WAFL Collectables

Called "buttons" these days and "tinnies" in the distant past, there have only been a few sets of these types of badges issued for the WAFL over the years. Though I can't possibly list every one produced here (especially when shops allowed people to make their own in the 1980s), I've attempted to list as many mass-produced sets and interesting buttons as possible, including some that were made in the Eastern States but featured a badge for the WA state team.

Obviously, these weren't produced for the WAFL. Rather, they were made to be sold at the 1947 Australian Football Carnival, which was held in Hobart from July 30 to August 11. Each badge had the same design (which included a map of Tasmania in it), but featured the colours of a different competing state. Although seven states and territories competed at the 1947 carnival, I have only ever seen badges for six of the competing teams. Unsurprisingly, the one I've seen most often (and the only one I actually own) is the Tasmanian badge, which probably sold fairly well to the local supporters.

The idea behind these types of competitions was generally to raise funds for the club. Supporters would buy a tinnie featuring their favourite player and the winner of the competition was then deemed to be the player for whom the most tinnies were sold. Some players even had teams of people working on their campaigns. The South Fremantle Popular Player Comp tinnies were made in 1953 for exactly that reason - to help raise the £4000 needed for the club's planned tour of the Eastern States in 1954. But instead of it being a free-for-all with every player featuring on a tinnie, the players only nominated four of the most popular among them to appear on the tinnies. The trainers also nominated coach Clive Lewington. The rest of the players then supported the campaign for one of those five men. The tinnies themselves measure just 25mm in diameter and are highly sought after today.

West Perth almost always seemed to be just a short step behind South Fremantle in the period immediately after WWII, and it turns out that wasn't limited to their on-field performance. The Cardies launched a popular player competition in 1954 - the year after the Southerners held theirs. The tinnies produced for this competition were the same size (25mm diameter) as South Freo's and had a very similar design, though they were black-and-white. What is less clear, though, is exactly how many different tinnies were produced. West Perth Football Club's annual report for 1954 reveals the names of the top four placegetters (Tony Yaksich was the winner, while Brian Falconer may have won if he had not been distracted by army training), but I have seen two for other players. There may well have been more. Again, these are very difficult to find today.

Starting in 1960, the Daily News tried to draw in footy fans by offering a supporter's item to readers each year. After launching in 1960 with oval-shaped sew-on cloth badges, the newspaper issued a set of eight tinnie badges in 1961. While the 1960 cloth badges were free with a coupon from the paper (provided you supplied sixpence of stamps for them to be mailed out), the 1961 tinnie badges cost sixpence apiece. You also had to pay postage of five pence for up to five badges. Up to a dozen badges would cost eight pence. Described as "gloss-finished" and "hard-wearing", the badges were each about the size of a modern-day 50-cent piece and the newspaper was confident the badges would "last you through more seasons than just the one". The coupon was published on April 7 - eight days out from the opening bouncedown for 1961.

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Perhaps out of ideas by 1964, the Daily News issued a set of eight tinnies again. They were all, in fact, exactly the same as the 1961 set, the only difference being that these badges were only the size of five-cent pieces. I haven't seen many of these in my years of collecting, but most of those I have seen had team-coloured ribbons attached to them. It's unclear whether th

I had always struggled to find out anything about these badges, which turn up very infrequently. But I was recently pleased to discover that the daughter of a man who used to work for a company called Maxart had a pile of the badges in her father's belongings. She also had the Maxart display unit that was used to put them on show for potential purchasers. This proved they were made by Maxart, who were perhaps better known for making the buttons on business and casual shirts, but left me with very little information about when they were made. My best guess, judging by the logos and design, is in the late 1960s. The badges themselves are about 44mm in diameter.

These buttons featured the famous w-style logos that the WAFL used for all clubs from 1976-1981, and were likely released to the market in about 1980. The buttons themselves are the standard 58mm size that was popular in that era.

In Victoria in the early 1980s, you could buy buttons for VFL and VFA clubs that said "I Love Collingwood", "I Love Essendon" or "I Love Frankston". Some bright marketing spark in WA clearly liked the idea enough to copy the design for the WAFL clubs. They were made in the standard 58mm button size of the day and are difficult to find today.

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These were made by Imprint Plastic, of Myaree, and feature plastic shields with club logos on them. The shields measure about 52mm across and 57mm in height. The badges were sold separately, but also as part of a "Scream Pack", which included a vinyl penant and a bumper sticker that could be purchased from the Footy Shop for $3.60.

Marketed as "Scream Badges", these were standard 58mm-diameter 1980s buttons and featured a design based on a set of VFL badges the were released a few years earlier. There were six buttons for each club - five featuring players and one bearing the club's cartoon-style mascot. The buttons cost $2.50 apiece and buying a set of your club's badges from the Footy Shop in Leederville earned you a ticket in the draw to win a trip to the VFL grand final or an Indi 500 bicycle. After chasing the 40 player badges for more than 10 years, I'm only a little over half way there (I have 22).