NTFL club Buffaloes to name Team of the Century

THE greats of Darwin Football Club will be formally recognised at a gala function at SkyCity Casino on February 4

Alice Springs product and former AFL star Darryl White played for the Buffaloes in the NTFL.

THE greats of Darwin Football Club will be formally recognised at a gala function at SkyCity Casino on February 4.

The club that has carried the Warriors, Vesteys and Buffalo tag through 100 years of Top End football has produced a galaxy of champion players and characters of the game. Jimmy Anderson, Bill Dempsey, the AhMat family, the Stokes connection, the Bonsons and the McLeods are just part of a football dynasty that has produced 23 Premier League flags.

And while it has been 100 years since the Buffaloes debuted on the old Darwin Oval on the Esplanade, that history will be repeated when they meet Wanderers at TIO Stadium on February 4, exactly a century since their first clash.

A week later it happens again when the double blue jumpers run out against Waratah, the same club they met on February 11, 1917.

To celebrate the occasion, the Buffaloes, a power club through the 1960s and ’70s, will announce their Team of the Century.

A total of 22 players and two coaches will be prised from 100 years of blood, sweat and toil on football grounds right around the Top End.

Selectors have reduced the list to 61 players, with criteria allowing for 12 senior games across three different periods of the NTFL. The first bracket includes 1917 to 1949-50, then follows 1950-51 to 1979-80 when the Buffaloes won their 21st flag and finally from 1981-82 to the present day.

Players named in the AFLNT Hall Of Fame will be automatically included, with the final 22 named in position.

The 61 players include: Aldo Rossetto, Alfy May Sr, Ali Muir, Andrew McLeod, Ankin Ahmat, Basil Damaso, Benny Baban, Bill Dempsey, Bill McLean, Bob Garner, Cory AhChee, Darryl White, David Atkinson, David Ross, Don Bonson Sr, Don Stokes, Donald “Dookie” Bonson Jr, George Butler, George Liveris, Gerry Kenny, Greg Bruce, Herman Rooding, Jack McGuinness, Jason Jones, Jimmy Anderson, Jock McLeod, Joe AhMat, Joe McGuiness, Joe Sarib, Joe Tutton, John Clarke, John Paterson, Kevin Quall, Leo Castillon, Lindsay McGuinness, Lionel Butler, Mark West, Matthew AhMat, Matthew Whelan, Michael Williams, Norm Hagan, Peter Reid, Phillip Wills, Reg McLennan, Reuben Cooper Sr, Robbie AhMat, Robert “Bingo” Snape, Roger Baxter, Ron “Flying Chinaman” Chin, Ron Cooper, Ron Quall, Ron Woodroffe, Sabo Briston, Steve Abala Sr, Steven Hayes, Steven Stokes, Tom Lawler, Walter Lew Fatt, William “Nungah” AhMat, William “Put” AhMat, William Briston.