Northern Territory Football League

Formerly	Northern Territory Football Association (NTFA)
Sport	Australian rules football
Founded	1916
First season	1916; 108 years ago (1916)
No. of teams	15 (9 premier league, 6 reserves)
Country	Australia
Most recent champion(s)	St Mary's (34th premiership) (2023/24)
Most titles	St Mary's (34)
TV partner(s)	Southern Cross Seven
Official website	NTFL

The Northern Territory Football League (NTFL) is an Australian rules football semi-professional league operating in Darwin in the Northern Territory.

The league is one of few (and the highest level) Australian Rules competitions played during the Australian Summer with the season beginning in October and ending in March, because cricket cannot be played during the wet season, due to high levels of rain, resulting in the football and cricket seasons being swapped. The league regularly attracts high-profile semi-professional players from interstate leagues due to its lack of salary cap and the timing of the season, which allows players to play extra matches during the rest of Australia's off-season.

History

While most other Australian rules leagues in Australia operate during the southern hemisphere winter, the NTFL chooses to play in the Northern Territory's 'wet season' from October to March, primarily due to hard playing surfaces and the need to play cricket during the 'dry season'.

The NTFL was founded in 1916 with The Wanderers Football Club and Waratah Football Club as founding members. Waratahs are the only club to have competed in every season of the NTFL. Darwin (Buffalos Football Club) was formed in 1917, Nightcliff in 1950, St Marys in 1952, Palmerston in 1972 (as North Darwin), Southern Districts in 1987 and the Tiwi Bombers in 2006 (with full entry in 2007).

The 1974-75 season was abandoned due to devastation from Cyclone Tracy.

In the 1990s, the league ran into financial problems primarily due to the Northern Territory government luring the league to the new purpose-built stadium at Marrara Oval after its construction in 1991. The move pushed the league's operating costs up drastically despite contrary promises from the NT government. Marrara Oval is now known as TIO Stadium, as part of a naming rights deal with NT health insurance company, Territory Insurance Office.

During this history of the league it has exported successful players to other leagues, notable players have included Michael McLean, Maurice Rioli and Michael Long.

In 2006, it was announced that a team representing the Tiwi Islands, called the Super Tiwis would be added to the 2006/07 season for eight games against teams that would normally have the bye. They became a permanent part of the league in the 07/08 season as the Tiwi Bombers, clad in Essendon Football Club style guernseys of black and red.

There was also a push for an NTFL representative club to compete in the Adelaide-based South Australian National Football League (SANFL). The first of a series of trial matches was held in 2006, with a long term view of admitting a Darwin side into the SANFL. A strong crowd at Marrara Oval witnessed SANFL club North Adelaide defeat a composite NTFL squad by 27 points, demonstrating that a Darwin team could be competitive. There was a push to make the event an annual match,^[1] however, the NTFL decided on fielding a side in the AFL Queensland State League from 2009 (which became the Northern Conference of the North East Australian Football League in 2011) and the Northern Territory Football Club was formed.

In 2010 it was decided to merge the NTFL with the Top End Australian Football Association (TEAFA) to create a three division competition in which the NTFL would make the Premier League whilst the NTFL reserve competition and clubs from the TEAFA would incorporate the First Division and Second Divisions.

The 2012/2013 season saw Banks Bulldogs and the Central Australian Football Club placed on a four-match trial in the Premier League, for possible full-time inclusion. The Bulldogs, originally a part of the TEAFA competition, would stay in the NTFL Division One competition. But the CAFC team would continue their trial run in the Premier League, the number of games extended to 10 for the 2013/2014 season. However, the side did not become a permanent team in the competition.

League structure

The league consists of both junior and senior divisions. The A Grade competition is known as the NTFL Men's Premier League and includes nine clubs (Darwin, Nightcliff, Palmerston, PINT, Southern Districts, St Mary's, Tiwi Bombers, Wanderers, and Waratah). The reserves are divided into two divisions known as Division 1 (B Grade) and Division 2 (C Grade). Divisions One and Two include any thirds teams of the Premier League clubs, excluding the Tiwi Bombers, and the seniors of three other clubs which were formerly in the TEAFA competition (Banks, Tracy Village, and University) and the Jabiru Bombers. The A Grade Women's competition consists of eight clubs, including all Premier League clubs, except for the Tiwi Bombers replaced by Tracy Village.

The junior division is broken into age groups, Under 18's, Under 16's, Youth Girls, Under 14's, and Under 12's, with all age groups split into two divisions, except for under 18's and youth girls. Under 18's is the only junior division with a fixed number of clubs, including all Premier League clubs, except for the Tiwi Bombers replaced by Big River Hawks. The rest of the junior divisions vary based on participation levels each year, however, the clubs with juniors are all the Premier League clubs and Tracy Village.

Northern Territory Football League Clubs

Current clubs

Colours	Club	Nickname	Men's Senior Grades	Women's Senior Grades	Home Ground	Location	Joined
	Banks	Bulldogs	Premier Reserves, Division 1	Division 1, Division 2	Gardens Oval	The Gardens	1978
	Darwin	Buffaloes	Premier Seniors, Premier Reserves	Premier Seniors, Division 1	Marrara Oval	Marrara	1916
	Jabiru	Bombers	Division 1	Division 2	Brockman Oval	Jabiru	1982
	Nightcliff	Tigers	Premier Seniors, Premier Reserves	Premier Seniors, Division 1	PSC BM Oval	Nightcliff	1950
	Nightcliff	Spartans	Division 1		TIO Oval No. 2	Marrara	2011
	Palmerston	Magpies	Premier Seniors, Premier Reserves	Premier Seniors	Asbuild Oval	Durack	1972
	Palmerston	Rats	Division 2	Division 2	TIO Oval No. 2	Marrara	1989
	PINT	Greenants	Premier Seniors, Premier Reserves, Division 1, Division 2	Premier Seniors, Division 1, Division 2	Marrara Oval	Marrara	2022
	Southern Districts	Crocs	Premier Seniors, Premier Reserves, Division 2	Premier Seniors, Division 1	Norbuilt Oval	Freds Pass	1987
	St Mary's	Saints	Premier Seniors, Premier Reserves, Division 1	Premier Seniors, Division 1	Marrara Oval	Marrara	1952
	Tiwi	Bombers	Premier	Premier	Tiwi Oval	Wurrumiyanga	2007
	Tracy Village	Razorbacks	Division 1, Division 2	Division 1	Tracy Village Oval	Lyons	1978
	Wanderers	Eagles	Premier Seniors, Premier Reserves	Premier	Marrara Oval	Marrara	1916
	Waratah	Warriors	Premier Seniors, Premier Reserves, Division 1	Premier Seniors, Division 1, Division 2	Gardens Oval	The Gardens	1916

Former Clubs

Former Premier League Clubs

Other former clubs

Colours	Football Club Name	Nickname	Entered competition	Premierships	Left competition
	Mindil	Sharks	1991	1	2019

Northern Territory Football League Club Songs

Colours	Football Club Name	Nickname	Name of the Football Club song	Basis/Tune of the Football Club song
	Banks	Bulldogs	Dogs Of The North	Sons Of The Sea
	Darwin	Buffaloes	Old Buffaloes Never Die	Shuffle Off To Buffalo
	Jabiru	Bombers
	Nightcliff	Tigers	We're From Tigerland	Row, Row, Row From Ziegfeld Follies
	Nightcliff	Spartans
	Palmerston	Magpies	The Magpies Are A Mighty Club	When Johnny Comes Marching Home
	Palmerston	Rats
	PINT	Greenants
	Southern Districts	Crocs	The Red, Black And White	Notre Dame March
	St Mary's	Saints	When The Saints Go Marching In	When The Saints Go Marching In
	Tiwi Bombers	Bombers
	Tracy Village	Razorbacks
	Wanderers	Eagles	Good Ol' Wanderers Forever	Battle Hymn Of The Republic
	Waratah	Warriors	It's A Grand Old Flag	You're A Grand Old Flag

Coverage

Media

Television

In 2006, NTFL premier league matches were broadcast nationally for the first time ever on ABC2 each Sunday afternoon from February to March. Previously the matches had only been shown in the Territory on ABC Darwin. In 2008, it reverted to local broadcasting. During the 2014/15 season, the Saturday 3.00pm premier league match was broadcast live on ABC in Darwin. During the 2017/18 season, Southern Cross TV broadcast one game a week on Sunday afternoons. Since then National Indigenous Television (NITV) broadcasts nationally replays of one game a week throughout the week starting Sunday afternoons.

Radio

During the 2014/15 season, one premier league match was broadcast on ABC Local Radio, the match was either the late or early Saturday game and was an alternate match to the TV-broadcast game. In 2017/18, ABC will continue to broadcast one game a week on the digital radio frequency 105.7FM with a commentary team including Dominic McCormack, Natasha Medbury and Kieran Davis.

Internet

Internet broadcasting commenced through YouTube during the 2012/2013 season, followed by its inclusion on the ABC iView on-demand service the 2013/2014 season which uses the recordings taken from the match day broadcast. The TV broadcast match was simulcast live on ABC Grandstand on YouTube during the 2014/15 season.

Attendance

The NTFL attracts strong local crowds. The 2005 Grand final attracted a crowd of over 5,000 people. One of the biggest crowds was the 2010/11 Grand Final between St Mary's and Wanderers, with the Wanderers prevailing with a 28-point win, which attracted an over 9,000 crowd.

Men Premier League premiership tally

Wooden Spoon tally

Competition timeline

Women's Premier League

The Woman's NTFL competition was all started in 2004 and currently has 10 teams enrolling.^[2]

Teams

Premier League Clubs

Grand Finals