The AFL announced on 14 December 1993 that a new team, to be based in Fremantle, would enter the league in 1995, with the tentative name of "Fremantle Sharks." The licence cost $4 million. The names "Fremantle Football Club", "Fremantle Dockers" and the club colours of purple, red, green and white were announced on 21 July 1994. The decision to base the new club in Fremantle was primarily due to the long association of Australian rules football in Fremantle. However, it was not represented in a national club competition until 1995, eight years after the first expansion of the then Victorian Football League into Western Australia in 1987 with the creation of the West Coast Eagles. Their first training session was held on 31 October 1994 at Fremantle Oval.