Competitive Balance-WAFL

[Frankie23]

Hey guys, bit of a self-centered thread here, but interesting nonetheless.

I'm completing an economics essay in relation to the competitive balance techniques in the WAFL. An example of this is the salary cap, the drafting of WC/FREO listed players and the zoning of players, all are in order to make the league a fairer one.

Another technique is revenue distribution by the actual league. Does anyone know if the league employs the gate-sharing method? And how they distribute their revenue? Any links to the info or just knowledge would be great.

Cheers lads.

 

[royaldave]

I'm pretty sure there's no gate-sharing - the clubs keep what they make at home games.

What does help keep the league alive though is the eagles and dockers pay a certain amount to the WAFC which is distributed to each club - the main purpose of this for junior development - ie the money is supposed to be used within the zone.

I think the WAFC may also directly pay the salary of whoever is in charge of juniors at each club.

So there is an element that all clubs get evenly.

Something else you may not be aware of is the points system for squads - ie a squad can have no more than say 140 points. A locally developed player is worth one point, but a former AFL player (not locally developed) is worth 15 - or somesuch - I'm pulling figures out of my head you'd have to look it up.

This was brought in because despite the salary cap some richer clubs were able to attract more high profile players.

 

[Frankie23]

Thanks for that mate, I was unaware Freo and WC pay money to the WAFC, interesting.

 

[mianfei]

Frankie23,

a couple of years ago I did a survey of Noll-Scully indices of within-season competitive balance in the WAFL and SANFL. Unfortunately, I lost the data in the summer of 2011-2012 due to a problem with my computer before I could put it up. If you do not know, the Noll-Scully index of competitive balance is defined as the actual standard deviation of team winning percentages divided by the standard deviation expected if all clubs had an equal chance of winning. This “idealised” or “theoretical” standard deviation is defined as 1/(sqrt(4n)), where n is the number of games in a season, so in the WAFL it would generally be either

• 1/sqrt(4*20) = 1/sqrt(80) = 0.11180 since Peel entered
• 1/sqrt(4*21) = 1/sqrt(84) = 0.10945 with eight clubs
• 1/sqrt(4*18) = 1/sqrt(72) = 0.11785 with seven clubs (1926 to 1933) and between 2000 and 2002

What I found for the WAFL is that:

1. the average Noll-Scully index, at 1.83 times the idealised standard deviation, is almost exactly the same as in teh V/AFL and SANFL
2. the variation in Noll-Scully index, however, is much greater in the WAFL:
   1. the lowest value in the WAFL is 0.666 for the 1921 season
   2. the highest value is 2.5912 for the 1968 season
   3. in contrast, the V/AFL has never been below 0.98 or above 2.36 and the SANFL never below 1.05 or above 2.43.

These results for the WAFL are quite interesting, and what they reflect is an interesting question. The varied efficacy of zoning and the drying of Perth’s climate (which potentially could have affected the size of the potential talent pool for the WAFL and also the AFL) are potential explanations for the large variation in competitiveness of the WAFL over its history, but I know I would have to do more research to explain the observed results.