Declining revenues and falling attendance figures are just some of the problems facing the future of the WAFL competition if changes aren’t made, writes MARK DUFFIELD.
The West Australian Football Commission has painted an alarming picture of the WAFL competition and its sustainability and warned of an urgent need for change.
All nine WAFL clubs, West Coast and Fremantle were present at a Wednesday night briefing, where they were told the WAFL was less sustainable than it had been a decade ago, faced financial uncertainty in the next few years and had limited capacity to absorb a financial shock.
WAFC chief executive Michael Roberts said the commission wanted feedback from clubs over the next six months to allow change to be implemented from the start of the 2024 WAFL season.
He said the WAFL needed a clearer definition of what it was and what it aspired to, an urgent review of how zones could be used to equalise the competition and whether an advertising campaign launched this year could change an ageing fan demographic.
West Coast’s on field struggles, the likelihood the Eagles would face less attractive fixturing from the AFL over the next year and a state government review of the Optus Stadium User agreement in 2027 were other causes for concern.
The WAFC and state government signed off on a stadium user agreement in 2017 that guarantees football about $11 million annually of stadium income as compensation for giving up the lease on Subiaco Oval.
“Football has to show that the stadium is generating that amount of revenue through football and if it is less does the government have the right to lower the fee they pay us,” Roberts said.
The main concerns were achieving greater financial sustainability and relevance for the WAFL competition.
“We have tinkered with things around the edges to try and make some changes but the trend in terms of finances in terms of attendances, in terms of who is actually competitive on the field just shows that it is not having enough of an impact,” he said.
“We all need to work together to implement change or a direction that we want the WAFL to head in if we want it to be successful, if we want clubs to survive and we want to attract new audiences and so forth.”
Roberts said there were alarming statistics which showed the WAFL in a financial decline.
“Revenue over the last 13 years hasn’t grown and if you adjust CPI it is probably in decline for clubs when the population is going up,” he said.
“The reliance on football commission funding is going up. Ten years ago, our funding made up about twenty per cent. We are headed towards thirty per cent now. Our funding over the next few years might actually be at risk. We have enjoyed some pretty good times with West Coast and some significant returns there.
“Our state government compensation contract is up for review in 2027. That can’t be increased, it can only stay the same or be decreased. We could actually be reduced by 10 to 15% of revenue within the next couple of years.”
Roberts said over the last ten years a third of WAFL clubs had posted losses every year. Last year that number grew to four clubs.
The WAFC launched a marketing campaign for 2023 aimed at drawing a younger audience but that campaign would not work if the WAFL continued to be a competition where half the clubs were starved of success, Roberts said.
“Attendances 12 years ago were about 2200 average per game. Last year we were a tick above 1500.
“Eighty per cent of the fans are 40+ males and 58 per cent are 50+ males. The new ad campaign is focused on 18- to 34-year-olds which is currently only five per cent of the audience.
“We have to acknowledge that the status quo is unlikely to achieve growth and sustainability for the competition.
“We brought in the marketing campaign which will hopefully address this, but it is a bit of a sugar hit because we are still offering the same product and if it is the same offering the fans will think it is not really worth it.
“The winning margins are improving in terms of getting closer and closer. But that comes about by us having to tweak the system every year and being reactive to how clubs are performing rather than having clubs actually having strategies in place for evenness.”
Roberts said four clubs, Subiaco, Claremont, South Fremantle and West Perth, had won 75 per cent of the premierships in the last 32 years.
“It just shows the inequity of success,” Roberts said. “Everyone talks about Perth and if Perth get up the ladder the fans will come back but they have probably missed a generation because they haven’t been successful for 20 years plus.”
According to Roberts, the inequality started at Colts level and stemmed from uneven zones.
“Claremont have finished the Colts competition on top in 11 of the past 14 years so the distribution of talent isn’t right,” he said.
“It shows the model that we have in terms of developing that pathway isn’t currently there. We tinker around the edges of metro zones to try and fix some development corridors of growth, but we need to look at it holistically.
“The population centres in country zones are an issue. Swans have Bunbury and Port Hedland. Perth’s top two towns are Northam and Dongara. West Perth’s top is Merredin and they don’t have one zone town in the next 50 biggest population centres. West Perth has a growth corridor which used to be country but is now metro, heading up to Yanchep.
“But we have to look at how we use the country zones. Do we use them to fix the problems that metro zones are creating, or do we start again or is there another way? Servicing these zones is difficult for clubs when we talk about them operating off the smell of an oily rag.”
Roberts said the WAFL needed to have a clearer picture of what it wanted to be as a competition.
“The great example of us not having a clear idea on what the WAFL is is the fact that we debate where the grand final should be every year. Are we a community competition, are we an entertainment competition or are we an aspirational competition?
“The clubs and us don’t have the resources to be everything to everyone so we need to get a clearer understanding of what we want the WAFL competition to be.
WAFL club locations would be looked at with East Perth having the potential to be shifted to suburban Whiteman Park – a move similar to West Perth’s successful shift to Joodnalup in 1993.
And the WAFL wanted feedback on whether women’s football could be run better because while the impact had been overwhelmingly positive, some clubs were still treating their women’s teams as a financial burden, he said.
