WAFL Collectables

From 1961, The Sunday Times newspaper had an annual ritual of printing the competing teams' photographs in the edition published the day after the WAFL grand final. And from 1964, readers could purchase a copy of either photograph on glossy white paper. Needless to say, the newspaper photographs turn up far more often than the glossy posters, which varied in size over the years but were mostly about A3 in size. In 1964, the posters cost 3 shillings apiece or five shillings for both, with five pence covering the cost of postage. By 1966, with the advent of decimal currency, they were 20c apiece, with 4c postage, and in 1970, they were 25c each, with 5c for postage. The photos last appeared in the paper after the 1985 grand final, but it's not known whether the poster version could be purchased every year from 1964 to 1985. If they could, a collector would be chasing 44 posters, in total. But given I've never seen any posters from the 1980s, it's more likely that 1979 was the last year, and collectors are therefore chasing 32 posters.

The Weekend News was the Saturday edition of the Daily News and, between 1966 and 1969, it published a photograph of a WAFL player in (almost) each of its editions during football season. Other sporting stars appeared during the summer months (from cricket, tennis, golf, horse racing etc). The pictures were taken by well-known photographer John McKenzie, and usually also featured a short biography of the player. A total of 101 posters were published over the course of the four seasons, with only a few editions published during the footy season of 1969 without posters. I finally now have all 101 posters, though I am still looking for better copies of the 23 posters marked in orange.

This great set of full-colour posters was released by the Sunday Times in 1965, but had to be purchased directly from the newspaper publisher. Marketed as "magnificent full colour prints on heavy paper", keen WAFL supporters could pick one up from 34 Stirling St for three shillings and sixpence each, or could get them posted out for four shillings. Alternatively, you could buy the full set for 28 shillings (30 shillings posted). The posters themselves were about A3 in size and featured just one player from each club. Sadly, the quality of the paper used was poor and they are rarely seen in anything but poor condition these days.

These posters were obtained by sending in coupons from Weeties boxes in 1970 and eagerly awaiting your chosen poster by return mail. The posters themselves were about A3 in size and featured great action shots of the stars of the day. As you would imagine, they are very rare today and, while I have seen a handful of copies of the Polly Farmer poster, I've only ever seen two or three copies of each of the other posters.

This set of posters is difficult to find today and there's not much information available on them. What we do know is that each of them bears the business name "Page Photographics" at the bottom right-hand corner. The same designs feature on a set of stickers that was issued by Shell oil company about the same time. The likely production date for this set has been determined by reference to the designs; the East Perth poster features the "Reigning Royals", which is likely a reference to the club's 1972 premiership, while the Subiaco version features the "Mighty Maroons" which would presumably have been the "Mighty Lions" had the poster been manufactured after 1973.

In 1975, inside the newspaper, the Sunday Independent printed posters of each of the eight club captains. The posters were sponsored by radio station 6PM and were published between June 29 and August 31. On the back of each poster, you will find regular newspaper pages. Given the low quality of the paper and the fact they were usually pinned on the wall of a youngster's bedroom, few of these survive today.

It's not quite clear how these were issued, but they were produced by the Sunday Independent in 1975 and featured brightly coloured designs for each club. Until recently, I had only seen the Claremont, East Perth and West Perth versions, but a stash of six surfaced in March 2022 and the only one I'm still yet to see is the Swans version.

The first we knew of these posters was in the middle of 1982, when Westside Football ran a teaser in the centre spread of its June 3 edition: "These fantastic caricature drawings of football's superstars for 1982 can be part of your own collection - either in T-shirt form or on a big poster. See next week's Westside Football for details." The caricatures were drawn by prominent WA cartoonist Greg Smith, and were printed on glossy paper, measuring 58cm x 45cm. They cost $2.50 apiece (plus 70c for postage), or a set of eight club posters could be purchased for $15, plus $1 postage. They could also be obtained directly from the Westside Football office at 215 Oxford St in Leederville. T-shirts featuring the same design cost $6 each, plus 70c postage. Sadly, the posters weren't offered in 1983, with only T-shirts being sold. 

In 1993, Sunday Times cartoonist Greg Smith was asked to produce a poster to promote the grand final between West Perth and Claremont. The cartoon was printed on an A2 poster, but also became the cover for the grand final Football Budget. That started a tradition that is still running to this day (though there have been some anomalies during that period). For instance, in 1996 and 2008, there was no Smithy cartoon (either on the promotional poster or on the cover of the grand final Budget). In 2017, the cartoon was to be found in the middle of the Budget, which carried a special front cover to mark the fact was the last game of football at Subiaco Oval, and no promotional poster was printed. In 2018, the cartoon was back on the cover of the Football Budget, but the poster could only be obtained by buying a copy directly from Greg Smith. In 2019, it was again on the cover but no poster was produced, while in both 2020 and 2021 the cartoon was only used as the centre spread in the Budget and no poster was produced.

In 2001, the WAFL decided to produce a poster of each WAFL team, featuring the league squad. The posters were produced in horizontal format, about the length of an A2 poster (but much smaller in height). The initiative must have been considered a success, because the posters have been produced each year since (to 2021). The photographs are usually taken pre-season by each club's photographer and then sent to the WAFC for editing and for artwork to be added. The posters are distributed from the WAFC to the clubs, most of which hand them out for free at their club shops or during special promotions. There have, however, been some anomalies. For instance, in 2009, there were separate league and colts posters for each club, although it's still not clear whether Peel had a league poster that season (I have never seen one). In 2019, West Perth, which was dealing with the fallout from the going into administration, did not get a photo taken and, as a result, no poster was produced. And the WAFC did not print posters in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID pandemic, leaving the clubs to produce their own, if they saw fit. Some did and some did not.

In 2004, 2005 and 2006, the WAFL issued cards featuring players for each club. Along with the cards, collectors could obtain a poster for each club that were designed to hold the cards (each poster had slots cut into them for the cards). 

July 16-17 1983 Western Mail State Team

1984 Swans Caricature

2011-12 Claremont Back to Back

2014 Subiaco Premiers

1997 East Fremantle Player Caricatures