TOPIC:

Anyone from these two clubs prepared to comment at all?
Might be a done deal already?

I understand from a radio interview only about 2 weeks ago that currently in the entire Perth metro area that there are only 20 year 12 sides playing junior footy - that will be a huge problem over the next couple of years with these youngsters heading to any colts competition, either WAFL or WAAFL - watch that space.

I would think if this does happen a lot of clubs around town will be waiting a few years to see how it works and maybe contacting a close by club for a chat. Eg Valley and Ath Kelmscott and Armadale just as an example. It's getting harder to find sponsors to help so many clubs out there now the corporate $$$ in no there anymore. Good luck to both clubs if it does happen interesting to see how many if any of the piarra league guys can push for a league spot in the Maddington team and how they both go about breaking the ice and be 1 club not 2 under the same banner

The more interesting issue is who moves and what do they give up (name wise, colours etc).
I would think it would be maddington moving to piara (being the newer area) Maybe piara Bulls.
How do they encourage their players to move when there are other clubs positioned between these 2 clubs were they could go.
Good luck in making this happen, most time these thing get mention the committee gets tossed out by member not willing to give up there identity.

Surely this can't be right. There would be at least 15 clubs closer to Maddington than Piara waters. Thorn lie, Kenwick, Kelmscot , Lynwood Canning Vale , Belmont, Carlisle Forrestfield, Queens Park , Sneas , Kalamunda. Usually neighbouring clubs merge not clubs miles from each other.

Pretty sure Maddo has contacted all the other local clubs over the last few years?
No one wants to play ball I think?
Looks like Maddo as an identity will disappear as can't see them staying at Harmony Fields.
Would have been a 100 year old club in a few years.
From word around the traps their going.

It's a sad day to see a club merge, I think the clubs themselves and the waafl have to do something about it, clubs need a better relationship with there junior teams to try and get players into the colts and waafl need to put zones on colts players, so if they live 5 mins away from a club that's where they should play instead of going 40 mins up the road, waafl need to actually grow a set and stop club spending money or bring in a salary cap as well, because some of the colts kids get big offers and leave there local club for money.

D-day tomorrow with both clubs holding their meetings- would like to be a fly on the wall at both club rooms. Be interesting to say the least.

Interesting times ahead, will fill ya in Whitey

There has not been one successful merger in the WAAFL in the last 40 years . Of the clubs that have merged usually the club that moves ground disappears and loses all of their identity if not immediately but after a few years meaning that if Maddington move to Piara Waters the club will basically be forgotten in maybe 5/10 years. Generally the clubs have a bit of success for a year or two but after a few years the clubs revert to be about as good as where the host club was prior to the merger. Here are the clubs that have merged since 1980

COLLEGIANS and OLD SCOTCH
Collegians merged with Old Scotch in about 1984. Old Scotch won the B Grade flag in 1981 and the A Grade flag in 1982. Collegians were a B Grade club. They merged to form Collegians Old Scotch. They quickly tumbled down to C Grade from A grade. The Old Scotch name was dumped in the mid 90s and now the club is known as Collegians again the club is about as strong as what the original Collegians was and Old Scotch is now totally forgotten.

CURTIN UNI and OLD WESLEY
Old Wesley were a pretty strong A Grade club and Curtin Uni were a B Grade club. They merged to form Wesley Curtin about 20 years ago and finished last in A Grade the first year after the merge and really struggled for a few years tumbling down to C Grade for quite a few years. They have since got back to A Grade but have changed their name to Curtin Uni Wesley recently which looks like that the Wesley name seems to be on its way out and Old Wesley will be forgotton.

DIANELLA and MORLEY
Dianella were a pretty good B Grade Club and Morley were always in the finals in C 1. They merged in the late 90s to form Dianella Morley and had few good years . They had 5 teams for 2 years after the merge but now are mid table in C3 with 2 teams.

OSBOURNE PARK and BALCATTA
This was an obvious merge as both clubs were about 500 metres from each other. Osbourne Park , nothing to do with the current Osbourne Park, were a powerhouse in the old Sunday League winning many flags and had 4 teams. Balcatta had just won C1 in 1997. They merged to form Balcatta Osbourne Park and won B Grade in 1998 having 5 teams and had a few good years after the merge and have been up and down since and now only have 2 teams.

REDCLIFFE and BELMONT
This was the biggest flop of them all. Redcliffe were the last team to be unbeaten in C Grade and merged with Belmont who were a midfield Sunday League club. Redcliffe had 3 teams and Belmont had 3 teams before the merge. They merged and had 3 teams and finished second last in B Grade in 1999. Only a handful of Redcliffe players went over to the merged club called Belmont Redcliffe. The Redcliffe name was dropped after about 3 years and now Belmont are struggling in C 3 and Redcliffe has been forgotton.

WEST COAST and COWAN UNI
Another total flop. West Coast were a pretty strong A Grade club and Cowan Uni a pretty good C grade club. Merged to form West Coast Cowan and were in A Grade but finished last in A Grade the first year after the merge and quickly dropped to C Grade after 3 years. They bounced back and won C Grade in 2006 as West Coast Cowan. The Cowan name has since gone and now it's back to West Coast.

OSBOURNE DISTRICTS and COOLBINIA YOKINE
Another huge flop as a merge. Osbourne Districts were always a very competitive B Grade and merged with Coolbinia YOKINE who were in D Grade ( C2) to form Coolbinia West Perth in the mid 2000s. Osbourne Districts were already a three times merged club. Mt Hawtorne merged with with West Perth to form Mt Hawtorne West Perth who later merged with Mirrabooka to form Osbourne Districts. They had a couple of good years straight after the merge but have now tumbled down the grades and are now really struggling in C3 with only 2 teams. A side note to this merge is that Osbourne Districts were based at Robinson Reserve before the merge and moved to Coolbina Yokines home ground. A new club called Osbourne Park then started up at Robinson Reserve a couple of years after the merge and are now a bigger club with theree teams than the now merged club to show that it was a stupid move by Osbourne Districts.