Current season, competition or edition: 2024 WAFL Women's season | |
| Sport | Australian rules football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2018 |
| First season | 2019 |
| Owner(s) | WAFC, WAWFL (until 2021) |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country | Australia |
| Most recent champion(s) | Claremont (2nd premiership) |
| Most titles | Peel Thunder, East Fremantle, Claremont (2 premierships) |
| TV partner(s) | Seven Network (Grand Final only) |
| Sponsor(s) | Optus |
| Official website | wafl.com.au |
WAFL Women's (WAFLW) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The WAFLW is the premier women's football competition in Western Australia, and from 2023 is contested by eight teams owned and operated by clubs in the men's West Australian Football League (WAFL).
The league was established in 2018 by the West Australian Football Commission and West Australian Women's Football League, the latter having been the governing body and league for women's football in the state from 1987 to 2018,[1] and has been run by the WAFC after the WAWFL was dissolved in 2021.
The league runs from February to August, and ran partially concurrently with the AFL Women's (AFLW) until Season 7 of the AFLW. It is also the second primary women's football competition for West Australian footballers underneath the semi-professional national competition, and one of the three elite leagues in women's Australian rules football (the AFLW, SANFLW and WAFLW).
Five of the ten WAFL clubs fielded teams in the inaugural 2019 WAFLW season: Claremont, East Fremantle, Peel Thunder, Subiaco and Swan Districts.
South Fremantle joined the league the following year,[2] with West Perth joining the league in 2022.[3] East Perth joined the league in 2023.[4]
Neither of the state's two AFL teams (Fremantle and West Coast) field teams in the league: Fremantle was an AFLW foundation club in 2017, while West Coast entered the AFLW in 2019 after playing scratch matches in 2017–2018.
| Club | Nickname | Home venue | Est. | First WAFLW season |
WAFLW seasons |
WAFLW premierships |
Most recent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claremont | Tigers | Claremont Oval | 1906 | 2019 | 6 | 2 | 2024 |
| East Fremantle | Sharks | East Fremantle Oval | 1898 | 2019 | 6 | 2 | 2023 |
| East Perth | Royals | Leederville Oval | 1902 | 2023 | 2 | — | — |
| Peel | Thunder | Rushton Park | 1996 | 2019 | 6 | 2 | 2021 |
| South Fremantle | Bulldogs | Fremantle Oval | 1900 | 2020 | 5 | — | — |
| Subiaco | Lions | Leederville Oval | 1896 | 2019 | 6 | — | — |
| Swan Districts | Swans | Bassendean Oval | 1932 | 2019 | 6 | — | — |
| West Perth | Falcons | Arena Joondalup | 1891 | 2022 | 3 | — | — |
Perth intend to join the WAFLW in 2026,[5] after the club's long-running financial and administrative problems and an exodus of players and officials saw their women's team go into recess at the end of 2018.
South Western Football League officials have also called for the WAFLW to admit an SWFL composite team to the league.[6] Incorrect link
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No premiership was awarded in 2020 | |||||
