Northern Territory left without a team in the National Indigenous Cricket Championships
The nation’s best Indigenous cricketers are playing for the national title this week, however the one team you would expect to be playing is strangely absent.
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Imagine the Melbourne Cup without horses or the Sydney to Hobart without boats.
Or Anzac Day without Collingwood or State of Origin minus the Maroons.
The equivalent of such glaring absences is being seen this week in the geographic heart of the nation where Alice Springs is hosting the annual National Indigenous Cricket Championships without any representative team from the Northern Territory competing for the first time in the event’s history.
Since its inception in 2017, the event has always been hosted in the Top End and has always provided the opportunity for the best Indigenous cricketers to test their mettle against those from other states … until now.
Understandably former players are miffed to see the Alice hosting a tournament without home-team representation but NT Cricket boss Gavin Dovey says the absence is due to a lack of suitable players able to make the step up to interstate level competition.
“The bottom line is we didn’t have enough players of a suitable standard that expressed interest and nominated to play,” Dovey said.
“It’s really disappointing, but it’s the reality of it, we went to quite a lot of effort over the past three or four months going to clubs to put ourselves in the best possible situation.”
NT Indigenous cricket stalwart Darrell Lowe was furious at the omission and said it was a slap in the face not to have a side representing the home Territory in the 2024 event.
He feared the lack of an NT team would ruin the popularity of the contest among the local community which loved the sport.
“The frustration is huge because my people love cricket, I’d like to know how many supporters they get now there’s not a local team,” Lowe said.
“I can vouch for my players and my boys, we play that tournament hard and even if we’re not there on the final day we’ll make a fun day of it as a team.
“I’m devastated about this, I’ve put leave in every year for 20 years for this, paying my own way to play.”
The NT omission was one of several stories from across the nation’s regional and local competitions which caught our attention this week.
Cricket boss’s vile tirade
It’s never a good look when a cricket official takes aim at the opposition.
It’s worse when that official is the club president.
It’s even worse when he is also a member of the competition committee.
Yet that was the case for Narre South Cricket Club president Nathan Tracy, who also sits on the Dandenong District Cricket Association committee, who is this week regretting an expletive–laden tirade he directed on social media towards opposing club Springvale South.
Despite his team celebrating a win over Springvale South at the weekend, Tracy’s Facebook post on his private account described his vanquished opponents as “inbred c**** who belittled us with allegations of cheating, having culture issues and being irrelevant in the DDCA”.
Despite deleting the post mere minutes later it was too late, as screenshots had been taken and shared freely around other clubs involved in the competition.
Not surprisingly, the DDCA is now assessing Tracy’s position on its committee.
Olympic golden hero competing against Australia
Strange goings on this weekend in Sydney when an Australian Olympic gold medal hero will compete against his home country under the colours of arch rival New Zealand.
London Olympic gold medallist Nathan Outteridge will be steering the New Zealand F50 in the Sydney SailGP this weekend for regular skipper Peter Burling - a man he beat for gold at the 2012 Games but who beat him in his Olympic defence in Rio four years later.
Now, Outteridge is doing his old frenemy a favour, answering the call to be the Kiwi’s stand-in skipper in Sydney as Burling takes parental leave.
In a strange coincidence, three of the skippers in the SailGP series have either become or are about to become fathers this season, including Australia skipper Tom Slingsby, now the proud father of baby son Leo.
Row, row, row your boat, watch out for that scrum
There are many pathways for elite talent to follow while chasing the dreams of a professional rugby career, but very few of them start in a row boat.
However, athletic second rower Isaac Fonua, who is part of the Waratahs Under 18s squad, believes the steadiness and balance of rowing has improved his clearly impressive rugby resume.
The soon to be 17-year-old from The Kings School Parramatta said time in a boat has taught him valuable lessons for rugby where he has been identified for future success.
“I did the junior eight last year but rowing and rugby are clashing at the moment,’’ he said.
“I like rowing. It helps me with my endurance and work rate on the field in rugby.
“I learnt things in rowing about being mentally fit and I learnt that you can never give up as well.’’
Fonua is hoping to steer the Waratahs to success this weekend in a clash against the Queensland Reds but if his budding rugby career doesn’t work out for him, at least he won’t be up the creek without a paddle … he can always focus on rowing.
Keeping it in the family
It is not uncommon for ex-AFL players to return to local clubs to play some memorable games with old school mates or family members such as brothers or cousins.
Ex-North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell announced this week that he is taking it a step further as he plans to line up for Avondale Heights this year in the Essendon District Football League as a favour to his father-in-law Paddy Byrne who coaches the team.
While Ziebell finished his career in defence for the Kangaroos, it seems unlikely he’ll be playing a stopping role in local footy.
“Zero chance,” said Paddy. We’re tipping Ziebell will be terrorising the opposition at the opposite end of the ground.
That’s a lot of Sherrins!
The long-running saga surrounding the Gaza Football Club salary cap scandal is thankfully nearing the end after the recommended sanctions for years of cheating were handed down.
After finding the club guilty of 223 charges of salary cap breaches Justice Michael David KC – the independent Salary Cap Commissioner – made recommendations on penalties to the SA Football Commission on Tuesday night.
Among other sanctions around premiership points and player signings, he recommended the club should be fined a total of $186,000 for the breaches.
The SAFC is expected to soon report back on whether they will accept and enforce the recommendations.
If they do so, by our calculations, that monetary penalty is the equivalent of buying 775 brand new match day Sherrins.
What a balls up!
Finals fever takes over the Top End
The finals have - well, finally - arrived for the best football you can get in the Summer, the NTFL.
It is the time of year in the Top End everyone has been waiting for and if last week’s mini brawl (see the video above) is anything to go by, a few have thought the wait was too long.
KommunityTV will live stream every match from both the men’s and women’s premier league finals series starting with this weekend’s elimination and qualifying showdowns.
PINT, who are playing in the club’s first ever Premier League men’s final, will be determined to keep the dream alive in the elimination final against last year’s grand finallists Southern Districts Crocs.
In the women’s elimination final, barely a hair can split two rivals Darwin Buffaloes and Waratah, as they each try to end the other’s seasons.
In case you want some light reading before the finals action kicks off on Saturday, the NT News revealed it’s top 100 players to lace on the boots this century.
There might just be a name or two you recognise.
Originally published as Northern Territory left without a team in the National Indigenous Cricket Championships
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