About the league
The SWFL is the premier football league outside the Perth Metro area in WA.
The South West Football League will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary year in 2007
South West Football History.
In 1957 a change of name saw the beginning of the South West National Football League. The vibrant Bunbury-Collie, League formed in 1953 changed its name to become the South West National Football League at the commencement of the 1957 football season.
The Bunbury-Collie League was formed in March of 1953 at a meeting held in Collie with the following Clubs participating:
· Bunbury Railways
· Collie Railways
· Pastimes
· Mines Rovers
· Collie Centrals
· South Bunbury
· Donnybrook
The foundation President was Reg Earl of Collie with Mr J Richards as the League's first Secretary.
The following season East Busselton and West Busselton joined the League to make a nine team competition. The following year, 1958 the Busselton teams amalgamated to form one team. In 1956 Harvey Brunswick joining the flourishing League and two sides underwent name changes. Pastimes became Carey Park and the Bunbury Railways became Bunbury.
The newly formed South West National Football League commenced the 1957 season by introducing a Seconds (Reserves) competition with a new club Boyanup-Capel being admitted to the League and playing only in the Seconds competition. Two years later they entered a League side and became a fully fledged member of the SWNFL playing League and Seconds. In its foundation year the League adopted League colours of Green and Gold, colours they have continued with to the present day. In its first year the SWNFL introduced a Provident Fund which has been maintained to the present and one that was at the time considered a first in Country Football in Western Australia. A year later the League introduced a players Accident Fund designed to assist players who through injury suffered loss of work. The scheme continued until 2001 when mandatory players insurance was introduced nationally. The accident fund first commenced in 1958 and still operates to day by paying players insurance and offering a supplementary payment to injured players.
The foundation President of the SWFL was P C Payne and T Mason was the League's first secretary /treasurer.
The halcyon days of the fifties and sixties saw the new League grow and flourish and set new standards in country football. These times saw football as the dominant winter sport with large crowds attending matches and the community giving great support to the National game. The League had inherited a first class weekly match programme known as the Football Budget from the Bunbury-Collie League and production of that has been continued every season since 1955. Football and local community radio enjoyed a wonderful and successful partnership with Radio 6tz-Ci of the then Nicholson's Broadcasting providing colourful match commentaries and weekly football shows. A sign of the times in 1990's saw the local community radio station turn its back on football when the corporations that acquired local stations took the local out of radio and settled for national programming. Match broadcasts ceased in 1994.
1960 saw the League in dispute with the Bunbury Council over ground charges. As a result no football was played in Bunbury that year and the Grand Final was played at Brunswick.The following season football returned to Bunbury grounds at Hands Oval and the Recreation Ground
In 1961 the League became a nine team competition when Collie Railways and Collie Centrals amalgamated to form the Collie Football Club .The SWNFL admitted Augusta Margaret River to the competition in 1966 and returned to a ten team competition. At the end of the 2001 season Collie and Mines Rovers amalgamated citing player numbers in Collie as contributing to their demise. Mines Rovers one of the oldest Clubs in the region had been formed in 1904 as Cardiff and adopted the name Mines Rovers in 1909 ceased playing in the SWFL at the end of the 2001 season. The newly formed Club from the amalgamation was Collie Eagles who played their first match in 2002.
Many of the League's prestigious player awards were already established prior to the formation of the South West National League in 1957 and most have been carried forward to the present day. The Hayward Medal donated by a local Bunbury store, Thomas Hayward had first been presented in the Bunbury Football Association in 1946 and had been part of the Bunbury Collie League .When the company was sold the Medal continued under several sponsorships as the store changed ownership several times... It has now sponsored by the Hayward family who have continued the rich traditional the Medal has earnt as the League fairest and best award. The Medal was first counted publicly in 1977 and for a short time the count was broadcasted by the local radio station. The Reserves Fairest and Best was first awarded in 1957 and has maintained since its inception by the Times group. The fairest and best in the Grand Final is another longstanding medal that was first awarded in 1956 with sponsorship from the Pike family of Collie.
The South West League has participated in all Country Championships since the sixties and has built an impressive record. The first Country Championship title was won in 1970 and the league has won sixteen championships and been runners up on twelve occasions from 1965 to 2006. During the fifties, sixties and seventies the SWFL engaged in many inter League matches and built up an imposing winning record. Despite the League's success and commitment to inter league matches clubs and many players did not always fully support then concept and by the nineties they had virtually disappeared from the football calendar. The SWFL entered a Colts team in the Country Championship in 2000 after being unwilling to participate in the first two Colts Championships. The League has achieved a remarkable Grand Final record having won six of the seven years they have participated. The only Grand Final loss was in 2003 when the team was disqualified for playing an unregistered player.
Football continued to grow and prosper into the seventies and this saw all Clubs build impressive Club rooms with licensed premises. Much of the development and building came from Club fundraising and volunteer labour and indeed was a credit to the Clubs of that time. Augusta Margaret River had the distinction of being the first fully licensed football club in the country. While nine of the ten Football Clubs had licensed premises on their home ground Boyanup Capel Dardanup owned the Boyanup Hotel which they sold around the time the Club relocated to Eaton. The SWFL itself was part of the building programme and the League built an office and meeting rooms at Hands Oval which were opened in 1980. Some four years later the building was named the Bob Black Pavilion in honour of long serving President Bob Black.
When Zoning was introduced by the WANFL in 1970 the SWFL were reluctant and hesitant partners in the scheme. South West League clubs were zoned to East Perth and Swan Districts when Zoning commenced but over the years restructuring has seen a number of changes. For some time West Perth Football Club was part of the Zoning scheme in the South West. More recently Peel Thunder was aligned to the SWFL and West Perth re boundaried elsewhere. Much of the young talent from the SWFL as result found their way to East Perth and Swan Districts and in recent years to Peel Thunder.
In 1977 the SWNFL introduced a Colts competition. Not all Clubs have maintained full participation throughout the years with Donnybrook, Collie and Boyanup Capel Dardanup not fielding a team every season. Augusta Margaret River missed fielding a side in the first year but has participated every season since 1978. The League had conducted a Thirds competition between 1962 and 1964 but due to lack of support by Clubs and lack of full participation by all Clubs it was disbanded. The Colts Fairest and Best medal was first sponsored by the Collie Mail and is now the Rural Press Medal.
In the early years of the SWNFL all League games were umpired by WAFL umpires who travelled each Sunday from Perth to officiate. Local field umpires were appointed to Seconds matches only. Goal and Boundary umpires for the most part were appointed at Club level. Despite many submissions to introduce local umpires to league ranks the League and Clubs rejected the requests. A local Umpires Association and panel were formed in 1977 and gradually local umpires were recognized. In 1977 the first local umpire to be appointed in the then one umpire system to officiate in a League game was Geoff Gibbs. The following year the first local umpire to umpire a final round match was appointed, when Kevin Nettleton officiated. By 1986 all League games were umpired by local umpires. What a far cry umpiring is today from the 1960's when the League needed to appoint just four umpires each week under the one umpire system and Clubs being responsible for goal and boundary umpires. To day the League appoints umpires to all areas in all grades and requires seventy two umpires each week.
From the mid eighties onward football in the SWFL faced many testing times. The introduction of the National competition through the AFL and the entry of the West Coast Eagles to the national competition in 1987 and later the Fremantle Football Club had severe repercussions to grass roots football. The SWNFL saw a considerable decline in crowd attendances and a waning of interest in local football. While the National competition attracted huge interest and following particularly through television the same interest and following did not transfer to community football. Both the League and Clubs were faced with a declining income and support which put great pressure on football administrators to counter the decline. Innovative fixturing became necessary and several variations were tried and considered. Saturday football was tried with only moderate success and most Clubs were not supportive of the concept. Night football became a viable alternative and the first Club to install lighting was South Bunbury at Hands Oval in 1995. Harvey Brunswick Leschanault followed with lights at Brunswick and Busselton at Sir Stewart Bovell Park. While not embraced by all clubs night football has proven a success in attracting crowds and offering an alternative for players
In 1991 the League dropped the National from its name and became the South West Football League. The WAFL had suffered dramatically from the National Competition and it sought answers to rejuvenate its competition. In the early nineties the SWFL were encouraged to apply for entry to the WAFL with a team from the South West and this was met with divided views. A submission for entry was made but rejected in 1993 and the proposal lost momentum.
These testing times saw football under pressure from the changing demographics of the region, the influence of twelve hour shifts to many industrial and mining sites, expanded retail trading and the growth of other alternative sports. All added pressure on Clubs to sustain their traditional player base and volunteer base. The changing lifestyle of the times saw Clubs having to manage the challenges and look at new ways to develop and grow.
Throughout this period the League provided a variety of football to the South West. In April of 1984 the first WAFL fixture for premiership points was played outside of the Metropolitan area, at Hands Oval between East Perth and Swan Districts attracting a crowd estimated at seven thousand. There followed AFL scratches matches at Hands Oval between the Eagles and Adelaide, at Margaret River between the Eagles and Adelaide and at Hands Oval Fremantle and Saint Kilda. In 1994 the SWFL were hosts to the prestigious National Youth Competition, the Commonwealth Bank Cup. Ten years later in 2004 the SWFL played hosts to the National Country Championships. Several WAFL Enrichment matches have been hosted within the League at Bunbury, Busselton, Collie and Donnybrook all earning the SWFL praise for their facilities and organization. In 1999 the SWFL entered the WAFL Pre Season competition, the Governors Cup and performed creditably without winning a match. The South West League side was coached by former Claremont coach, Darrell Panizza.
The South West Football League has in fifty seasons had a very stable and settled administration. Since 1957 the SWFL have only six Presidents and eight secretary/mangers. In 1997 the League moved to employ a fulltime General Manager a move that has been very successful and productive. The League's Tribunal Chairman for the past forty years has been held by the Fisher family, the late Charles Fisher and son Kelvin, both Life Members of the SWFL.
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Kevin J Lynn
October 2006
LIFE MEMBERS OF THE SWFL
P.C. Payne
T. Outridge
W. Bateman
1966 R.E.Davies
1967 C.Owens
1968 J. Scott
1968 J.Mitchell
1970 R. Black
1970 A. Henning
1970 F. Panizza
1971 L.Thompson
1973 T. Panizza
1974 D.Gulvin
1975 R.Annandale
1975 J Sheppard
1976 S.Armstrong
1977 C. Fisher
1978 J.Stephens
1983 J. Davidson
1993 R. Kelly
1993 J. Silcock
1994 N. Rodgers
1995 K.Nettleton
1997 J. Martinson
1999 K Lynn
2000 K. Fisher
2003 N. Millar
2004 N. Obal
2005 S. O’Callaghan
2007 W. Hutchins
