years. (This was shown by the fact that it had a separate seat on the Australian National Football Council until 1919.) The higher standard of play that followed helped to increase the game's popularity and increased the professionalism of the WAFA which in turn saw a more stable look come to the league which to this point saw teams frequently coming and going, not to mention problems with frequent crowd violence. By 1901, the WAFA had grown to have six teams. Up to this point, five sides at most had been in the competition, and this number had invariably changed from year to year, as clubs came and went. And by 1906 there were eight teams: West Perth, East Perth, East Fremantle, South Fremantle, North Fremantle, Subiaco, Perth and Midland Junction. Recent arrivals East Fremantle became the dominant force in the league winning 11 premierships from 1900 to 1918. On 27 March 1907, the WAFA was renamed the West Australian Football League (WAFL). The West Australian State Premiership was awarded to the winner of a contest played between the GNFL premiers and the WAFL premiers. The contest was played intermittently between 1903 and 1924 and the winning team accorded the title Champions of Western Australia. Unlike many other sporting competitions, the WAFL didn't go into recess during World War I, although two teams – North Fremantle and Midland Junction – were "casualties" of the war, competing for the last time in 1915 and 1917 respectively. Between the wars 1919 saw East Perth win their first premiership, and they would go on to win 5 in a row – a national record until Port Adelaide managed 6 many years later. In 1921, the WAFL followed the idea of the SANFL's Magarey Medal and introduced the Sandover Medal, for the fairest and best player over a season, as voted by the field umpires. The medal has been awarded annually ever since. Claremont/Cottesloe entered the league in 1926, bringing the number of teams back to seven. They would rename the club to simply Claremont a few years later. On Wednesday 12 October 1927, the WAFL was renamed the Western Australian National Football League (WANFL) – the "national" concept in the name being adopted by the SANFL, TANFL and other leagues when the Australian Football Council became the Australian National Football Council earlier in the year. Swan Districts entered the league in 1934. The