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 (Level 2 of the overall 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.
| Founded | 1896 |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Level on pyramid | 2 |
| Relegation to | State League 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) | Football West State Cup Australia Cup |
| Current champions | Olympic Kingsway (2024) |
| Current premiers | Olympic Kingsway (2024) |
| Most championships | Perth SC (Azzurri, Italia) (25 titles) |
| TV partners | NPL.TV |
| Website | Football West NPL |
| Current: 2024 NPL Western Australia | |
History
editNPL WA traces its origin to the formation of a league by the Perth British Football Association in 1896.[1] By the 1950s, the association was known as the Western Australian Soccer Football Association (WASFA). In, 1960 eight teams formed their own association, the Soccer Federation of Western Australia (SFWA). The WASFA and SFWA ran rival leagues between 1960 and 1962 before the SFWA prevailed.[2] Ahead of the 1991 season, 11 SFWA clubs broke away, forming the Soccer Administration of Western Australia (SAWA). The SAWA ran the rebel Professional Soccer League (PSL) in parallel with the SFWA first division until merging before the 1993 season to form the Professional Soccer Federation of Western Australia (PSF).[3][4]
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 (now Swan United), Bayswater Inter (now Bayswater City) and Perth Italia (now Perth SC) with Italian Australians, Morley Windmills with Dutch Australians, Floreat Athena with Greek Australians, Benfica United (now Fremantle Spirit) with Portuguese Australians, Inglewood Kiev (now Inglewood United) with Ukrainian Australians, North Perth Croatia (now Western Knights) with Croatian Australians, Spearwood Dalmatinac (now part of Cockburn City) with Yugoslavian 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 forced name changes. Some clubs reverted back to their former names after 2019, when the National Club Identity Policy was revoked. More recently, new clubs have begun to be based geographically, such as with Armadale SC and Cockburn City.
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
editIn 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 (Division One and Division Two). The NPL WA competition fields a Senior first team, as well as youth teams from U12 to U20 age groups. The Perth Glory FC Youth team competes in the Senior category and has additional age restrictions.[5]
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, provided the winner of the State Division 1 met Football West's promotion requirements.[5] Two teams were promoted after the 2016 season to expand the league into a 14 team competition.[6] After a further competition review the 2019 NPLWA season returned to a twelve-team competition.[7] In 2020, promotion and relegation was suspended for the season, due to the impacts on the competition from the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.[8]
Clubs
editThe following 12 clubs competed in the 2024 NPL WA season.
| Club | Location | Ground | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armadale SC | Armadale | Alfred Skeet Oval | 500 |
| Balcatta | Balcatta | Grindleford Reserve | 1,000 |
| Bayswater City | Bayswater | Frank Drago Reserve | 5,000 |
| Fremantle City | Fremantle | Hilton Park | 1,000 |
| Floreat Athena | Leederville | Litis Stadium | 5,000 |
| Inglewood United | Inglewood | Inglewood Stadium | 5,536 |
| Olympic Kingsway | Madeley | Kingsway Sporting Complex | 2,500 |
| Perth Glory Youth | Perth | Sam Kerr Football Centre, Queens Park | 2,000 |
| Perth RedStar | Joondalup | RedStar Arena | 2,500 |
| Perth SC | West Perth | Dorrien Gardens | 4,000 |
| Stirling Macedonia | Balcatta | Macedonia Park | 5,000 |
| Western Knights | Mosman Park | Nash Field | 1,000 |
Honours
edit| Year | Premiership | Champions | NPL Finals Representation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Bayswater City | Bayswater City | Bayswater City – Quarter Finalist |
| 2015 | Bayswater City[a] | – | Bayswater City – Runners up |
| 2016 | Perth SC | Perth SC | Perth SC – Semi Finalist |
| 2017 | Bayswater City | Bayswater City | Bayswater City – Quarter Finalist |
| 2018 | Perth SC | Perth SC | Perth SC – Quarter Finalist |
| 2019 | Perth SC | Perth SC | Perth SC – Semi Finalist |
| 2020 | —[b] | ECU Joondalup[c] Floreat Athena[d] |
—[e] |
| 2021 | Perth SC | Perth SC | —[f] |
| 2022 | Floreat Athena | Perth RedStar | |
| 2023 | Perth RedStar | Stirling Macedonia | |
| 2024 | Olympic Kingsway | Olympic Kingsway |
Honours pre-NPL (1896–2013)
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See also
editNotes
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v undefeated league season
- ^ Premiership not awarded.
- ^ NPL Season Champions.
- ^ Top Four Cup Grand Final Champions.
- ^ NPL finals series cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.[9]
- ^ Not held
- ^ a b c after championship playoff
- ^ a b after zone playoff
- ^ a b c d round-robin format
References
edit- ^ "British Association". Inquirer and Commercial News. Perth. 20 May 1896. p. 2. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "WASFA Records". footballwa.net. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
- ^ "1991 Results". footballwa.net. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- ^ "1992 Results". footballwa.net. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- ^ a b "Home Page | Football West". 19 February 2020.
- ^ "NPLWA expansion for 2017". www.footballwest.com.au. 1 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ^ "NPLWA Review Report to guide future". www.footballwest.com.au. 18 September 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
- ^ "Bayswater-Perth to kick off revamped season". Football West. 11 June 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
- ^ "Coronavirus forces FFA Cup to be cancelled". The World Game. SBS. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
- ^ Kreider, R.N. (2012) Paddocks to Pitches. The Definitive History of Western Australian Football. Published by SportsWest Media
- ^ "Competitions at Football West".