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I absolutely concur. The evidence given by the President of South Perth JFC (and current Perth FC Director) was damning- and the "lower socio-economic area' statement (in that particular area) is just laughable.

Perth FC do bugger all and get bugger all out of their zone - and the evidence of that is there for all to see.

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Fark you love writing the word domiciled 42. Love it Mate. Enjoy. Though the prevalence dose make one wonder if you are not so well read as you may try to seem.

 

TFaF in this particular case domiciled is the appropriate word.  How I express my views on this forum is no different than how I communicate outside this forum.

Really interesting thread, guys. Maybe not the domiciled bit. I don't know much about the pfc zone, but common sense suggests it's an advantage to have a wealthier coastal zone. 

My 11 year old nephew plays in the Claremont zone. The footy is terrific. The coaching excellent. The parents very keen. 

I grew up in the Subi zone. Mostly we played against coastal clubs like Scarborough, wembly Downs, woodlands. they were hard to beat. 

Then, in my last junior year the Subi zone shifted  and we played against Koondoola, Girrawheen. Was a boring season for me. We won every game v easily.  The kids were smaller and slighter. It wasn't a fair fight. Whitfords,a coastal club, gave us a bit of a run. 

I'm not sure those clubs I mentioned even exist now. What's the go now in the Mirrabooka greater area?

Perth probably needs extra help from the Wafc. It would probably be government money reasonably spent if it helps community sport in less advantaged areas.

Generally it makes sense zones to reflect the location of the club. So changing zones is probably a limited option. 

On the evidence of the last 40 years or so, I think Perth fc are at a disadvantage. Maybe they should get more junior players, given that their zone is less productive. enlarge their zone, somehow. Or, give them a higher points allocation, or a higher salary cap to recruit.  Or, as I said above, put more money into their zone. But that would take years to make a change at the wafl level, although on the ground the junior clubs would benefit straight away. 

Last week's loss against swans makes this problem seem more urgent, I imagine. 

Perth's Metro Zone is generally made up of a low socio-economic demographic.
Areas within the zone  are older areas with less young families than the newer younger areas other clubs enjoy especially the north of river coastal areas. There are three PSA schools in our zone - Aquinas, Trinity and Wesley but PFC have no exclusive rights to those students and neither should we except for students who actually live in our zone.
Over a period of time there have odd minor changes to zones affecting PFC but the results have been to take away a suburb here or there and replace with another no better than the one taken . And then later further changes have been made reversing the previous changes but overall no benefit to PFC.
I agree with the premise that zones should generally reflect the location of the club.
So, perhaps there should be a rating of all club zones and the lower rated clubs granted some concessions on salary and points caps and some added funding to assist with recruiting.
This would be some sort of .....yes, you guessed it.....Equalisation.  I don't suggest this is the answer but merely a suggestion.
Just my humble thoughts on the matter. JL you posted while I was writing. I did not copy. We are obviously on the same wave length. Great minds do think alike.

Balga High School  made the semi finals of the school competiton in the mid 80s, nearly playing before the state game. in general, colts football is one sided, as is juniors. Back in the 80s, it was not uncommon for Westminster Balga to win  without the opposition scorring.

There is some equalisation- player point totals differ from club to club- PFC gets 115; CFC & SFC get 95. Perth picks up players at 1 pt from other clubs eg McPartland; Clark and Reid (even at 0 pts like Avery in the Colts (until he plays seniors and gets 1 pt value) (McPartland came the same way). They’re all metro zoned from other clubs. Perth even gets some country players for 1 pt from other clubs eg La Fontaine. 
I agree that the socioeconomic factors are real especially in keeping players throughout the talent pathway but there are sections of other club’s zones that fall into that category  too (but most of those clubs also have over 100 pts as  their equalisation in Senior player lists)
but I also agree that if a club’s got a small cohort or other issues in their zone they have to work harder and smarter to extract the best that they can from it. You have to find 5-10 gems per year to give you a competitive home grown senior list over the playing life of a list. Just because CFC and SFC might find it easier doesn’t mean it can’t be done. It might have to be done differently and with more effort.

The other thing is clubs can't make players join-the best player in the school side never botherred with colts at wp; he was a wp supporter as well.

And it’s pretty hard to make them stay if the want to go.

EF were given Queens Park after losing a couple of established clubs some years ago. Queens Park were struggling but EF turned it around and improved it ten fold only to have it taken from us years later and given back to.....you guessed it Perth. I believe the "stories:.