Fields of dreams: photos and unique memories from the Territory’s great sporting grounds
Some of the NT’s greatest sporting grounds are treasure troves of history where famous names have been forged and legends created. What’s your favourite ground? Vote in our poll.
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They are the fields of dreams, the great sporting ovals of the Northern Territory, where famous names are forged and legends created.
From Darwin’s majestic, history-laden Gardens Oval to the truly unique Wurrimyanga Oval on Bathurst Island, these are the rich locales intrinsically linked to the icons and unforgettable moments of Territory sport.
They also remain treasure troves of history and this publication has unearthed some of the gems of the past that might cast these grounds in a slightly different light.
Wurrumiyanga Oval
Passion, pace and precision footy comes to mind when Territory fans think of the Tiwi Islands’ Wurrumiyanga Oval.
Otherwise known as Stanley Tipiloura Oval, the atmosphere-charged ground is tucked away in the southeast of Bathurst Island’s unofficial capital, home to more than 1000 people.
And each year about three times that number flock to the famous ground for the Tiwi Islands Football League grand final, which has become as much a cultural event as a sporting occasion.
More than 80 years ago, footy first came to the islands when Catholic missionary Brother John Pye brought the game across the waters as a way of promoting relationships through intercommunity matches.
The first dedicated ground was reportedly built in Wurrumiyanga in 1942.
By 1969/70, the islands had their own organised competition, the five-team Nguilla Football League, before a name change in 1990 to the Tiwi Islands Football League.
Then, in 2006, the Bombers, initially known as the ‘Super Tiwis’, joined the NTFL, with a premiership following a few seasons later.
And there have been plenty of unforgettable moments over those years, as visiting teams would arrive by air or sea.
In November, 2019, four-time premiership winner and Hawthorn champion Cyril Rioli made his return to the game with the Bombers against the Palmerston Magpies in Men’s Premier League.
Just over a year later, Tiwi coach Jamie Scrymgour and his assistants Kevin Baxter and Thomas Simon were suspended for three matches after they all pleaded guilty to using abusive, insulting, threatening or obscene language towards an umpire following a match, also against Palmerston.
Brenton Toy, who went on to become senior coach in 2022-23, and former president Dean Rioli were appointed assistants to support new leader Shane Tipuamantimirri.
In fact, Toy would guide the Bombers to their first win in MPL in 988 days when it accounted for big league debutants PINT in October last year.
It was a winning drought unfortunately extended by the club after being unable to play for the second half of the 2020-21 season due to Covid.
However, Wurrumiyanga has seen plenty of exciting, high-scoring footy, with the biggest score on record, according to website Australian Football, Nightcliff’s 25.17 (167) to the Tiwi’s 18.15 (123) in 2014.
The biggest win though belongs to St Mary’s, who slotted 32.18 (210) to the Bombers’ 9.10 (64).
The ground entered the modern era when $1.4m of glistening new change rooms and amenities were unveiled in late 2018, which had created 19 local jobs.
Previously, there were no dedicated change rooms at the oval, with players needing to use facilities at the nearby swimming pool.
Katherine Showgrounds
A multipurpose hub for events, rodeo, scouts, Territory Day fireworks, polocrosse and the Katherine races, the showgrounds became a consistent footy feature from the end of the 1980s.
With the Katherine District Football League established in 1988 with five clubs for the 1988-89 season, the town had previously competed in the NT Football Association.
Lights were also installed at the ground in 1991.
In 2000, it would host the inaugural Northern Australian Women’s Football Association Championship, won by Darwin over the local team by 21 points.
An NT women’s outfit – selected from championship players across Darwin, Katherine, Gove and Tiwi Islands – would compete at the national champs in Perth in July.
That same year, about 5000 people packed the showgrounds as local triathlete Anica Schmidt, then 37, carried the Olympic Torch into the showgrounds, following displays from local judo and gymnastic clubs.
Running up a ramp onto the main stage, she lit the Top End’s first community cauldron.
The grounds are also used as an evacuation centre for local communities in case of cyclones and flooding or to cater for camping overflow during the dry season.
However, Katherine Showgrounds have also been a place of sporting unrest.
Police and football officials had to disperse a crowd of 150 players and onlookers when a riot erupted at a game between Kalano and Ngukurr teams and fans at the showgrounds in April 2002.
Twenty years later, Ngukurr supporters stormed the field and attacked Katherine Camels players after they lost the Big Rivers Football League grand final in 2022.
Albrecht Oval
Albrecht Oval was named after Polish-born pastor Friedrich Wilhelm Albrecht MBE, who arrived in Central Australia’s Hermannsburg Mission in 1926 and worked for nearly three decades before arriving in the Red Centre.
With a backdrop of the West MacDonnell Ranges, the oval has hosted cricket and Aussie Rules, with a January 2019 WBBL match between the Adelaide Strikers and Perth Scorchers relocated from Traeger Park due to its poor condition.
However, the scheduled BBL match was not played at all and was instead played in Adelaide.
At a much more local level, in November, 1999 Federal Cricket Club’s Adrian McAdam took 7/8 off 12 overs, bowling out RSL for just 36 in A Grade cricket.
Bowling unchanged, he took wickets in his second, fourth, fifth, seventh eighth and ninth overs.
Meanwhile, the Central Australia Football League lodged a complaint after games were unable to be played at the ground after Alice Springs Town Council erected a fence around the oval just 3m from the goalposts, following a recommendation from the council’s sports advisory committee.
CAFL president Steve Menzies said players and umpires would be placed at risk if football was allowed to be played at the oval, with a 5m clearance needed.
Then in late 2000, the oval was left underwater and a cricket match moved to a concrete pitch, following a miscommunication between the council and organisers.
A new grandstand was unveiled in 2020 to take advantage of spectacular views or the ranges, holding up to 200 people.
The first under lights match at Albrecht was held in May 2021 – the inaugural Mayor’s Cup – between Rovers and Federal.
Gardens Oval
Gardens Oval was the home of Territory football before TIO Stadium emerged but myriad sports have graced the famous turf over the decades.
From cricket, Aussie Rules, Gaelic football, soccer, hockey, baseball and even gridiron, Gardens is often thought as the best place to watch sport in Darwin.
Consisting of a pavilion and two ovals, Gardens is an important part of Darwin’s sporting landscape and is one of 17 public sports reserves provided by the City of Darwin.
In the early 1980s, NT representative teams took on VFL outfits for pre-season hit outs – an idea born from the mind of Essendon coach and visionary Kevin Sheedy – playing on Australia Day.
A significant early cricket match at Gardens came in 2002 when the Territory played the Queensland Academy of Sport.
The NT would go down by five wickets.
The ground, plus Marrara, would hold the Top End Series four years later, where Australia A took on ‘B’ teams from India, New Zealand and Pakistan.
Taking part were then Australian test player Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Marsh.
A Northern Territory Chief Minister’s XI representative team would also play two fixtures against a New Zealand outfit at Gardens.
In fact, Gardens drew several players from the 1977 Centenary Test in August, 1990, with a full house turning up to raise nearly $100,000 for Guide Dogs Association of the Northern Territory.
The likes of Dennis Lillee, Greg Chappell, Rod Marsh and Jeff Thomson took part, with the late David Hookes describing the setting as “lovely” and “picturesque”.
The players would later visit the Tiwi Islands, guests of the Rioli family.
Apart from hosting four World Cricket League matches – a tournament for associate members of the ICC – in 2007, it has also held five women’s one day internationals between Australia and New Zealand, plus a T20 fixture, that same year.
Ellyse Perry became the youngest cricketer to play for Australia at 16, taking 2/37 and 19 off 20 balls, at Gardens, despite NZ levelling the series with a 35-run win.
There have been plenty of famous footy moments at the ground.
It hosted its first night football match in 2020-21 when Waratah took on Palmerston.
Almost a decade before, former Carlton star Brendan Fevola would play for Waratah at Gardens Oval.
It has also been a place of commemoration and great loss.
Territory league champion Steve Abala died on February 14, 1956 following a game of league two days earlier.
Sporting patriarch and St Mary’s legend Jack Long Sr was also farewelled at the famous ground in 2019.
Some might not know that Gardens was also once the home of Darwin hockey until the early 1980s, before moving to Alawa Hockey Oval in Nightcliff.
The ground has also been a developer of softball talent, with the NT women winning a silver medal at the 2001 Arafura Games.
That same year in September, Waratah ended a 26-year drought with an upset win over Tracy Village at Gardens.
The following year, a dispute between a Nightcliff catcher and the umpire forced the Tigers into a 7-0 forfeit at the same ground
The Paddy Bird Cup between the Darwin Shamrocks Gaelic Football Club and Banks Bulldogs was also held at Gardens, a Top End international rules fundraiser match.
It was held in memory of the Irish tradie who was killed when he unlocked a work van that had filled with highly flammable refrigeration gas in December, 2011, outside his home in Parap.
The match raised funds for St John Ambulance.
The NT club was named after Bird’s Bailieboro Shamrocks in County Cavan where he was a star player.
Gardens was also the location for some interesting halftime entertainment, during a 1960 NT versus France rugby league match, featuring an exhibition sprint by Kevan Gosper.
Gosper, who went on to become an IOC member and was a silver medallist in the 4x400m relay at the 1956 Olympics, ran a solo sprint the length of the field at Gardens.
Reportedly, the beer-swilling crowd was great amusement.
It hasn’t just been a hub of sport, however, with Australia’s Got Talent auditions coming to Gardens Oval in 2007.
In July of that year, about 40 would-be stars, including a yoyo master, a human sound effects machine and gymnast dancers were among the talents sparkling on stage for the Grant Denyer TV show.
All in all, there are few better places to watch sport than at what some say is the jewel in the crown of Darwin when it comes to fields of dreams.
Rich in history and atmosphere, it’s hoped Gardens will continue to hold sporting matches of great significance long into the future.
Kahlin Oval
Originally rugby league’s headquarters in the Territory, Kahlin Oval has become synonymous for Darwin cricket over the years with its picturesque setting and white picket fence.
To such an extent, it was borderline sacrigelous when vandals destroyed the surface during the 2022 season, leaving skid marks on the grass.
However, Kahlin as well as Gardens Oval during the same era was the home of NT league from 1950 – after getting permission from the army that was responsible for the area – before officials sought a more permanent home for the sport.
Cricket, though, has been the main sport at the Larrakeyah ground.
In July 1988 after 10 months out of the game due to cancer treatment, Australian one day international all-rounder Simon O’Donnell played his first game back at Kahlin for an Invitation XI against a Darwin representative team.
Nearly 20 years later, Kahlin hosted an international fixture between Hong Kong and Uganda.
There have been other sports held at Kahlin too, with baseball from the 1960s.
It was also once the domain of curator Craig Coleman, whose talents eventually drew him to Malaysia and Singapore to prepare strips.
On St Patrick’s Day in 2009, the annual Kitty’s Cup International Rules match was interrupted by a streaker at the start of the last quarter.
However, Australia would beat Ireland by three points despite some fierce tackling from the Leprechauns.
Palmerston Oval
The ground has been the number one hub of Palmerston sport for many years.
Renamed Cazalys Arena under a six-year partnership between AFLNT and Cazalys in November 2019, the oval became Palmerston Football Club’s permanent home more than 15 years ago.
The Magpies played their first game at the $2m ground in October 2006 against Southern Districts for the Cazalys Berrimah Line Cup.
Lights were also added following the name change, allowing Aussie Rules and cricket to be played at night.
Dubbed by then club president Gus Gale as one of the biggest sporting events to happen in the area, the ground was then known as Southern Cross Oval as part of a 10-year lease with Charles Darwin University.
Palmerston, born from the relocation of the North Darwin Football Club in the mid-90s, had not played a home game in the area since 1998.
The league estimates more than 10,000 people attend Aussie Rules matches each year at the ground.
However, it’s been in the past two NTFL seasons where the profile of the ground has grown after former Carlton and Adelaide star Eddie Betts played seven games for the Pies during the 2021-22 season and returned the following season.
Then, in November 2022, one of the greatest players in the game’s history, Gary Ablett Jr, trained at Cazalys before playing with the Pies against St Mary’s at TIO Stadium.
Elliott Oval
A far fresher footy oval than others listed – albeit with plenty of historic significance – as the game was finally played in Elliott in 2020.
For the previous 30 years of their existence, the Elliott Hawks had to make the 500km round trip to Tennant Creek to play each and every one of their matches in the Barkly Football League.
Oval works began early in 2019 with the NT government providing $500,000 and the Barkly Regional Council chipping in $400,000.
And finally in Round 7 of the season, Elliott was finally able to play in front of their home supporters.
On that occasion, Elliott smashed the formerly unbeaten and eventual premiers Spitfires 23.12 (150) to 3.5 (23)
The Hawks A-Grade side were undefeated at their new home ground with matches held during the 2020 and 21 seasons.
The ground also provides opportunities for junior sport development programs as well as community events such as art festivals.
Richardson Park
For many years Richardson Park at Ludmilla was synonymous with rugby league in the NT.
It was the heart of the league community for 55 years until it was abandoned by the peak body in 2014 due to fiscal mismanagement.
But until then, it was the place to be during the Top End dry season as Darwin’s rugby league clubs fought it out each week on the way to claiming the premiership title.
And it also played host to more than one NRL fixture, before the national game moved its Darwin matches to TIO Stadium.
Thousands of people fell in love with the sport at Richardson Park and many thrilling encounters were contested at the ground known as the spiritual home of NT rugby league.
The ground even remained mostly intact through Cyclone Tracy in 1974.
However, as the facilities began to fall into disrepair it was deemed unusable by the league even when the then CLP government proposed a $20m upgrade in 2015.
Those plans were scrapped later that year due to community backlash and when Labor came into power in 2016, $25m was instead allocated to Warren Park.
The site was set for demolition in 2020 following NRL NT’s departure with the home of rugby league moving to Warren Park at Marrara.
It was a move that members of the rugby league community greatly opposed, particularly members of the Nightcliff Dragons and Darwin Brothers clubs who fought to take control of it.
The NT Heritage Council did accept an application to consider heritage listing the site in 2019; a move met with plenty of support from members of the league and wider community.
A $7.1m revitalisation of the site was delayed in early 2023 when it was discovered asbestos had been dumped at the site post-Cyclone Tracy.
However, Richardson Park’s revitalisation will involve a reconstructed playing field, a road extension, new change room facilities and stormwater drainage.
Will Richardson Park return? And if so will what role will it play in the NRL NT landscape?
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