West Australian Football

LOCK in Sunday, September 21 as WAFL grand final day. Since 2002 the biggest game on the WAFL calendar has been played on a Sunday and despite West Coast and Fremantle not participating in this year’s AFL finals, 2008 will be no different. Attracting an atmosphere-creating crowd was the impetus behind the WAFC chief executives voting again for a Sunday grand final. By avoiding any clash with a live telecast of the AFL preliminary final was another primary reason for not playing the game on Saturday.

South Fremantle and Claremont will head this weekend’s AFL-free weekend in Perth when they play for the Jimmy Melbourne Cup at Fremantle Oval this Saturday.

Four games of WAFL will be played at the traditional time slot of 2.15pm this Saturday afternoon. There is expected to be an influx of AFL talent back to the WAFL this weekend, including Jeff Farmer who is hopeful of being part of this tribute game at the Port.

The Jimmy Melbourne Cup is in honour of the first aboriginal to play senior football in Australia and to acknowledge the wonderful contribution Indigenous players have made to our WAFL competition. The event will help kick off NAIDOC Week celebrations which will be held from July 6 to 13.

Mark Haynes will play his 100th WAFL game this Saturday 5 July at Arena Joondalup when Subiaco take on West Perth.

Mark was recruited from Sandringham, Victoria in 2004 and was the Clubs League Fairest and Best winner in 2006. Mark was also part of the 2004, 2006 and 2007 premiership sides.

Since joining the club Mark just fell short of playing 100 straight games due to an injury early in the 2008 season where he reached 91 consecutive games.

Playing 100 games at one Club by an interstate recruit demonstrates loyalty, commitment and passion for the Subiaco Football Club.

Over the past 14 months $900,000 has been distributed by the West Australian Football Commission’s Community Development Facilities Fund for upgrades to things such as lighting, scoreboards and changerooms.

A Football Facilities Strategic Plan (FFSP) was commissioned last year by the WAFC and The Department of Sport and Recreation. The plan stemmed from estimates that over the next 15 years, the Perth Metropolitan and Peel areas would need to cater for approximately 90 new football clubs, 700 new teams and 17,000 new players with the problem of a lack of facilities for the athletes to play.