AFL team in the Territory will go a long way to inspiring remote communities: Cunningham

Getting an AFL team in the Northern Territory won’t solve all the anti-social issues we are facing, but it will go a long way to help, writes Matt Cunningham.

At a school assembly in Darwin last week a politician asked a group of students if anyone present barracked for the Western Bulldogs or the Gold Coast Suns.

A solitary hand was raised, although the Dogs and the Suns suddenly had a few more fans when it was discovered there were tickets to the footy on offer.

A few days later almost 10,000 people packed TIO Stadium to watch a game between two clubs who would be lucky to have a couple of hundred Territory supporters between them.

A similar crowd is expected tonight when the Suns take on the Adelaide Crows.

Imagine the sort of numbers we might expect if we had a team of our own.

Territorians are obsessed with Aussie Rules football.

More than 50,000 people in this tiny jurisdiction play the game.

Those numbers are growing, particularly among women. Some clubs now have more female participants than blokes.

Kristalee Thompson, Owen Henry Thompson, Alberta Thompson, Keithenn Thompson were among the almost 10,000-strong crowd at the Gold Coast Suns vs Western Bulldogs match at TIO Stadium. Pic: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Last year the AFLNT had so many young girls signing up to play it had to start an under 10 competition.

In remote parts of the NT our love for this game is even stronger.

Communities of just a few thousand people — sometimes less — have enough players to form their own competitions.

It’s the game that belongs to all of us and you’ll see that in the diversity of the crowd at TIO Stadium tonight.

And it’s a place where Aboriginal Territorians are equals, if not more.

Last month the AFL granted Tasmania the licence to become the competition’s 19th team. What’s followed has been an avalanche of protest from people in the Apple Isle, not about the team itself but about the deal for a new stadium that comes with it.

The federal government is contributing $240m, the AFL $200m and the Tasmanian government $375m to build the new facility in Hobart.

For the AFL it’s a non-negotiable condition of the new team.

But thousands of Tasmanians are furious about the money being spent on a stadium, rather than other more pressing needs such as hospitals and housing.

It’s a similar debate to the one that played out in South Australia when plans were announced for a $500m redevelopment of the Adelaide Oval.

The state Liberal opposition at-first opposed the plan amid concerns the cost of the facility would outweigh the benefit.

Twelve years on the revamped Adelaide Oval is the jewel in that city’s crown.

Matt Cunningham is the Northern Australia Correspondent and Darwin Bureau Chief at Sky News. Picture: Justin Kennedy

For the past two years the AFLNT has been working behind the scenes on a long-term plan to join the big league.

That work has included the design of a new stadium in our CBD with an estimated cost of about $400m.

The equivalent contribution the AFL and federal government are making to Tasmania would cover the cost of our stadium without the cash-strapped NT government needing to put in a penny.

And the backers of the Darwin stadium plan have wisely avoided putting their hand out for any government funding to this point.

Instead they’ve been quietly talking to big businesses and corporations selling their dream for an NT AFL team.

If the debate about a Voice to Parliament has shown us one thing, it’s that corporate Australia is falling over itself to show its support for Indigenous Australians.

A Darwin stadium and an NT AFL team might be a chance for these same organisations to put their money where their mouth is.

There will be the argument, as made by Eddie McGuire recently, an AFL team should be our last priority given the social issues the Territory is dealing with.

But this misses the point.

Addressing these social issues is a big part of the plan.

It’s a topic for further discussion on another day but when we look at the senseless death and destruction spilling on to the streets of Darwin and Alice Springs, we might wonder how much of that is caused by the increasing hopelessness of life in some of our remote communities.

An AFL team wouldn’t be the panacea to these woes but it would certainly be a source of inspiration to young Aboriginal men and women.

A signal they can aspire to do something great and it might be achieved without having to leave the place they call home.

If Tasmania doesn’t like the deal it has on the table, there will be thousands of people at TIO Stadium tonight who would be happy to take it.

• Matt Cunningham is the Sky News Darwin Bureau Chief and North Australia correspondent

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