eight competing sides at this point still remain today and are often referred to as the "traditional eight clubs" as opposed to Peel who would join much later on. Because of World War II, the league only ran an "under age" competition between 1942 and 1944. However, the three premierships won during this time are given equal status to any other, in official records (East Perth however don't give their 1944 premiership win equal status). All clubs competed, with the exception of Swan Districts who could not form a team in 1942, although they were back in 1943. The Sandover Medal was also presented each year. Post-war Western Australian football was particularly strong during the years immediately following World War II. The state side enjoyed unparalleled success, downing Victoria in each of the first three post war meetings as well as enjoying the better of their encounters with South Australia. In 1952, the Avon Valley Football Association applied to enter a team in the WANFL, following concerns about its players being poached by Perth-based teams. It would have been based at Northam's Jubilee Oval. The proposal was raised again in 1954 but did not proceed. South Fremantle were without dispute one of the strongest teams in Australia during much of the period 1947 to 1954, not only winning 6 premierships but also defeating many touring sides from Victoria and South Australia. From 1956 to 1961 it would be East Perth's turn to dominate the WAFL with them featuring in all 6 Grand Finals of this period and coming out with 3 victories. Their team featured Graham Farmer who would leave at the end of the '61 season and carve out a reputation in the VFL as one of the game's greatest ever players. The 1960s saw crowds get bigger and bigger, as WAFL football captured the hearts and minds of the WA public like never before, and in the 1970s and early 1980s it was easily the biggest show in town. However, during this period more and more star WAFL players were looking to head to the Victorian Football League (VFL), enticed by the bigger money and the fact that it was more and more gaining a reputation as the "big" league. This is perhaps best evidenced in that Victoria (i.e. the VFL representative team) had by far the best record in interstate games for a long time. But in