West Canberra

Known as the Magpies, and wearing the same black and white playing jumpers as VFL side Collingwood, West Canberra joined the CANFL in 1974. The side’s twelve season involvement in the competition as an autonomous organisation was predominantly inauspicious, although it did manage consecutive third place finishes in 1980 and 1981. In 1987, West Canberra merged with Belconnen, but at season’s end the partnership was dissolved, and the Magpies found a new temporary home in the Monaro Australian Football League. After three seasons in that competition, however, West Canberra and Belconnen again joined forces to form the Belconnen Magpies, an arrangement which has not only ensured the preservation of the respective club’s traditions, but has also had the effect of strengthening football in the Canberra region via the introduction of a significant rival to perennial heavyweights like Ainslie, Eastlake Demons and Queanbeyan.