Alice Springs Town Council places footy grand final under microscope after town’s weekend crime spree

A Red Centre council has moved to stop community footy finals from being held on their grounds in sucessive weeks, after a spate of crime was linked to the game. Read AFLNT’s response.

TIO Traeger Park, Alice Springs. Picture: Alex Treacy

Community footy finals in the Red Centre capital could be a thing of the past, after council passed a motion that its council controlled grounds are no longer available to AFLNT.

The Alice Springs Town Council on their Tuesday meeting moved a motion which disallowed AFLNT from using council-run sporting grounds for community football games finals.

It means council would block community competition from being played at the venues in sucessive weeks and for the grand final, known for bringing in a larger crowd.

The motion was moved by councillor Eli Melky, and was seconded by councillor Mark Coffey – after the final between Papunya and Ntaria on August 25 was linked to a recent spate of crime in town, despite police suggesting the crowd were mostly well behaved.

It stated that “the (council) provide notice to AFLNT that the (council)-controlled sporting venues are no longer available for the purpose of community football in successive weeks to be played, and all grand final series not to be played in Alice Springs for the years 25 and 26 seasons”.

TIO Traeger park. Picture: Gera Kazakov

“The anecdotal evidence suggests that there is a coincidence and a consistency in these coincidences when these are these games played in this town a lot of crime, lot of vandalism occur during that period,” Mr Melky said.

Northern Territory Police confirmed dozens of cars had their windows smashed over the weekend, with some businesses in town targeted too.

Southern Watch Commander Andrew Dunn said a large crowd gathered at a grand final footy match on Sunday afternoon, with most in attendance proving very well-behaved.

But Sergeant Dunn said a few “minor disturbances” were reported after the final whistle.

He said three people who were allegedly carrying weapons, including a hatchet, were arrested and charged in relation to the incident.

The trio were bailed to appear in the Alice Springs Local Court next month.

He said there were a “fair few” onlookers surrounding the alleged incident.

NT Police confirmed a 23-year-old female and a 32-year-old man were charged with going armed in public.

The AFLNT said it was aware of the motion passed by the council relevant to community football and access to public facilities in Alice Springs.

“We understand concerns around public safety in Alice Springs,” a spokeswoman said.

“We also strongly believe that football has a positive impact on communities and needs to be part of the solution.

“AFLNT looks forward to working with key stakeholders, including the newly formed NT Government and the Alice Springs Town Council, on the role football can play, as well as the future structure of the CAFL Community Football Competition.”

Alice Springs Town Council meetings. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Councillor Gavin Morris supported the motion and said “you just can’t live in Alice Springs and not make some correlation about what’s happening with the footy”.

Councillor Mar­li Banks felt that targeting the footy alone was unfair, as Alice Springs experienced a similar spate of anti-social behaviour around when the Alice Springs show was on.

“If we’re going to say no to community football are we going to say no to the show?,” she said.

“I just urge us all to make sure that we push these conversations forward in a way that means that our community strengthens and that we stop the race racial profiling, which is just natural, and will be encouraged through all of this that we talk about.”

Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson noted the motion passed unanimously.

Alice Springs Council previously tried to shut the community competition out of the town in 2023 following concerns fans from remote communities would create anti-social issues.

The standoff between AFLNT and the council lasted into May with the Alice Springs AFL game on the line, and even the CAFL town competition banned from playing at Traeger Park in Round 1.

However, a pivotal meeting between Gillon McLachlan and Mayor Paterson put an end to the dispute with the community competition allowed to play from May 20.