FALCONS PULL OFF SUCCESSFUL INTERNATIONAL ROUND

THE West Perth Football Club has drawn high praise for its initiative and proactivity in pulling off a second straight home International Round clash at Arena Joondalup with the highest crowd in the WAFL this season turning out.

The crowd of 6195 people at Arena Joondalup was the biggest ever outside of a derby against East Perth since the Falcons began calling it home in 1994, and it was the fourth biggest WAFL crowd ever at the venue.

The attendance of 6195 was the largest at any WAFL match so far this season making it the second consecutive year that International Round has attracted more than 6000 people after 6044 attended in 2012.

This year the initiative saw the West Perth league team play in a special one-off World Jumper, designed to embrace the West Perth District’s international community and build on the success of last year’s British Flag Jumper promotion.

WAFC General Manager Pathways & Competitions Steve Hargrave said the jumper, crowd and atmosphere at the game was fantastic and congratulated everyone involved.   

"Events like this are crucial to introduce the game to new markets and potential participants and West Perth has really set a great example of what can be done," Hargrave said.

"It was also great to see so many families at the game and the support of special guests and dignitaries including Joondalup Mayor Troy Pickard, local Member for Joondalup Jan Norberger, Federal Member for Moore Ian Goodenough and MLC Ken Travers.

"Continuing to explore new markets and driving growth in participation is so important to ensure football’s base grows to support a new stadium. In turn, grassroots competitions including the WAFL, will then receive better financial outcomes from the new stadium.

"We recently exceeded 150,000 participants for WA football, which sees participation now almost double cricket and more than triple soccer. It is very important we continue building on this."

The International Round promotion was driven by the West Perth Football District with the support of the West Perth Football Club Board and the West Australian Football Commission. 

West Perth District Manager Andrew Ridley said the aim was to engage new Australians and promote Australia’s indigenous game while welcoming new communities to football. 

The West Perth District (Hillarys north to Two Rocks) has the fastest growing migrant and multicultural demographic in the state and includes:

• 67% of people with one or more parent born overseas 

• 46% of people born overseas (Australian average 20%)

• 9 of 28 suburbs with a UK birth population greater than 28%

• 9% of the population has migrated in the last 3 years

There was a whole lot more to the occasion than just what was seen to be the success that was the day on Sunday though with the West Perth Football District visited 35 local primary schools leading up to the game to promote the game.

The day itself also included a large kids zone with bouncy castles, face painting, a super slide, show bags, sports activities, a free skills clinic at half-time, international food stalls and a British beer tent.

The West Perth Football Club has a strong history of migrant members and players with many players the sons of Italian migrants.

In the late 1940s and early 50s when a lot of Italians and migrants basically turned much of the West Perth zone into one big market garden. They would all work the gardens till noon on Saturdays before heading to Leederville to watch the footy.

West Perth named its Garlic Munchers Team of the Century in 2008, which paid tribute to its mainland European tradition that stemmed from its time at Leederville Oval.

"The team that was chosen is the best Garlic Munchers side of all time," said former West Perth President Mr Rockman.

"There will never ever be another Garlic Munchers side of all time because the movement of West Perth Football Club from the Leederville days to Joondalup has changed the dynamics of what now makes up our side."

Migrants are not new to football in WA, but with the rates of those coming to Australia increasing, the likes of West Perth are putting programs in place to cater specifically for them. Some of the playing and coaching legends from football’s rich past were sons of migrant parents.

The move of the Falcons to its new frontier in 1994 was never going to be easy, however no body predicted at the time the culture change it would bring to the West Perth Football Club nor the extensive work or investment the West Perth District (the community arm) would need to commit to grow and develop local football.

The desire to capture the heart and get the passion for football running through the veins of its migrant population lead the West Perth Football District to employ a full time Emerging Markets Development Officer tasked with growing the game within our new populations. 

In 2013 the District has partnered with Eddystone Primary School. The partnership covers both the main stream school and the Intensive Language Centre where the school will attend the match, march on the oval before the game and participate in the footy skills clinic at Half Time. 

While the heritage of its migrants may have changed from Italian to mostly British since shifting its home base at Leederville to Joondalup, the Falcons are still dedicated to making football a key element of every culture within its zone.

Ridley said 67 per cent of the Falcons District population was defined as multicultural, but over 45 per cent of those people personally migrated i.e. were not born in Australia. Many of those are English brought up on soccer.

"We use schools as a major driver to expose children to football, including migrant children," Ridley said.

"Kids come across from the UK and they are entrenched in soccer so we want to introduce them to our game, give them a taste for it and then link them up to their local football club.

"The results have been good over the past year or so and our school participation rates have gone up more than 60 per cent. We have encouraging situations at clubs like the Brighton Seahawks, which is English heartland, where now the parents are becoming actively involved as coaches and volunteers and that’s what we want to see.

"We won’t know for another five to 10 years how many colts, reserves or league players our programs produce from the migrant population, but we know this is a long-term commitment."

BY CHRIS PIKE