National Premier Leagues Western Australia
| Country | Australia |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1896 |
| Number of teams | 14 |
| Level on pyramid | 2 |
| Relegation to | State League 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) |
FFA Cup WA State Challenge Cup |
| Current champions | 2016 Perth |
| Current premiers | 2016 Perth |
| Most championships | Perth SC (Azzurri, Italia) (22 titles) |
| Website | http://www.footballwest.com.au/ |
 2016 National Premier Leagues | |
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 sits at 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, formally known as the Football West State League Premier Division was rebranded into what exists today.
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.
Current 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 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 FC, did not meet Football West's promotion requirements.[1] Multiple decisions on promotion occurred after the 2016 season, with Football West stating the system would again be reviewed in the future.[2][3]
Clubs
| 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 | Floreat | Litis Stadium | 10,000 |
| Inglewood United | Inglewood | Inglewood Stadium | 5,536 |
| Joondalup United | Joondalup | Forrest Park | 500 |
| Mandurah City | Mandurah | Peelwood Reserve | 2,000 |
| Perth Glory Youth | Perth | Inglewood Stadium | 5,536 |
| Perth | West Perth | Dorrien Gardens | 2,000 |
| Sorrento | Sorrento | Percy Doyle Reserve | 5,000 |
| Stirling Lions | Stirling | Macedonia Park | 7,000 [4] |
| Subiaco AFC | Subiaco | Rosalie Park | 250 |
Honours
|
- 1 after championship playoff.
- 2 after zone playoff.
- 3 round-robin format.
- U undefeated league season
References
- 1 2 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
- ↑ "NPLWA unchanged in 2017 season". www.footballwest.com.au. 12 November 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
- ↑ "NPLWA expansion for 2017". www.footballwest.com.au. 1 December 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
- ↑ http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2014/07/15/lions-coach-aims-silence-roar
- ↑ Kreider, R.N. (2012) Paddocks to Pitches. The Definitive History of Western Australian Football. Published by SportsWest Media
- ↑ http://www.foxsportspulse.com/comp_info.cgi?c=1-8273-0-240246-0&pool=1001&a=LADDER
External links
| National teams | |
|---|---|
| Current competitions | |
| Defunct competitions | |
| Lists |
|
| Other | |
