Perth Football Club - History

History

Formed in 1899, Perth is the fourth-oldest of the nine WAFL clubs. The club played its early football in the Perth First Rate Junior Competition before replacing Rovers mid-way during the 1899 WAFL season after Rovers was unable to continue.

Perth remained competitive for the following decade despite a brief lapse that saw them fall to last in 1912. In the 1915 Grand Final they dominated against Subiaco but could not convert, losing a low-scoring game 2.7 (19) to 3.3 (21). During the war years Perth continued to be prominent, finishing third in each of 1916, 1917 and 1918, but following the end of the war the club was to have a long period in the doldrums. In the twenty-five open-age seasons from 1919 to 1946 Perth played in the finals only three times for just one win over East Perth in 1934 - a record made much worse by the fact that for over half that period more than half of the teams would play off. From 1921 to 1923 the club suffered the ignominy of a hat-trick of wooden spoons, and though it became more competitive in the ensuing decade only in 1927, 1934 and 1939 did it win more games than it lost.

Like most clubs, Perth lost a number of players due to the First and Second World Wars, with many players enlisted in the Australian Defence Force. In total, nineteen Perth were killed on active duty in both wars. Anthony Alexander Forrest, who played two games for the club in 1900, had previously been killed in the Second Boer War in 1901.