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Rugby league in the Northern Territory

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Rugby league in the Northern Territory
Governing bodyNorthern Territory Rugby League
First playedJune 1920, Darwin
Registered players3,674[1]
6,878+ (including variants)[2]
Club competitions
Audience records
Single match13,473 (2017 Rugby League World Cup Australia vs Samoa)

Rugby league in the Northern Territory is administered by the Northern Territory Rugby League and is played in Darwin at Warren Park and in Alice Springs at Anzac Oval.

History

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Rugby League was the fourth football code introduced to the Territory after soccer (1911), rugby and Australian rules (1916). Rugby fell out of favour in Darwin with the popularity of the NT Football Association (Australian Rules) however Rugby League was organised by the Pine Creek Railway association workers as early as 1920.[3] During the 1920s, League's profile increased and by the 1925, matches were drawing large crowds.[4]

A competition was played in Tennant Creek in 1938.[5][6]

The first organised competition was played in Darwin in 1941 when 9 teams, mostly made up of servicemen decided to make one unified competition and compete between and against each other. Some of the teams represented the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal Australian Navy, and the Australian Army. There were also teams made up of citizens in Darwin, along with a team made up entirely of indigenous Australians living in Darwin.[7]

The Central Australian Rugby Football League was formed in 1942 by soldiers based in Alice Springs and competition began in 1943.[8] It was the first football league in Alice Springs, with the now popular Aussie Rules competition not formed for another 5 years.

The competition was cancelled due to the bombing of Darwin and the air raid attacks on the city. Since most of the competition was made from servicemen in Darwin, the competition was severely effected when many of these personal had to go to war and when they were no longer stationed in the Darwin area.

Another competition resumed in 1942 and continued onto 1943 (it was a season which lasted two years) but because of the evacuation of Darwin and then the subsequent shipping out of army and navy personnel from Darwin the competition was completely halted. The Darwin Rugby League Association was formed in 1945, however went into recess shortly thereafter. In 1949, it was revived along with a new competition at Tennant Creek, the Tennant Creek Rugby Football Association was begun.[9] However the competition was short lived and over subsequent decades, teams from Tennant Creek were instead entered into the other leagues.

In 1950, a small group of men, mainly ex-servicemen, joined together to form the Northern Territory Rugby League. The first official season of the reformed Darwin league was started in 1950 with a number of pre-season trial matches and tournaments. The first official match was played on 14 June 1951.

During the 1960s, the Katherine District Rugby League competition began in Katherine town which has been long divided between league and Aussie Rules.[10] However unlike other parts of the Northern Territory, there were no Australian rules football leagues there to compete with until the 1980s as a result the Katherine competition became quite well established and popular with locals.[11]

Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin on 24 December 1974 and completely devastated Darwin. Much damaged was done to its surroundings, but little damage occurred on Richardson Park, the home of rugby league in Darwin. The cyclone had an effect on the competition itself as players and administrators of the clubs and boards of the competition either left Darwin or were involved in the clean-up in Darwin after the cyclone had subsided.

Gove Rugby League began as a development association in 1999 with a single junior club on the Gove Peninsula that remains today.

Governing body

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Main article: Northern Territory Rugby League

The Northern Territory Rugby League is responsible for administering the game of rugby league in the Northern Territory of Australia. It controls the Darwin Rugby League, Darwin Junior Rugby League and the Centralia Australian Rugby Football League.

Northern Territory is an affiliated state of the overall Australian governing body the Australian Rugby League.

Participation

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Registered players
2022 2023/24
3,607[12] 3,674[1]

Leagues

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Darwin Rugby League (1950–)

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Main article: Darwin Rugby League

[13]

Club Suburb Ground
Darwin Brothers Anula Anula Oval
Katherine Wests Tigers Katherine Sports & Recreation Club
Litchfield Bears Litchfield Freds Pass Reserve
Nightcliff Dragons Nightcliff Dripstone High School Oval
Palmerston Raiders Palmerston Archer Oval
South Darwin Rabbitohs South Darwin Mararra Sporting Complex
Mackillop Sharks Palmerston MacKillop Catholic College

Central Australian Rugby Football League (1943–)

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Club Suburb Ground
Wests Dragons Alice Springs ANZAC Oval
United Magpies Alice Springs ANZAC Oval
Alice Springs Brothers Alice Springs ANZAC Oval
Central Memo Bulls Alice Springs ANZAC Oval

Foundation teams are Wests Dragons and United Magpies.

Katherine Rugby League

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Club Suburb Ground
Katherine Bushrangers Katherine Sports & Recreation Club
Katherine Raiders Katherine Sports & Recreation Club
Katherine Wests Tigers Katherine Sports & Recreation Club

Gove Rugby League

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Club Suburb Ground
Gove Rugby League Gove / Nhulunbuy

Representative fixtures

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Main article: Affiliated States Championship

The Northern Territory team play in the Affiliated States Championship along with the other three affiliated states (South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia) plus the Australian Police and Australian Defence Force. They won the title in 2004.

The Northern Territory competed in the Amco Cup in 1977, 1978 and 1987.

The Northern Territory competed in the 1977 Pacific Cup. The team had little success, winning only one of their four games. The team finished at fourth out of fifth position on the ladder. 1977 was the only time the Northern Territory made an appearance in the Pacific Cup.

Players

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "AusPlay results". Sport Australia. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
  2. ^ "TOUCH FOOTBALL AUSTRALIA 2021/2022 ANNUAL REPORT" (PDF). touchfootball.com.
  3. ^ "Railway League Meeting". Northern Territory Times and Gazette. Northern Territory, Australia. 17 June 1920. p. 2. Retrieved 11 April 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "THEY SAY—". Northern Standard. No. 33. Northern Territory, Australia. 2 June 1925. p. 2. Retrieved 11 April 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "About".
  6. ^ "Northern Territory Rugby League". 20 April 2017.
  7. ^ "History". NRLNT. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  8. ^ "Soldiers Form New League". The Courier-mail. No. 3080. Queensland, Australia. 21 July 1943. p. 5. Retrieved 6 June 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "TO THE EDITOR". Centralian Advocate. Vol. II, no. 103. Northern Territory, Australia. 20 May 1949. p. 14. Retrieved 6 June 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "News from Katherine". Northern Standard. Vol. 6, no. 251. Northern Territory, Australia. 30 March 1951. p. 8. Retrieved 6 June 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "No title". Raaf News. Vol. 12, no. 10. Australia, Australia. 1 November 1970. p. 8. Retrieved 6 June 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ Ausplay Participation Report by State (2022) Rugby League
  13. ^ "Our Clubs". NRLNT. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
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