WA Football participation growth leads nation

THE West Australian Football Commission has recorded the largest participation growth in Australia for the core areas of Auskick and Club Football following the official release of AFL census figures today.

WA’s Auskick numbers grew by 22.7% to almost 40,000 participants, while Club Football increased by 4% to 62,536. The next closest was South Australia with 3% growth in both of these fundamental segments.

Total football participation for 2015 in WA was 224,842, which equates to 9% overall growth in direct comparison to 2014 AFL census data, taking into account the reclassification of some segments this year.

WA Football’s 2015 growth also included 23.5% in Female Football participation, 15.6% in Veterans, 5.4% in Junior Football and 0.5% in Youth Football.

WAFC General Manager Game Development Warren Nel said the growth had been driven by the thousands of volunteers who continue to underpin the delivery of the game in WA, especially the Metropolitan and Regional Football Development Councils, coaches, umpires, teachers, trainers and administrators.

“WAFC and WAFL club staff have also played an integral role in ensuring our code continues to be Western Australia’s number one participation sport,” he said.

“A great number of partners, both government and business, have also identified that the WAFC Development Model is a platform that can deliver mutually beneficial outcomes to the community at large. The ability to maintain investments within this growing infrastructure will continue to be a priority for the WAFC.”

2015 WA Football Participation Summary

Segment

Participants

Growth (2014-15)

Female Club

2,200

+10.8%

Veterans (AFL Masters)

3,866

+15.6%

AFL9’s Community Comps

5,436

+2.7%

Youth Football (13 – 17 years)

14,450

+0.5%

Senior Community (16+)

14,695

+1.3%

Junior Football (9 – 12 years)

27,325

+5.4%

Auskick (5 – 8 year olds)

39,659

+22.7%

School Football

117,211

+9.0%

TOTAL:

224,842

+9.0%