Gareth Naven, one of the State's greatest ever, in action for Perth Glory.

The philosophy of the "Hall of Fame" is to discover and highlight the very best talent that has graced football in WA since the official foundation of the code in 1896 - both on and off the field of play.

In 1995 the Soccer Administration of WA (SAWA) formed a sub-committee under the direction of SAWA committeeman, John O'Connell, to establish the "Hall of Fame".

The first decision of the sub-committee was to identify the divisions of the game and to set criteria for inclusion in the "Hall of Fame".

The overriding concern was to keep the system of honours simple dividing the game into two categories - the game on the field and the support off it.

Two categories were considered enough to honour the games best:

• The "Hall of Champions" for players.
• The "Hall of Recognition" for those whose contributions in other areas are worthy of recognition.

These include referees, coaches, administrators, football journalists and even sponsors.

The policy of the "Hall of Fame" is to include rather than to find a reason to exclude.

When pondering selection into the "Hall of Recognition" consideration was given to the service the recipient had given to State and regional interests rather than a single club.

Clearly there are many persons who have been the backbone of clubs over many years. They have undoubtedly been recognized by their clubs with life memberships and so on.

This category relies more on perception of the intended inductee and the record of such a person generally is self-evident when reviewed in detail.

But to maintain credibility for the "Hall of Champions" it was necessary to establish a set of criteria so that the true champion was recognized. It was also considered important that the criteria be established before research and selection of inductees in both "Halls" was considered.

Such an approach eliminated favouritism of any one person making the player meet the criteria rather than the criteria fit the player.

This question vexed the original "Hall of Fame" sub-committee in 1995 until advice was sought from organisations such as the Department of Sport and Recreation, who had trodden the path earlier.

Using their example as a guide, the committee established the following system:

• 5 points for every first division season played
• 1 extra point for every season captain of a club
• 10 points for each game representing WA
• 2 extra points for each game for captaining WA
• 25 points for each game representing Australia
• 5 extra points for each game captaining Australia
  15 points for every individual trophy won (eg: fairest and best)

In addition the following points are awarded if a player was a member of a club that won one of the following trophies, as follows:

• 5 points for a premiership
• 4 points for a knockout Cup win or equivalent
• 3 points for a Top Four Cup win
• 3 points for a Night series win

There is also the question of the perception one has of the player and his effect on the game in WA.

Finally those eligible for the "Hall of Champions" must have been retired from playing for five years to be considered for induction.