The 1980 WAFL Grand Final 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

game contested between the

South Fremantle Football Club South Fremantle Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Fremantle, Western Australia. The club plays in the Western Australian Football League (WAFL) and the WAFL Women's (WAFLW), commonly going by the nickname the ''Bulldogs ...

and the

Swan Districts Football Club The Swan Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Swans, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The club is based at Bassendean Oval, in Bassendean, Western Australia, ...

, on 27 September 1980 at

Subiaco Oval Subiaco Oval (; nicknamed Subi) was a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Subiaco, Western Australia, Subiaco. It was opened in 1908 and closed in 2017 after the completion of the new Perth Stadium in Burswood, ...

, to determine the premier team of the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") 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 f ...

(WAFL) for the 1980 season. South Fremantle won the game by 58 points, 23.18 (156) to 15.8 (98), with

Maurice Rioli Maurice Joseph Rioli Sr. (1 September 1957 – 25 December 2010) was an Australian rules footballer who represented St Mary's Football Club in the Northern Territory Football League (NTFL), in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and ...

of South Fremantle winning the

Simpson Medal The Simpson Medal is an individual prize awarded for Australian rules football in Western Australia. The medal has been donated by Dr Fred Simpson and family since 1945. Simpson Medals are currently awarded to the following players: *The best pl ...

best on ground Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

Season summary

Swan Districts were the dominant team in the first half of the season, winning 13 games straight. Their winning run ended in Round 14 when they lost to South Fremantle at their home ground,

Bassendean Oval Bassendean Oval (currently known as Steel Blue Oval under ground sponsorship arrangements), is a sports stadium located in Bassendean, Western Australia. It was officially opened in 1929 and significantly upgraded in 1932.home and away season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

games for the year, to

East Perth East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

in round 16 and to South Fremantle in the final round. South Fremantle's season started with player turmoil, with Collingwood's ruckman Derek Shaw getting a Supreme Court injunction to enable him to play for South Fremantle without a clearance. However, South's

centre half-back In the sport of Australian rules football, the half-back line refers to the positions of the 3 players on the field that occupy the centre half-back and left and right half-back flank positions. Centre half-back The role of the centre half-bac ...

Joe McKay failed in his Supreme Court bid to be cleared to East Perth.

Stephen Michael Stephen Albert Michael (born 15 March 1956) is a former Australian rules footballer. More recently, Stephen is the patron of the Stephen Michael Foundation, supporting disengaged, at-risk and disadvantaged youth across Western Australia. Playi ...

was also enticed to move to

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

but rejected their offer. After a loss to East Perth in round 6, coach

Mal Brown Malcolm Gregory "Mal" Brown (born 26 October 1946) is a former Australian rules footballer in the VFL/AFL, Victorian Football League and West Australian Football League, West Australian National Football League. He is described as "one of the ...

resigned due to his perception that his personality was affecting the umpiring and the "unreceptive attitude of the players to my advice". He withdrew his resignation the following week. South would lose that week to Swan Districts, but would then only lose one more game for the year, winning 12 in a row to finish the regular season in second place, one game behind Swans. In the finals, East Perth beat Claremont in the First Semi Final with Paul Arnold kicking 7 goals. The following week in the Second Semi Final, South Fremantle continued their unbeaten streak, beating Swans by 10 points. Swan Districts bounced back in the preliminary final, kicking a finals record 28 goals to beat East Perth by 76 points. Graham Melrose starred with 9 goals and

Simon Beasley Simon Francis Beasley (born 26 July 1956) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Swan Districts Football Club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and for the Footscray Football Club in the Victorian Football League ...

kicked 7 goals. The main individual awards were dominated by South Fremantle's captain Noel Carter, who won most of the media awards and

, who won the

Sandover Medal The Sandover Medal is an Australian rules football award, given annually since 1921 to the fairest and best player in the West Australian Football League. The award was donated by Alfred Sandover M.B.E., a prominent Perth hardware merchant an ...

with 24 votes, 5 votes ahead of Carter.

Warren Ralph Warren James Ralph (born 25 February 1959) is a former Australian rules footballer who played during the 1980s with great success as a full-forward for Claremont in the WAFL and with lesser success in the VFL and SANFL. Ralph began his caree ...

won the best first year player award and the goalkicking award with 87 goals for the season, the first debutant to win since Austin Robertson, Jr. in 1962. Billy Duckworth won the best rookie award.

Grand final

South Fremantle won the toss and kicked into the light wind in the first quarter. Swans started well, kicking the first two goals of the match before South kicked the three goals to go to quarter time with a 10-point lead. However, in the second quarter, South Fremantle dominated, kicking eight goals to one, to lead by 54 points at half time. Swans never recovered, and despite kicking 6 goals in the final 10 minutes, lost by 58 points.

was awarded the

as the best player on the ground. It was South Fremantle's tenth premiership, ten years after their previous win.

Match

Teams

References

{{WAFL Grand Finals West Australian Football League Grand Finals WAFL