DARREN MONCRIEFF
Thursday 5 April 2012
ALMOST 40 teams, a majority of them all-Indigenous sides, will provide three days of football entertainment in the Central Australian Football League's annual Easter Weekend Lightning Carnival at Traeger Park.
There will be Division 1 and 2 for the men and, for the first time, a women's division, in which six teams have registered. Each division will have prizemoney for the winners and also the runners-up.
The CAFL is expecting teams to come from all over Central Australia, and the remote parts of South Australia and Western Australia. The majority of these teams come from Aboriginal communities.
They will be joined by the 10 teams CAFL competition.
It's a round-robin event with each match being two 15-minute halves.
"You couldn't ask for a better way to kick of the footy season. Not only is this the largest Indigenous AFL carnival in Australia, but it is probably the most gruelling as well," regional manager, AFL Central Australia, Andy Hood said.
"For some of these communities, these could be the only matches they get to play all year, so as you can imagine the players are eagerly waiting with anticipation to get here and have a run on the park."
Central Arrente, which doesn't play in the CAFL, won the carnival last year. They are a team made up players with strong family ties to Alice Springs.
A number of their players went on to play in the CAFL and among them, Bradley Turner and Thomas Gorey played in Federals' senior premiership side.
AboriginalFootball@westnet.com.au
Last Modified on 05/04/2012 22:42