The East Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Royals, is an Australian rules football club based in Leederville, Western Australia, current playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). Formed in 1902 as the Union Football Club, the club entered the WAFL in 1906, changing its name to East Perth. It won its first premiership in 1919, part of a streak of five consecutive premierships. Overall, the club has won 17 premierships, most recently in 2002. The club is currently based at Leederville Oval, which it shares with the Subiaco Football Club, having previously played home games at Wellington Square (from 1901 to 1909) and Perth Oval (formerly known as Loton Park) from 1910 to 1999. The current Director of Coaching is Tony Micale assisting the League Senior Coach of East Perth, Jeremy Barnard. From 2014 until 2018, East Perth served as the host club for the West Coast Eagles of the Australian Football League, the arrangement saw West Coast's reserves players playing in the WAFL for East Perth. History The club was actually founded in 1902 as Union Football Club (not to be confused with the defunct Unions club from Fremantle) and competed in the Perth Third Rate Association Competition (however an earlier ‘East Perth’ had formed in 1891). The club was successful and was promoted to the First Rate Association. After continuing to succeed at this level they applied to join the WAFL and hence became a member in April 1906. The club became known as East Perth in accordance with the WAFL's policy of having each club represent a district in Perth. After a relatively slow start – despite being competitive form its first season – East Perth after World War I went on to become one of the most powerful clubs in the West Australian league with the appointment of former Subiaco player Phil Matson as captain-coach. The club won five consecutive WAFL premierships between 1919 and 1923, and after a brief lapse due to Matson's death in a truck crash recovered to contest the finals every year from 1931 to 1940, but won only one premiership – a frustrating record to be repeated in the 1970s. Although the club garnered an undefeated premiership in the under-age WAFL competition in 1944, East Perth became very much a middle-of-the-road side after open-age WANFL football resumed until the emergence of champion ruckman Graham “Polly” Farmer in 1956. That year,