Northern Sharks and Nightcliff Dragons ovals impacted by hoons, fireworks

Training disruptions caused by ripped up and burnt-out ovals have reinvigorated calls for a home base for two NRL NT clubs. Read what happened.

Northern Sharks and Nightcliff Dragons had their training sessions disrupted this week after their ovals were torn up by either hoons or fireworks.

The Northern Sharks had to cancel training after their ground at Moulden Oval caught fire following cracker night.

Aaron Tilley went down the following morning after being contacted by the school and was shocked to see the extent of the post-cracker night flames.

It means the club now needs to split its divisions across three grounds so it can train for the remainder of the season, with the field unlikely to be green again for some time.

“I was expecting a couple of little fires, but pretty much the entire field had been burnt out,” he said.

Moulden Oval was burned after cracker night disrupting Northern Sharks training.

“The field was so dry, it was bound to happen. If the field had been watered it would have been fine, you could have lit as many fireworks as you wanted.

“We appreciate the school letting us use the ground, but the main issue there is the irrigation.”

Meanwhile, the Nightcliff Dragons, whose senior men currently sit atop the NRL NT ladder, had their training capabilities shortened after hoons ripped up their ground.

The Dragons train at the Sanderson Middle School oval, and haven’t had a home to call their own since the destruction of Richardson Park.

The club’s junior coordinator Lloyd Robertson said the fields were damaged about twice a month because of hoons.

“It’s pretty much a fortnightly occurrence that a vehicle goes on our paddock and does circle work,” he said.

“The most recent one was probably the worst yet, it put proper wheel ruts in it and they’re proper ankle breakers.”

Robertson said the club had contacted local member and Sport Minister Kate Worden, who pulled the trigger to fix the issue and implement bollards around the field.

Sanderson Oval was ripped up by hoons disrupting Nightcliff Dragons training.

Ms Worden confirmed she had been working with Sanderson Middle School to obtain quotes to put toward repairing the oval.

“Education NT have confirmed that bollards will be installed at the Sanderson School Oval as a preventative measure to stop this happening again,” she said.

“Sanderson Middle School have also begun the process of repairing the school oval.”

But the underlying issue of the Dragons not having a club house to operate out of, or a place for the side to change, remains.

“We’ve been operating out the boot of a car for years with no home ground for 12 years,” Robertson said.

“It’s been that long and yet this club is still as strong as it is without even a change room or sprinkler on the oval, but long term we need to have a base to support our club.”

The Sharks have also put in bids for a new club ground and are currently anticipating a future Palmerston precinct.

“We’re waiting for what’s going to happen with that Holtze development, we’ve put in submissions for that a couple of years ago,” Tilley said.

“We’ve got some backing from other clubs for what would be a central hub to work across several codes, hopefully we can get something in place for that.”

Originally published as Northern Sharks and Nightcliff Dragons ovals impacted by hoons, fireworks