The formation of Landsdale Junior Football Club commenced during 1999 with the view of being established to start operating in the year 2000. With no junior sports established in Landsdale and with the number of young children, (especially in the 4 to 7 years age group) in the schools opening year of 1999, it was proposed to commence an Auskick Centre at Landsdale. After consultation with the Football Development Trusts Regional Development Officer (Brendan Cullinan) an application was made to the North Suburban Junior Football League (NSJFL) to become a part of that League to which we were accepted. As a member of this league we became a junior club under the Subiaco District.
The Auskick group commenced on 8th April 2000 with a group of 48 girls and boys (aged 5 to 11) plus parents participating each Saturday Morning at the school oval. Each session involved the children being taught skills and then playing games to use the skills learnt with the emphasis on participation, learning and having FUN. After a successful first season with the Auskick group, in 2001 season these numbers grew to 62 Auskick players and 28 modified rules players in 9’s and 10’s. This has now grown in 2011 to 196 Auskick players and 262 modified and open rules players. We anticipate the total participants in 2012 will reach 500.
In 2004 the structure of junior football was changed creating districts aligned with WAFL clubs. As part of this change Landsdale was rezoned to East Perth’s district. This meant changes to the structure of our club and Auskick was moved to Sundays to have grounds available for modified rules on Saturday mornings with open rules teams playing on Sundays.
In 2004 an agreement was reached with Kingsway Football Club (formerly Wanneroo Kingsway Football Club and previously the Wanneroo Sunday League Club), for the Landsdale Rockets to become the junior link club with that senior community club. This relationship has progressed positively since 2004. In 2007 a combined jumper was used for the 16/17’s team. In 2008 with the change from Sunday League to Saturday Amateurs, the senior club changed their jumpers to the current combined jumper. In 2010 the Kingsway Football Club Colts team were premiers with a large portion of the squad being the first players to graduate from the junior club to the senior club.
With this agreement in place, the junior club gained more access to Kingsway Reserve and now uses this as a base for open rules teams for games and training and modified rules games, whilst Warradale Reserve is used for modified rules training and Auskick sessions on Sundays.
From 2005, the club has had many players represent at district level in development squads from 14’s to 16’s and in 2006 the 15’s team won the grand final to become the clubs first premiership team.
In November 2009, the club members voted to change the name of the club from Landsdale JFC to Kingsway JFC, to reflect on the area that the clubs members come from rather than individual suburbs and continued the work which had gone on in building the club since its inauguration. In December 2009 the club was reassigned from the East Perth district to the Subiaco district which saw all games being played on Sundays.
Since the commencement of the club we have had many volunteers (administrators, coaches, managers and so on) who have spent countless hours to help build the club to where it is today providing the children of Landsdale, Darch, Madeley, Marangaroo and surrounding areas with an opportunity to participate in Australian Rules Football. Some of those volunteers have been recognised for their contributions to the club and were honoured with life membership.
The club has also had coaches recognised for the contributions by receiving district awards, as well as many players featuring in awards at district level. In 2010 we had our first state representative players and umpires from the club and in 2011, our first National representative player. We have had a number of players reaching game milestones both exclusively for games played at the club as well as games played overall. The increase in player numbers at the club will continue this trend and further build the clubs history.
For the efforts and hard work of its many volunteers over the years in providing quality programs for its members the club has also received recognition by being awarded Champion Club in the East Perth and Subiaco districts historically.
