The 1947 WANFL season was the 63rd season of senior football in Perth, Western Australia. With the background of war completely removed, 1947 saw the WANFL begin a golden age of growth dominated by the two Fremantle clubs, West Perth and Perth, who made the league for the following nine seasons a ''de facto'' hierarchy led by South Fremantle and West Perth, who respectively won 128 and 121 of their 159 home-and-away matches between 1947 and 1954.
Zones with vastly different populations and large unzoned areas
[Pressure from some WANFL board members to eliminate zoning existed as late as 1955.] allowed these more successful and financially secure clubs to monopolise the leading player talent.
The red and whites won their first premiership for thirty seasons – ironically under the leadership of former Cardinal captain-coach
Ross Hutchinson
Sir Ross Hutchinson, DFC (10 September 1914 – 19 December 1999) was an Australian rules footballer, coach and politician. He played for and coached East Fremantle, West Perth and South Fremantle in the West Australian National Football Leag ...
who transferred for this season. Perth, in the doldrums with only three finals appearances and three seasons with more wins than losses since 1918, began thirty years of prominence during which they won six premierships. In contrast, Subiaco, after two promising postwar seasons were beset by poor recruiting and conflicts over coaching, so that they lost their first eleven games and fell from third to last. The Maroons were not to again win more than five matches in a season until 1956, nor finish above any rival except Swan Districts until 1957. During the nine seasons beginning with this year Subiaco would win just 32 games out of 179, or a winning rate of 17.88 percent. East Fremantle, after their record
undefeated season in 1946, fell to fourth place. Old Easts toured Sydney and Canberra in August during the Carnival, defeating a Canberra team by 77 points at
Manuka Oval on 9 August, and a New South Wales state team by 23 points on 10 August.
For the first time the WANFL allowed payments to players in the form of a "Provident Fund" accessed after each player's retirement and totalling 15 shillings per match – increased to 30 shillings in 1956.
[Barker, ''Behind the Play'', page=100]
Home-and-away season
Round 1
Round 2 (Labour Day)
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6 (Foundation Day)
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Round 18
Round 19
Ladder
Finals
First semi-final
Second semi-final
Preliminary final
Grand Final
Notes
References
External links
Official WAFL websiteWestern Australian National Football League (WANFL), 1947
{{WAFL seasons
West Australian Football League seasons
WANFL