and neither side had anything that resembled a cheer squad. According to the people I spoke to Swan Districts have one of the best travelling supporter bases in the competition which means the atmosphere of most matches must be very one-sided.

The match was quite free flowing with a lot of skill errors in the first half and West Perth led at half time by 41 points. Swan Districts came back and won an entertaining match by 9 points and chaired their captain off the ground after his 150th game. On the whole it wasnt as physical and the skills were a bit down compared to our comp. I thought there was less possesion footy than in the SANFL but im only going on one game.

I was amazed when at Quater time the Swan Districts coach realised a couple of messages wern't delivered by the runners to the players and the coach had to say to the runners make sure you deliver the messages boys. I could not believe that this sort of error could be made at league level. It was just another little thing that left me with a lesser opinion of the competition. Whats more the runners appeared to be 23 or 24 yeras of age.

The paper the next day claimed the match was the best for the season so far and that there was "about 4000" there. What a lot of rubbish the latter is.

On the whole I enjoyed myself and its good top see there are still people passionate about WAFL football. Most things about the comp just appear to be about 20-30% off what we have here and it does make you feel proud that we do things better and have a better competition.

The only thing they have over us is the fact that the Saturday paper dedicates a page to the weekends games.

[drebin]

It was on ABC2 last night and you were right about the crowd numbers.

[Thunder_Egan]

Hey guys, I am a WAFL fan, this seems like an awesome forum. I didn't go to Joondalup on Saturday...was at Rushton Park watching my lads cream East Freo...remember the name Gumbleton - He's going to be a superstar.

But I went to Joondalup a few weeks ago, when the Thunder play and the crowd attendance that day was 1600

I watched ABC 2 last night and the crowd was not 4000 but it was in the late 2000's at least

Joondalup has steeper embankments then many other SANFL Grounds, larger grass banks, people tend to spread out at WAFL games rather then bunch up, but if you add it all up and take time to make a crowd prediction it often adds up...

The Grandstand holds at least 1000 people and they easily had about 5-600 people in the stand.

Then the Western Embankment was fairly full, with the entire grass bank areas holding at least 2000, a lot of people were disguised on the top parts of the Arena Joondalup hill

Then you have the Bar areas of West Perth that a huge proportion watch the game from, you never see them on Tv or at the game but if you go for a drink or a bite to eat, there is often about 200 gathered there.

Then you add the players - Colts, Reserves and League - many whom stay to watch league, volunteers, match day officials, ground managers, and those parents that leave after Colts and Reserves and the numbers are about 2,500

I reckon when the crowd statistics come out it will be pretty close to 3000...but being at a 1500 game last week at Rushton Park it was more then double that crowd!

Good post though, hope you enjoyed your WAFL action, you picked a bloody good game to go to...but the skills are not that flash hot, Sth Fremantle and Subiaco FC are heads and tails above the rest - as you will see with the thumping that Sth Freo should give Swans this week.

Subiaco thumped Swan Districts in first round...it was a good game because Beros is a legend in WAFL footy, they came back from 40 points down...it was no reflection on the skills, which I thought to be ok but I'd expect it to be better for Subi and Sth Freo, but SANFL is no doubt a better competition then the WAFL.

Anyways will post the Official Attendance when it gets posted.

[Dissident]

Hey guys, I am a WAFL fan, this seems like an awesome forum. I didn't go to Joondalup on Saturday...was at Rushton Park watching my lads cream East Freo...remember the name Gumbleton - He's going to be a superstar.

Scott Gumbleton ? I follow the draft prospects a bit - heard he's going to be a player for sure. Have you seen much of Leroy Jetta?

[Thunder_Egan]

Watched Sth Freo destroy Peel Thunder last week.

Jetta played Reserves I think...Sth Freo are an unbelievably strong side - Will be hard for him to get into the league side at that club.

Will be watching Sth Freo play Swan Districts in a fortnight, will look out for Jetta for you.

[Footy Chick]

Also watch out for a kid that started playing for Perth this year...Brad Millar, gun full forward. Sturt nearly got him, but he wanted to move to perth for some reason...

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Watched Sth Freo destroy Peel Thunder last week.

Jetta played Reserves I think...Sth Freo are an unbelievably strong side - Will be hard for him to get into the league side at that club.

Will be watching Sth Freo play Swan Districts in a fortnight, will look out for Jetta for you.

I spoke to a swans supporter and he reckoned the swans have the most supporters. I found that hard to believe considering they only have 7 premierships. Whats your view?

He also siad the league don't progamme good time slots for them because he believed they wanted them to amalgamate with (Perth?).

In my opinion the absolute max crowd would have been 2000.

[David Votoupal]

Welcome aboard Egan

[Wedgie]

Thanks for the posts - and Egan, its interesting getting a perspective on the WAFL to compare to our league.

[zipzap]

Great post Dasher

[Thunder_Egan]

I spoke to a swans supporter and he reckoned the swans have the most supporters. I found that hard to believe considering they only have 7 premierships. Whats your view?

He also siad the league don't progamme good time slots for them because he believed they wanted them to amalgamate with (Perth?).

In my opinion the absolute max crowd would have been 2000.

In terms of loyalty Swans are right on top and got the highest home crowd average of last season...in terms of numbers of supporters, the Freo clubs East and Sth Freo I would say have the most supporters with some saying the Fremantle Dockers are still internally divided and supporters always questioning the clubs choices through the divide in the city between the two teams...especially during the early days.

The Fremantle Dockers squad is primarily of locals from the Fremantle region and Fremantle clubs - this will never change...and the Fremantle region has provided most of WA's greatest ever footballers...the best area in terms of the metro area (hopefully nobody from Fremantle reads this, people who live in Fremantle hate to be associated with the city of Perth...and in fairness they are completely different cities, just urban sprawl has joined the cities together )

Thus in a long way I hope I have answered your question, the sheer passion for football in Fremantle - attributes East Freo and Sth Freo with the largest support in the WAFL in my view...despite them not turning up in numbers during the season - In East Freo's case because of the woeful form they are in at the moment.

22,000 at our Grand Final last year - 20,000 were Sth Fremantle Supporters.

[Thunder_Egan]

West Perth v Swan Dist at Joondalup 2,243

Second estimate a little closer, add the players, staff etc and you have got the 2243 figures...has prompted me to never make any attendance calls at Arena Joondalup (Only been to like 6 times in my life) or from the TV.

Saying that, its not a bad crowd for the WAFL or Arena Joondalup, congrats.

[spell_check]

It's good to see some people are still with the WAFL, anyway. WA footy followers are in the same boat as SA footy followers - little coverage here of SANFL, back page stuff consists of Crows, Power, Crows, Power etc Dockers, Eagles, Dockers, Eagles in WA.

Good on you for help keeping the tradition alive of the real footy in WA!

[Thunder_Egan]

Is battling against the Force as well this year...average about 27-28,000 - got 24,000 for its last game only 1000 less then Port Adelaide's game on Easter Sunday.

But WAFL has had a slow start to the year, but the crowds have been slowly building over the last few years...

[Adelaide Hawk]

I've always been interested in the WAFL and kept a number of records over the years. Pity West Perth didn't win, I've always had a soft spot for them because John Wynne played for and coached them. Would I be correct and assuming a South Fremantle v Subiaco GF looks likely at this stage of the year?

[Dogsbody]

Hey Egan... finally made your way here eh?

I'm U REDS from Austadiums BTW.

[Thunder_Egan]

I've always been interested in the WAFL and kept a number of records over the years. Pity West Perth didn't win, I've always had a soft spot for them because John Wynne played for and coached them. Would I be correct and assuming a South Fremantle v Subiaco GF looks likely at this stage of the year?

You could say that, but Subiaco Fans have to hear the word 'choke' so many times even when they are going well ...lost something like the last 5 Preliminary Finals.

It took a WAFL post to get me here, posted on austadiums

[drebin]

Also watch out for a kid that started playing for Perth this year...Brad Millar, gun full forward. Sturt nearly got him but couldn't muster up a bus fare to get him here, but he wanted to move to perth for some reason...

More money and finals this year perhaps?

[Adelaide Hawk]

You mentioned Beros before. For those of us who haven't seen him play, could you tell us a little bit about him? Age, position played, anyone you could compare him to in style and ability, etc. Also, Subiaco won the flag in 2004 so they obviously didn't choke that year

[Thunder_Egan]

Beros has stayed at Swan Districts and resisted moving clubs (WAFL is pretty much run on EPL style league, with the youth development crucial to future success) Beros was hard running midfielder, much like Peter Bell and it is his loyalty and consistency that is celebrated, to reach 150 WAFL games all for one club is a huge achievement in this day and age...and despite Swans not having money, the culture of loyalty is amazing.

He is about 30 years of age, has been a great captain for Swan Districts and a marvellous player, he has won the Sandover Medal.

No Subiaco didn't choke that year, but if they had done it would have been one of the biggest injustices in the history of the WAFL competition.

Haven't seen Perth play yet...but I don't think hes set the world on fire with them.

Looking at leading goalkickers, Miller has yet to kick a goal yet according to the WAFL stats.