three other sides went on to contest what in retrospect was viewed as the first-ever official Western Australian Football Association (WAFA) premiership, won by Rovers. And virtually overnight Australian Rules football became the dominant code for the spectator as well. However progress of Australian rules in Western Australia still lagged behind the big football cities of Melbourne, Adelaide and Geelong and is evidenced by the unstable nature of the clubs that participated in the early years. In 1886 a new club Fremantle-based club Unions joined. In 1887 Fremantle left the WAFA and the West Australian Football Club joined but they would only play two seasons before they disappeared. In 1890 Unions would rename themselves Fremantle as those involved in the game saw the need to identify themselves with the region they were located in. 1891 saw two new clubs arrive, Centrals and East Perth, but they would be gone after one and two seasons respectively. 1898 saw the entry of East Fremantle to the league. 1899 would be the last season Fremantle would take part. Despite Unions/Fremantle being the most dominant club in the WAFA up to this point winning the competition 10 times in its 13 years of existence, problems with debt saw the club disappear and some people involved with the old entity formed South Fremantle Football Club in its place. Despite the fact that many involved with Fremantle moved onto South Fremantle the new club is not seen as a continuation of the old and did not lay claim to its proud records to that date. 1899 was also the last time Rovers would take part. The move to regionalisation which saw Unions take on the old Fremantle's name and colours made it difficult for this club that didn't represent a particular area to attract players. They folded and were immediately replaced by Perth Football Club who were promoted from the Perth First Rate Association. Early 1900s Major gold discoveries at Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie in 1892, coupled with a major international economic depression, caused immigration from the eastern colonies to accelerate not only to the Goldfields but also onto Perth. These migrants came from a climate where Australian Rules football was more popular and included a large number of footballers including some celebrated players. The Goldfields competition (later known as the Goldfields Football League) was hence comparable in status and standard to the Perth competition for many