West Kimberley Football League

Current season, competition or edition: 2022 WKFA Season
Formerly	Broome Football Association
Sport	Australian rules football
Founded	1921
No. of teams	8 Mens, 7 Womens
Country	Australia
Venue(s)	Broome, Western Australia
Most recent champion(s)	Mens: Cable Beach (11th premiership), Womens: Cable Beach
Most titles	Towns (23)
Sponsor(s)	Kimberley Physiotherapy
Official website	wfkl.asn.au

The West Kimberley Football Association is an Australian rules football competition in the far North West of Western Australia.

The league covers an area from Bidyadanga in the west to Derby in the east. Games are played during the day in Broome and Derby with the majority of games and all finals taking place on Haynes Oval in Broome. At the end of the 2005 season there were eight teams participating – Broome Bulls, Broome Saints, Towns, Bidyadanga Emus, Peninsula Bombers, Cable Beach Greenbacks, Derby Lightning and Mowanjum Hawks. In 2006 the Looma Eagles joined the competition after leaving the Central Kimberley Football League (CKFL).

History

In 1921 the Broome Football Club was formed, local citizens signed up and two teams were formed. Using the residences of the players to divide the town in two. A line was drawn across the town and players living to the North of the line were zoned to North, and players living South of the line played for South. For six seasons this was the rule and it was a lopsided competition, South was the dominate team. In 1927 a redrawing of the zones resulted in two new teams, Marsh Rovers and the Wanderers. This was an attempt to revitalise the game in town but when the Great Depression hit it caused a downturn in economic activity and resulted in the lack of workers coming to town. Lack of workers meant lack of players and the game when into recess. 3 years later an attempt of revival the game the club returned to the original boundaries and origin teams. This lasted only a season and a half before the game was kaput.

After WWII there was a inflex of workers to the town, The Japanese had bombed Broome during the war and the town needed rebuilding, The State and Federal Governments were involved and with the slogan of Populate or persist the game of Australian rules was revived. The first season was in 1949, three teams were formed, Commonwealth, Meatworks and Towns. This continued until 1955 when a fourth team was included, Broome Saints.

Current Clubs^[1]

List of clubs competing in the WKFA (correct as of 2022 Season):

Colours	Club	Mascot	Home ground	Years in Comp.	Premierships	Premiership years	Notes
	Bidyadanga	Emus	Father McMahon Oval	1983–	3	1990, 2004, 2016
	Broome Bulls	Bulls	Father McMahon Oval/Haynes Oval	1949-	14	1954, 1957, 1962–64, 1970, 1982, 1989, 1995, 1997–99, 2001, 2017,	Known as Meatworks prior to 1995
	Broome Saints	Saints	Father McMahon Oval	1955–	11	1960, 1965–67, 1971–73, 1979, 2005–06, 2010
	Cable Beach	Greenbacks	Father McMahon Oval	1991–	11	1996, 2007, 2009, 2011–12, 2014–15, 2019, 2021–22-23	Formerly known as Nyul Nyul
	Derby Tigers	Tigers	Derby Oval	1978–	1	1984	Formerly known as Derby Hawks, Derby Lightning,
	Looma Eagles	Eagles	Father McMahon Oval	2006–	2	2013, 2018
	Peninsula Bombers	Bombers	Haynes Oval	1976–	4	1980, 1988, 1992, 2000	Formerly known as Beagle Bay prior to 1999.
	Towns	Falcons	Haynes Oval	1949–	23	1951–53, 1955–56, 1959, 1961, 1969, 1974–78, 1981, 1983, 1985–86, 1991, 1993–94, 2002–03, 2008

WFKA Seasons

Bullen Medal Winners

2013: Joseph Dann (Cable Beach)

2014: Hayden McLeod (Bulls)

2015: Gerrick Weedon (Derby)

2016: Angelo Thomas (Bidyadanga) and Hayden McLeod (Bulls)

2017: Wade Wundungin (Derby)

2018: Wade Wundungin (Derby), Anthony Treacy (Cable Beach) & Zephenier Skinner (Looma)

2019: Angelo Thomas (Bidyadanga)

2020: Not awarded due to COVID-19 pandemic

2021: Tristram Pigram (Saints)

2022: Benjamin Goldie (Towns)

References

External links

• "Barefoot and Brilliant" The History of Football In Broome