Australian Football

Imperials only had a brief, three season involvement in the Western Australian Football Association, but the side, which was bolstered by numerous recruits from the eastern colonies, performed respectably. Admittedly, its debut season was something of a struggle, but its record of 4 wins from 17 matches was nevertheless good enough to place it ahead of Association founder member West Perth on the ladder. In 1896 it finished runner-up to Fremantle, and the following year came second to West Perth, so that when it disbanded at the end of the 1897 season it had achieved the respectable success rate of 41.7%. Many of its players continued their involvement in top level football, with the newly formed East Fremantle in particular inheriting some of the best former Imperials players such as ‘Dolly’ Christy, Jim Mullaney and Tom Wilson.