WA’s beloved football budget will not make an appearance in the 2026 WAFL season after it was announced funding has been withdrawn from the publication.
Considered a ‘bible’ to WA footy lovers since 1921, the paperback record was a staple in game day routine giving people the opportunity to interact with the game personally and make their own collection of history.
Showing ads from companies no longer seen today and promoting cigarettes before it became illegal, 104 years of the footy budget has been a significant timepiece in displaying WA’s history.
SportFM spoke to WA Football Heritage Committee member, Sean Cowan, this morning.
“It was actually the first thing I ever collected was the footy budget. My grandparents handed me a copy back in 1985 when I was sitting in the stand with them at Subi Oval. I kept that one and I’ve kept every one I’ve ever got since,” he said.
“I loved reading the budget. It’s a real snapshot of WA footy history but also WA social history.”
Costing an estimated $100,000 to run, the future looks dire given the money made back from producing the budget comes purely from the print advertising within a copy.
The onus is now set to be put on the clubs, but they too don’t seem to want to foot the bill.
“I think it’s incumbent on the clubs to provide something to the patrons. They’re paying patrons paying 18 bucks or whatever it is, and included in that fee for the last decade or so has been the budget.”
“If the clubs want to make the saving of not having to pay for the budget but keep the entry price at 18 bucks, I think it’s incumbent on them to actually provide some sort of team list, even it it’s just a photocopied list… but this is a state league for crying out loud, a photocopied list of players names and numbers? I think it’s a bit on the ordinary side.”
Without the help of the WAFL and WA Football, passionate supporters will have to look to external figures in the AFL to potentially be their saving grace if an agency or independent figure in WA can’t step up.
“Everyone in football is challenged other than the AFL, and the AFL has no shortage or dollars and can spend millions putting on things like origin.”
“I think it is symptomatic of the lack of flow of revenue that comes down in the footy pyramid. We see the AFL spending money on, you know, academies and development as they should. But I think they miss the middle. I think they miss senior country footy and senior amateurs footy and even state league footy in their funding plans.”
The discontinuation of a significant piece of WAFL history will leave people bitter given the budget has been such a staple in match day routine for fans.
“It’s a significant dent in the game day experience… I don’t know that it’ll turn people away, but it’s certainly a downer.”
“Will it turn me away from the WAFL? No, but each little chink in the armour is something that does affect overall numbers over time.
“If you were someone who enjoyed sitting there and marking the goal scorers in your budget and you can’t do that, well, that might be the straw that broke the camel’s back for you I suppose.”
Die hard fans will hope the decision doesn’t speed up the decline in attendance the WAFL has seen over the decades, with some fearing for the future of the game.
“Nothing irks me more than watching games from the 1980s and seeing big crowds of 20,000 at a suburban ground and I’m sitting there wondering, where did all these people go?”
“When you look at places like the US, they support their second level sport, like college football and basketball… they get massive crowds, sometimes bigger than the professional leagues, and here there’s a cultural cringe. We go, ‘it’s only WAFL’, and I think that’s sad. It’s a great day out and it’s a fantastic level of football.”
While decisions can be reversed, it looks like there’s a slim chance we see a revival of the footy budget given the huge amount of financial support it requires.
A sad day for WAFL lovers leaves them looking to a white knight to save a significant piece of WA footy history.
IMAGE: WAFL Footy Memorabilia