The WA Footballer was the forerunner to today's Football Budget and was first published in 1921 by South Australians Bernard and Patrick McMahon. Over in Adelaide, the McMahons already owned the SA Footballer and they saw there was money to be made across the Nullarbor by starting a programme for the WAFL.
The WA Footballer ran from 1921-1935 and there were 394 editions published during those 15 seasons, including special editions for state games, grand finals and even challenge games against visiting teams from the VFL or SANFL. If you would like to read more about the history of the WA Footballer, then click here for a feature article I wrote for the 90th anniversary edition of the Football Budget in 2011: The History of the Football Budget
Though I would love to own a full set of these, I have just 84 of them and I doubt I will ever be able to find any more than a handful of the 310 I am still missing. Thankfully, though, Swan Districts historian Brad Willey has scanned each and every copy of WA Footballer using my own collection and the collections held by the WAFL, the clubs and the State Library. The collection is now available on disc. Anyone interested can email me for details of how to get in touch with Brad.
Below is the list of WA Footballer magazines that I am currently missing. Any help with any of these would be greatly appreciated.
May 3
May 10
May 17
Nay 24
May 31
June 2
June 7
June 14
June 21
June 28
July 5
July 12
July 19
July 26
August 2 Combined Fremantle v North Adelaide
August 6 Combined Metro Clubs v North Adelaide
August 9 WA 2nd 18 v North Adelaide
August 16 Combined Fremantle v Essendon
August 20 Combined Perth v Essendon
August 23 WA 2nd 18 v Essendon
August 30
September 6
September 13 First Semi-Final (EF v SF)
September 20 Second Semi-Final (EP v S)
September 27 Final (EF v S)
October 6 Grand Final (EF v S)