Australian rules football in Western Australia (WA) is the most popular sport in the state and Western Australia has the second highest number of Australian rules football participants of any state. Western Australia was the last Australian colony to adopt Australian rules in 1881, however it managed to overtake Rugby union in Western Australia as the most popular code in 1885, and following the Federation of Australia, courtesy of pioneering junior and schools programs, grew faster than any other state. For much of the 20th Century the West Australian Football League was the third strongest state competition in the country. In 1967 the WAFL set a record season attendance of 960,169 and the 1981 WAFL Grand Final was attended by 55,517. While it is now a feeder competition for the more popu