Charges expected for Darwin CBD brawls following rugby league grand finals
Footage has emerged of an alleged brawl that forced NT Police to use OC spray in the Darwin CBD in the aftermath of the Darwin rugby league grand finals. Watch the video.
NT Police are investigating a series of violent incidents with one person hospitalised with a broken eye socket in the aftermath of the rugby league grand finals.
Footage is circulating on social media allegedly showing members and supporters of rugby league clubs involved in two separate brawls in the Darwin CBD the night of September 6 after the grand finals were done.
NT Police confirmed they were investigating incidents on both Mitchell Street, outside Six Tanks, and Edmunds Street, outside the Mayberry nightclub.
Police described the alleged incident outside Mayberry as a large disturbance involving multiple people, many of who have been identified online as members of rugby league clubs.
Footage shows people yelling before it allegedly came to blows with police on the scene quickly to deploy OC spray to subdue and disperse those allegedly caught in the brawl.
Police apprehended a 20-year-old man under the provisions of the Police Administration Act and issued him with an infringement notice for street offences.
Superintendent Shaun Gill called the behaviour in the early morning scuffle as “unacceptable”.
“The behaviour we saw on Sunday morning was unacceptable, and police will not tolerate it,” he said.
“We continue to urge the public to immediately contact police if they witness such offences.”
Another incident outside Six Tanks is also under investigation with allegations players from opposition clubs getting into a scuffle resulting in one being hospitalised with a broken eye socket.
NRL NT general manager Tony Crowe said though the incident took place away from TRL Stadium it was disappointing representatives of the NRL community were acting in such a way.
“Police are still investigating the matter and we will let due process carry out,” he said.
“However, it’s disappointing that people are behaving like this on a night when there should have been and there was so much to celebrate.”
It is the latest in bad press for the code after NRL NT was forced to hand out massive multi-year bans to six spectators spotted brawling during the men’s semi-final match played out between eventual grand-finalists the Darwin Brothers and Litchfield Bears last month.
The NRL NT held off the sentencing until after the finals series eventually banning each for periods between four and six years.
Two spectators were banned from attending any NRL NT sanctioned match day at any venue for four years.
Three others were banned for five years and a final spectator was banned for six years.
Each spectator also has a suspended sentence that would carry a full ban period to 10 years, so those with four year bans have a further six years suspended.
A further two spectators have since been identified for their involvement in the incident and have been charged with their hearing to take place next week.
