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 (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.

National Premier Leagues Western Australia
Founded1896
CountryAustralia
Number of teams12
Level on pyramid2
Relegation toState League 1
Domestic cup(s)FFA Cup
WA State Challenge Cup
Current championsPerth SC (2019)
Current premiersPerth SC (2019)
Most championshipsPerth SC (Azzurri, Italia) (24 titles)
WebsiteFootball West NPL
2020 NPL WA season

History

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) and Spearwood Dalmatinac (now part of Cockburn City) with Croatian Australians, Shamrock Rovers with Irish Australians, Dianella White Eagles with Serbian Australians and Stirling Macedonia (now Stirling Lions) 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 (Division One and Division Two). 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.[1]

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.[1] Mandurah City and Joondalup United were promoted after the 2016 season to make it a 14 team division,[2][3] 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.[4]

Clubs

The following 12 clubs are competing in the 2020 NPL WA season.

Club Location Ground Capacity
Armadale Armadale Alfred Skeet Oval 500
Balcatta Balcatta Grindleford Reserve 1,000
Bayswater City Bayswater Frank Drago Reserve 5,000
Cockburn City Cockburn Dalmatinac Park 2,000
ECU Joondalup Joondalup ECU Joondalup Football Stadium 2,500
Floreat Athena Leederville Litis Stadium 10,000
Gwelup Croatia Gwelup Croatian Sporting Complex
Inglewood United Inglewood Inglewood Stadium 7,000
Perth Glory Youth Perth Ashfield Reserve 2,000
Perth SC West Perth Dorrien Gardens 2,000
Rockingham City Rockingham Lark Hill Sports Complex 3,000
Sorrento Sorrento Percy Doyle Reserve 5,000

Honours
YearPremiershipChampionsNPL Finals Representation
2014Bayswater CityBayswater CityBayswater City – Quarter Finalist
2015Bayswater City U–Bayswater City – Runners Up
2016Perth SCPerth SCPerth SC – Semi Finalist
2017Bayswater CityBayswater CityBayswater City – Quarter Finalist
2018Perth SCPerth SCPerth SC – Quarter Finalist
2019Perth SCPerth SCPerth SC – Semi Finalist

Notes:

U undefeated league season

Honours pre-NPL (1896–2013)

Notes:

1 after championship playoff.
2 after zone playoff.
3 round-robin format.
U undefeated league season

References :[5][6]

References
  1. http://www.footballwest.com.au/index.php?id=11&tx_ttnews%5Byear%5D=2013&tx_ttnews%5Bmonth%5D=08&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=756&cHash=4f4f7d9ec97a8f8a2afeff0d0fc0c2bf
  2. "NPLWA unchanged in 2017 season". www.footballwest.com.au. 12 November 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  3. "NPLWA expansion for 2017". www.footballwest.com.au. 1 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  4. "NPLWA Review Report to guide future". www.footballwest.com.au. 18 September 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  5. Kreider, R.N. (2012) Paddocks to Pitches. The Definitive History of Western Australian Football. Published by SportsWest Media
  6. http://www.foxsportspulse.com/comp_info.cgi?c=1-8273-0-240246-0&pool=1001&a=LADDER
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