The Fremantle Football Club was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

club, based in

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, that played in the

Western Australian Football Association The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...

(WAFA) from 1885 to 1886. The team won the WAFA premiership in 1886. The club played their games at the Esplanade in Fremantle, on the present site of the

Fremantle railway station Fremantle railway station is the terminus of Transperth's Fremantle line in Western Australia. History The original Fremantle station opened in Cliff Street on 1 March 1881 as the terminus of the Eastern Railway to Guildford via Perth. As ...

History

Formation

The club was formed in 1882 as a

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

club. In 1883 the club was the primary instigator of the change of most clubs from rugby football to

Victorian rules The laws of Australian rules football were first created by the Melbourne Football Club in 1859 and have been refined over the years as the sport evolved into its modern form. The laws significantly predate the advent of a governing body for ...

, the predecessor to

WAFA

The club was a founding member of the

in 1885. In the inaugural season, Fremantle finished third out of three teams, behind Rovers,

Victorians In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...

and a

High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

team which dropped out of the competition two rounds into the season. The next season, 1886, the team finished first in the league to claim the premiership. The club recorded large victories over most of the competition, including 6–2 against both Rovers and Unions and 4–1 against Victorians. The club's most notable player during this period was the captain Bill Bateman, an inaugural inductee of the

West Australian Football Hall of Fame The West Australian Football Hall of Fame was created in 2002 to recognise and enshrine those who have made a significant contribution to Australian rules football in Western Australia. People eligible for inclusion are players, coaches, umpires, ...

. The club went defunct at the end of the 1886 season, with most of its players transferring to Unions, also based in Fremantle, who adopted the name "Fremantle Football Club" in 1890.

Officials

Honours

Premierships

*WAFA: ::1886

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fremantle Football Club (1882-1886) Australian rules football clubs in Western Australia Former West Australian Football League clubs Australian rules football clubs disestablished in 1886 Australian rules football clubs established in 1882 1882 establishments in Australia 1886 disestablishments in Australia