Perth is the most isolated capital city in the world. Its closest counterpart is a whopping 2692km away, nearly three hours by plane or more than a day on the road if you are willing to drive that far. That kind of isolation breeds a unique brand of parochialism where they cast a wary eye over anyone or anything that is brought from “over east”.
Western Australia has consistently punched above its weight on the national sporting front. In the AFL, cricket and basketball in particular, the Perth teams have taken great delight in defying the huge travel burden they face to enjoy various eras of stunning success. More League Rugby league tried and failed to establish a foothold in the 1990s when the Western Reds joined the premiership before deciding to run off with the rebel league just a few weeks after their first game.
The Reds had the building blocks to be a long-term success but the sport’s civil war made that mission impossible and they were an easy kill for warring administrators trying to cut teams at the end of their third season, which was thankfully the only one where rugby league in Australia was split into two watered-down competitions. Rugby union’s Western Force has had a similarly bumpy existence in more recent times and has proved harder to exterminate, mainly thanks to the support of mining magnate Andrew Forrest, when officials put them in the too-hard basket. The NRL is all but certain to revive a franchise in Perth within the next few years, perhaps.