OPINION: "How the WAFL could have been saved in 1986 (if anyone had cared)", by Jack Frost, 13/2/2018

How the WAFL could have been saved in 1986 (if anyone had cared), by Jack Frost

Indicative of Western Australia’s “either-or” (not “both-and”) mentality in relation to higher-level sport, no-one in Western Australian football ever seriously suggested in 1986 that the VFL/AFL or the WAFL make any type of reasonable effort to safeguard the WAFL competition’s future. Possible alternative formats never considered include any or all of the following:

(a) playing VFL/AFL games mid-week on Tuesday or Wednesday nights as the National Football League’s Wills Cup was played in the 1970s and how State of Origin rugby-league and Champions League European soccer are played today; and / or

(b) reducing the size of both seasons and playing the VFL/AFL and WAFL seasons one after the other with one running from January to June and the other from July to November similar to how the A-League plays in summer and the state soccer premier leagues in winter or how the “Super 15” rugby competition season finishes several months prior to the finish of the club-based rugby competitions in Sydney and Brisbane; and / or

(c) accepting only extant, traditional club teams into a national league rather than composite teams. This model is more likely to keep the second-tier leagues strong as supporters of the clubs left in the second-tier will be less likely to switch to the national league side than under the composite-club model. You would then have a situation similar, at least in theory, to one Midlands-based club being promoted one division in English soccer (say, Birmingham City) while all the others stayed where they were (Aston Villa, Walsall, etc.) It would not have a great effect on any of the divisions/leagues. My preferred options would have been (a) combined with (c).

If any or all of these ideas had been tried perhaps the WAFL might have larger crowds and a higher profile than it has today. However, we must remember Brisbane Strikers’ soccer player Frank Farina’s comments about Australian sporting crowds. English fans “who support Huddersfield Town in division five will [always] support Huddersfield Town”, according to Farina. In the case of English soccer, in the Blue Square Premier League (the former Vauxhall Conference and fifth-tier of the pyramid), the once strong Football League clubs Cambridge United, Luton Town, and Oxford United averaged crowds of 3156, 6816, and 6376 respectively in the 2008-09 season with the highest crowds for these three clubs being 4870, 8223, and 10613 (up to and including 9 November 2008) (source: Non League magazine [UK], December 2009 edition, p. 42). These are obviously very good crowds for teams playing at the fifth-tier of the pyramid and outside the Football League and are indicative of strong supporter loyalty towards these traditional clubs.

Luton Town’s record average home crowd of 13,452 in 1982-83 (source: Luton Town FC on Wikipedia), when the club played in the then First Division, means that crowds dropped only by 55% between 1982-83 and 2008-09 despite a drop of four tiers. In contrast to English fans, according to Frank Farina, Australian fans will only watch, in any significant numbers, what they perceive to be the premier or the national competition in any sport. This caveat must be borne in mind when considering any of my suggested alternative solutions (a) to (c) above. WAFL crowds have fallen by around 75% since 1986 although the WAFL clubs have effectively dropped down only by one tier if we regard the old VFL, WAFL, and SANFL as having all been on tier-one of the pyramid in the pre-West Coast era. We can compare that decline to the 55% drop off in crowds experienced by Luton Town after it dropped by four tiers.

To buy the book Goodbye Leederville Oval about the WAFL in the 1984-86 period:

Paperback version: http://www.lulu.com/shop/kieran-james/goodbye-leederville-oval-history-of-west-perth-cheer-squad-1984-86/paperback/product-23448563.html

Hardcover version: http://www.lulu.com/shop/kieran-james/goodbye-leederville-oval-history-of-west-perth-cheer-squad-1984-86/hardcover/product-23516768.html
Large-print paperback version (hardcover large-print also available): http://www.lulu.com/shop/kieran-james/goodbye-leederville-oval-history-of-west-perth-cheer-squad-1984-86-large-print/paperback/product-23477328.html

You can also find the book by typing the book title into Amazon.

SUMMARY: This book will allow supporters to relive great teams, great players, and great matches from a wonderful era in WA football 1984-86 before West Coast Eagles joined the expanded VFL.