National Premier Leagues Western Australia

NPL WA traces its origin to the formation of a league by the Perth British Football Association in 1896.{{Cite news |title=British Association |pages=2 |work=Inquirer and Commercial News |location=Perth|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article66532014 |date=20 May 1896 |access-date=27 July 2020}} 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.{{Cite web |title=WASFA Records |url=http://members.iinet.net.au/~jacob/wasoccer/wasfa.htm |access-date=27 July 2020|website=footballwa.net}} 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).{{Cite web |title=1991 Results |url=http://members.iinet.net.au/~jacob/wasoccer/1991results.htm |access-date=29 July 2020 |website=footballwa.net}}{{Cite web |title=1992 Results |url=http://members.iinet.net.au/~jacob/wasoccer/1992results.htm |access-date=29 July 2020 |website=footballwa.net}}

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 Yugoslavian Australians, Carramar Shamrock Rovers and East Perth FC 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.

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.{{Cite web|url=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|title = Home Page | Football West|date = 19 February 2020}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.footballwest.com.au/index.php?id=11&tx_ttnews%5Byear%5D=2016&tx_ttnews%5Bmonth%5D=12&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=2204&cHash=59ea955b00f96a1ffa56a31b559582a2|title=NPLWA expansion for 2017|publisher=www.footballwest.com.au|date=1 December 2016|access-date=2 December 2016}} After a further competition review the 2019 NPLWA season returned to a twelve-team competition.{{cite web|url=http://footballwest.com.au/nplwa-review-report-to-guide-competition-future/|title=NPLWA Review Report to guide future|publisher=www.footballwest.com.au|date=18 September 2017|access-date=21 September 2017}} In 2020, promotion and relegation was suspended for the season, due to the impacts on the competition from the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.{{cite web|url=https://websites.sportstg.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-10183-0-0-0&&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=68715762|title=Bayswater-Perth to kick off revamped season|publisher=Football West|date=11 June 2020|access-date=14 June 2020}}

The following 12 clubs will compete in the 2025 NPL WA season.

{{Col-start}}

{{Col-2}}

{{Col-2}}

{{Col-end}}

References :Kreider, R.N. (2012) Paddocks to Pitches. The Definitive History of Western Australian Football. Published by SportsWest Media{{Cite web|url=http://www.foxsportspulse.com/comp_info.cgi?c=1-8273-0-240246-0&pool=1001&a=LADDER|title = Competitions at Football West}}

• National Premier Leagues WA Women

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.footballwest.com.au/ Football West website]

{{National Premier Leagues Western Australia}}

{{National Premier Leagues}}

{{AUS fb general}}

{{Association football in Western Australia}}

-Western Australia

1

Category:Recurring sporting events established in 1896

Category:1896 establishments in Australia

Category:Sports leagues established in 1896

Category:Second level football leagues in Asia