Financial squeeze forces league to actTHE dream of playing on the MCG for Indigenous NT clubs is over with funds allocated for travel to Melbourne redirected instead to Darwin.
For the past three years, NT clubs which have won the AFLNT's pre-season carnival, had earned one of two places to play the curtain-raiser to the AFL's Dreamtime at the G, the league's showpiece of it annual Indigenous Round.
The Tiwi Bombers (2007), Santa Teresa (2008) from Central Australia and Imalu (2009) from Melville Island have played these matches at the MCG, against Koorie teams from Victoria: Rumbalara, Fitzroy Stars and Brambuk Eels, respectively.
Previously, the AFLNT had contributed funds to clubs to travel to Melbourne without assistance from the AFL. But that won't happen next year. Instead, the winners will play an AFL curtain-raiser match in Darwin, in one of the three games played at Marrara Oval during the Top End dry.
"By transferring the game to Darwin it provides an enhanced opportunity for families and friends of the players to be able to watch the team play prior to an AFL match, an experience virtually impossible when the game was played at the MCG," AFLNT football operations manager Marc Turri said today.
Turri said the decision will help reduce fundraising pressure on clubs which, more often than not, are in the early stages of a new season.
"We want to open the experience up to more than just 22 players," Turri said. "This will also allow us to have two teams compete as a curtain-raiser, alleviate fundraising issues that have plagued participating teams in the past and provide a greater spotlight to both the Indigenous match and the AFL match as AFLNT can promote the game to a local, relevant and interested audience.
"Very few spectators have watched the curtain raiser matches in Melbourne and we believe that a match at TIO Stadium instead will generate a greater spectator audience."
Turri said the AFLNT had received expressions of interest from teams at Yulara and Gove for the October 2-4 pre-season carnival.
DARREN MONCRIEFF
Darren@AboriginalFootball.com.au
Friday, August 21, 2009
Last Modified on 21/08/2009 21:43