The National Premier Leagues Western Australia (NPL WA) is a regional Australian semi-professional football league comprising teams from Western Australia. 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.
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 (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. 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).
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 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 Yugoslav Australians, Carramar Shamrock Rovers and East Perth FC with Irish Australians, Dianella White Eagles with Serbian Australians, Stirling Macedonia with Macedonian Australians and Olympic Kingsway with Greeks Macedonians 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 Some clubs reverted back to their former names after 2019, when the National Club Identity Policy was revoked.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 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 (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.
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. Two teams were promoted after the 2016 season to expand the league into a 14 team competition. After a further competition review the 2019 NPLWA season returned to a twelve-team competition. In 2020, promotion and relegation was suspended for the season, due to the impacts on the competition from the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.
Clubs The following 12 clubs will compete in the 2026 NPL WA season. Club Location Ground Capacity Armadale Armadale Alfred Skeet Oval 500 Balcatta FC Balcatta Grindleford Reserve 1,000 Bayswater City FC Bayswater Frank Drago Reserve 5,000 Dianella White Eagles FC Dianella Dianella Reserve 1,500 Fremantle City FC Fremantle Hilton Park 1,000 Olympic Kingsway FC Madeley Kingsway Sporting Complex 2,500 Perth Glory Youth FC Queens Park Sam Kerr Football Centre 2,000 Perth RedStar FC Joondalup RedStar Arena 2,500 Perth Azzurri FC West Perth Dorrien Gardens 4,000 Sorrento FC Duncraig Percy Doyle Reserve 5,000 Stirling Macedonia FC Balcatta Macedonia Park 5,000 Western Knights FC Mosman Park Nash Field 1,000
Honours Year Premiers Champions NPL finals series representation2014 Bayswater City Bayswater City Bayswater City – Quarter Finalist2015 Bayswater City – Bayswater City – Runners up 2016 Perth SC Perth SC Perth SC – Semi Finalist 2017 Bayswater City Bayswater City Bayswater City – Quarter Finalist2018 Perth SC Perth SC Perth SC – Quarter Finalist2019 Perth SC Perth SC Perth SC – Semi Finalist2020 — ECU Joondalup Floreat Athena Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.2021 Perth SC Perth SC 2022 Floreat Athena Perth RedStarNot held2023 Perth RedStar Stirling Macedonia2024 Olympic Kingsway Olympic Kingsway Year Premiers Champions Australian Championship representation2025 Bayswater City Bayswater City Bayswater City– Group stage2026 Bayswater City Bayswater City– Group stage
Honours pre-NPL (1896–2013)
Year Premiers1896 Fremantle Wanderers1897 Fremantle Wanderers1898 Civil Service1899 Fremantle Wanderers1900 Fremantle Wanderers1901 Fremantle Wanderers1902 Perth1903 Fremantle1904 Fremantle Corinthians1905 Perth1906 Rangers1907 Rangers1908 City United1909 Training College1910 Claremont1911 Rangers1912 Claremont1913 Perth City United1914 Thistle1915 Thistle1916 jointly Claremont and Thistle1917–1918 No competition due to World War 11919 Claremont1920 Perth City United1921 Thistle1922 Perth City United1923 Claremont1924 Perth City1925 Thistle1926 Fremantle Caledonian1927 Fremantle Caledonian1928 Victoria Park1929 Victoria Park1930 Northern Casuals1931 Victoria Park1932 Northern Casuals1933 Caledonian1934 Victoria Park1935 Victoria Park1936 Victoria Park1937 Victoria Park1938 Victoria Park1939 Victoria Park1940 East Claremont1941 Caledonian1942–1944 No competition due to World War 21945 Jolly Rogers1946 Caledonian1947 Caledonian1948 North Perth1949 Caledonian1950 Perth City1951 South Perth1952 North Perth1953 Azzurri1954 Perth City1955 North Perth1956 North Perth1957 Swan Athletic1958 East Fremantle Tricolore1959 Azzurri1960 WASF : AzzurriWASFA : North Perth-Osborne
Year Premiers Champions(or Top Four/Top Five Cup)1961 WASF : WindmillsWASFA : Swan Valley East Fremantle Tricolore1962 WASF : AzzurriWASFA : Perth City-Inglewood Morley Windmills1963 East Fremantle Tricolore Azzurri1964 East Fremantle Tricolore North Perth-Osborne1965 East Fremantle Tricolore Swan Athletic1966 Cracovia Azzurri1967 Azzurri Azzurri1968 Azzurri Kiev1969 Azzurri East Fremantle Tricolore1970 East Fremantle Tricolore East Fremantle Tricolore1971 Azzurri Bayswater United1972 East Fremantle Tricolore Azzurri1973 Windmills –1974 Ascot Azzurri1975 Azzurri Floreat Athena1976 Azzurri Azzurri1977 Athena –1978 Olympic Kingsway Olympic Kingsway1979 Spearwood Dalmatinac Olympic Kingsway1980 Olympic Kingsway Olympic Kingsway1981 Perth Azzurri Forrestfield United1982 Spearwood Dalmatinac Spearwood Dalmatinac1983 West Perth Macedonia West Perth Macedonia1984 West Perth Macedonia Floreat Athena1985 West Perth Macedonia –1986 Spearwood Dalmatinac Stirling Macedonia1987 Stirling Macedonia –1988 Floreat Athena Floreat Athena1989 Floreat Athena Perth Italia1990 Floreat Athena Perth Italia 1991 Floreat Athena Perth Italia 1992 Perth Italia Stirling Macedonia1993 Perth Italia Perth Italia1994 Stirling Macedonia Stirling Macedonia1995 Stirling Macedonia Stirling Macedonia1996 Inglewood Falcons Stirling Macedonia1997 Floreat Athena –1998 Western Knights Western Knights 1999 ECU Joondalup Sorrento2000 Fremantle City Perth SC2001 Sorrento Perth SC2002 Perth SC Perth SC2003 Perth SC Perth SC2004 Western Knights Western Knights2005 Perth SC –2006 Sorrento –2007 Floreat Athena –2008 Sorrento Perth SC2009 Western Knights Perth SC 2010 Western Knights Perth SC 2011 Balcatta Perth SC 2012 Bayswater City Sorrento 2013 Stirling Lions Bayswater City
References :Kreider, R.N. (2012) Paddocks to Pitches. The Definitive History of Western Australian Football. Published by SportsWest Media
See also National Premier Leagues WA Women
Notes
References
External links Football West website