Rugby league in the Northern Territory

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.[1] During the 1920s, League's profile increased and by the 1925, matches were drawing large crowds.[2]

A competition was played in Tennant Creek in 1938.[3][4]

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.[5]

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. There appears to be no other competition formed between 1943 and 1949. After 1949, the competition was finally revived.

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

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.

In recent years however, the league has expanded a little. It has picked up in areas which are dominated by Australian rules football. Some of the areas the league has moved into include the Katherine.

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.

The Northern Territory team play in the Affiliated States Championship along with the other three affiliated states (South Australia, Victoria 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.

• NRL Northern Territory
• Northern Territory rugby league team

• Official website