One of WA’s longest serving football administrators, Grant Dorrington, is set to start the next chapter of his long career in the game when he steps down as the WAFC’s Director of Pathway and Competitions at the end of July.

Grant has spent more than 38 years in a range of football roles during a dynamic period in which the sport has been transformed into a modern game with almost 150,000 players registered in Western Australia playing across all levels of competition, giving football by far and away the largest participation base in organised sports. His career as an administrator covers the four decades in which the WAFC, West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers were established, the current talent development system was created, Peel Thunder joined the WAFL, and the AFL partnering model was agreed for the WAFL.

NAB West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee Denis Marshall was elevated to ‘Legend’ status during the Football Hall of Fame induction dinner at Perth Convention Exhibition Centre on Wednesday, March 6.

The event coincided with the official launch of the new WA Football Hall of Fame website www.wafootballhalloffame.com.au which includes extensive profiles, photos and videos of WA Football’s Hall of Fame inductees and Legends.

2013 inductees included Tom Wilson, Frank Hopkins, Ray Richards, George Young, Chris Lewis and Peter Bell.

The 2012 West Australian Football Commission Annual Report is now available on-line.

Click here to view it now - http://www.wafc.com.au/annual-report/

More than three months after the beginning of the Youth Leadership Program, the young students graduated on Saturday, February 16 at the AFL NAB Cup triple header at Patersons Stadium.

The group of students aged 15-17, recognised as motivated young leaders, were selected from umpiring, school and community football programs to attend the Youth Leadership Program in November last year.

The program aimed to equip these already identified leaders with a range of skills to take back to their community and impact on their peers.  Thanks to OneLife, the young leaders will now go back into their community as ambassadors for mental health and suicide awareness.

FOOTBALL participation in Western Australia is forecast to exceed 150,000 this year following a strong start to the West Australian Football Commission’s ‘Play AFL’ registration campaign at the weekend.

The expected growth in 2013 takes into account exciting re-registration levels for all segments to date.

This follows a 9.02% participation increase last season to a total of 141,835, making football by far the highest participation sport in Western Australia ahead of cricket, netball and soccer.