National Premier Leagues Western Australia


The National Premier Leagues Western Australia is a regional Australian semi-professional soccer league comprising teams from Western Australia. The league name is often abbreviated to NPL Western Australia or NPL WA. As a subdivision of the National Premier Leagues, the league is the highest level of the Western Australian league system. The competition is administered by Football West, the governing body of the sport in the state. In 2014, the league – formerly known as the Football West State League Premier Division – was rebranded into what exists today.

History

NPL WA traces its origin to the formation of a league by the Perth British Football Association in 1896. By the 1950s, the association was known as the Western Australian Soccer Football Association. In, 1960 eight teams formed their own association, the Soccer Federation of Western Australia. The WASFA and SFWA ran rival leagues between 1960 and 1962 before the SFWA prevailed. Ahead of the 1991 season, 11 SFWA clubs broke away, forming the Soccer Administration of Western Australia. The SAWA ran the rebel Professional Soccer League in parallel with the SFWA first division until merging before the 1993 season to form the Professional Soccer Federation of Western Australia.
Several of the clubs currently playing in the league were formed as the soccer arm of cultural associations of recently migrated Australians, with certain teams having associations with particularly nationalities e.g. Swan Italian Club, Bayswater Inter and Perth Italia with Italian Australians, Morley Windmills with Dutch Australians, Floreat Athena with Greek Australians, Benfica United with Portuguese Australians, Inglewood Kiev with Ukrainian Australians, North Perth Croatia and Spearwood Dalmatinac with Croatian Australians, Shamrock Rovers with Irish Australians, Dianella White Eagles with Serbian Australians and Stirling Macedonia with Macedonian Australians. In 1994 clubs were forced by the sport's governing body to remove all references to ethnicities from their names, which resulted in several name changes. It is only recently that clubs have begun to be based geographically, with Mandurah City and ECU Joondalup recently established clubs.
The West Australian National Training Centre included a team for the 2011–2013 seasons. They did not play for competition points, and were mostly used for development of the upcoming youth players.

Format

In 2013 Football Federation of Australia introduced the new second tier competition for football in Australia, the National Premier Leagues. In 2014 Football West then reorganised the former State Premier League into the National Premier Leagues Western Australia conference and the State League. The NPL WA competition fields a Senior first team, as well as youth teams in the U20, U18, U16, U15, U14, U13 and U12 age groups. The Perth Glory FC Youth team competes in the Senior category – effectively as Perth Glory's reserve side – and has additional age restrictions.
Provisional promotion and relegation between the NPL and the State League Division 1 became possible for the first time at the end of the 2015 season, however the winner of the 2015 Division 1, Mandurah City, did not meet Football West's promotion requirements. Mandurah City and Joondalup United were promoted after the 2016 season to make it a 14 team division, Mandurah City were relegated in 2017 after being defeated by Forrestfield United in a promotion/relegation play off. After review by Football West the 2019 NPLWA season was decided to return to a twelve-team competition, as a result, Subiaco AFC, Forrestfield United and Joondalup United were relegated and Rockingham City were promoted.

Clubs

The following 12 clubs are competing in the 2020 NPL WA season.
ClubLocationGroundCapacity
ArmadaleArmadaleAlfred Skeet Oval500
BalcattaBalcattaGrindleford Reserve1,000
Bayswater CityBayswaterFrank Drago Reserve5,000
Cockburn CityCockburnDalmatinac Park2,000
ECU JoondalupJoondalupECU Joondalup Football Stadium2,500
Floreat AthenaLeedervilleLitis Stadium10,000
Gwelup CroatiaGwelupCroatian Sporting Complex
Inglewood UnitedInglewoodInglewood Stadium7,000
Perth Glory YouthPerthAshfield Reserve2,000
Perth SCWest PerthDorrien Gardens2,000
Rockingham CityRockinghamLark Hill Sports Complex3,000
SorrentoSorrentoPercy Doyle Reserve5,000

Honours

Notes:

Honours pre-NPL (1896–2013)

YearPremiers
1896Fremantle Wanderers
1897Fremantle Wanderers
1898Civil Service U
1899Fremantle Wanderers
1900Fremantle Wanderers
1901Fremantle Wanderers
1902Perth U
1903Fremantle
1904Fremantle Corinthians U
1905Perth
1906Rangers U
1907Rangers
1908City United
1909Training College U
1910Claremont
1911Rangers 1
1912Claremont
1913Perth City United
1914Thistle
1915Thistle
1916jointly Claremont and Thistle
1917–1918No competition due to World War 1
1919Claremont
1920Perth City United U
1921Thistle
1922Perth City United U
1923Claremont U
1924Perth City
1925Thistle
1926Fremantle Caledonian
1927Fremantle Caledonian U
1928Victoria Park U
1929Victoria Park
1930Northern Casuals
1931Victoria Park
1932Northern Casuals
1933Caledonian
1934Victoria Park
1935Victoria Park
1936Victoria Park
1937Victoria Park U
1938Victoria Park
1939Victoria Park 1
1940East Claremont
1941Caledonian U
1942–1944No competition due to World War 2
1945Jolly Rogers U
1946Caledonian 1
1947Caledonian 2
1948North Perth 2
1949Caledonian
1950Perth City
1951South Perth
1952North Perth
1953Azzurri U
1954Perth City
1955North Perth
1956North Perth
1957Swan Athletic
1958East Fremantle Tricolore
1959Azzurri
1960WASF : Azzurri
WASFA : North Perth-Osborne

YearPremiersChampions
1961WASF : Windmills
WASFA : Swan Valley U		East Fremantle Tricolore
1962WASF : Azzurri
WASFA : Perth City-Inglewood		Morley Windmills
1963East Fremantle TricoloreAzzurri
1964East Fremantle Tricolore UNorth Perth-Osborne
1965East Fremantle TricoloreSwan Athletic 3
1966CracoviaAzzurri 3
1967Azzurri UAzzurri 3
1968AzzurriKiev
1969AzzurriEast Fremantle Tricolore
1970East Fremantle TricoloreEast Fremantle Tricolore 3
1971AzzurriBayswater United
1972East Fremantle TricoloreAzzurri
1973Windmills–
1974AscotAzzurri
1975AzzurriFloreat Athena
1976AzzurriAzzurri
1977Athena–
1978Olympic KingswayOlympic Kingsway
1979Spearwood DalmatinacOlympic Kingsway
1980Olympic KingswayOlympic Kingsway
1981Perth Azzurri UForrestfield United
1982Spearwood Dalmatinac USpearwood Dalmatinac
1983West Perth MacedoniaWest Perth Macedonia
1984West Perth MacedoniaFloreat Athena
1985West Perth Macedonia–
1986Spearwood DalmatinacStirling Macedonia
1987Stirling Macedonia–
1988Floreat AthenaFloreat Athena
1989Floreat AthenaPerth Italia
1990Floreat Athena UPerth Italia
1991Floreat AthenaPerth Italia
1992Perth ItaliaStirling Macedonia
1993Perth ItaliaPerth Italia
1994Stirling MacedoniaStirling Macedonia
1995Stirling MacedoniaStirling Macedonia
1996Inglewood FalconsStirling Macedonia
1997Floreat Athena–
1998Western KnightsWestern Knights
1999ECU JoondalupSorrento
2000Fremantle CityPerth SC
2001SorrentoPerth SC
2002Perth SCPerth SC
2003Perth SCPerth SC
2004Western KnightsWestern Knights
2005Perth SC–
2006Sorrento–
2007Floreat Athena U–
2008SorrentoPerth SC
2009Western KnightsPerth SC
2010Western KnightsPerth SC
2011BalcattaPerth SC
2012Bayswater CitySorrento
2013Stirling LionsBayswater City

Notes:
References :