Central Australian football returns to Alice Springs, but not Traeger Park

The Central Australian Football League senior men’s and women's competition kicked off in Alice Springs, despite the league being barred from Traeger Park. See the photos here.

Laura Hooper

3 min read

April 29, 2023 - 2:37PM

Replay: NTFL Men's Grand Final – Waratah v Southern Districts

Northern Territory

Don't miss out on the headlines from Northern Territory. Followed categories will be added to My News.

The lead-up to the start of this year’s Central Australian Football League season hasn’t been smooth, but as the first bounce-off of the year gets underway fans appear to have one similar sentiment on their minds – “it’s good to be back”.

The first round of the senior mens and women's season kickstarted on Saturday, with a Reserves match between the and the South Alice Springs football club at Jim McConville Oval in Alice Springs.

The game comes just a day after news broke that the Alice Springs Town Council had banned all CAFL competitions from Traeger Park.

The council’s chief executive Joe McCabe said the decision to ban football from the park was due to a breach of a licence agreement between the council and AFLNT, with Mayor Matt Paterson telling NewsCorp the peak body had not informed the council of its fixtures from 30 days of its “priority access” period between April 1 and September 30.

The first match of the season kicked off between the Rovers and South Alice Springs Reserves teams at Jim McConvile Oval.

Mr Paterson said the council had ensured games went ahead at Albrecht oval earlier this week, but could not confirm if Traeger would be closed for the remainder of the football season.

“We don’t want to take sport away, that’s never been the desire, we’ve always supported the town competition happening, but AFLNT have let this one slip,” he said.

“Those negotiations will still continue about when Traeger Park is accessible.”

The council had initially banned the CAFL’s community competition due to concerns it would exacerbate anti-social issues in the town.

AFLNT has developed a “revised fixture” for the remaining round of football, with games to be played at Jim McConville, ANZAC and Albrecht ovals.

As spectators set up fold-out chairs and mingled between utes for the first senior game of the season, the sentiment was that it was simply “good to be back”.

The Rovers v South Alice Springs Reserves match was the first game in the CAFL Senior Mens competition, kicking off at 12pm on Saturday.

Many had been concerned the competition would not take place this year, and despite changes to fixtures being “incredibly frustrating” and “disappointing”, were happy it went ahead.

“It’s been a stressful time for players and coaches I’m sure,” one punter said.

“It’s good to be here, it’s good it’s gone ahead … we’ll see how it all plays out.”

Papunya and Federal footballer Braydon Wiley earlier this week said the situation had been a “sh —show”.

The game followed all CAFL matches being barred from Traegar Oval.

“Do you expect to play all the games at Albrecht (Oval)?” he said.

“Is this another way of the council stopping community footy?”

“I think (AFLNT) are doing as much as they can at the moment. They’re updating these fixtures as best as they can and the council are saying no.”

South Alice Springs coach Chris Forbes also described the situation as becoming “a joke”.

Alice Springs councillor Kim Hopper also told ABC radio barring player from traeger Park was “unfairly impacting on players locally.”

“Those players in town, they come from rate-paying families, they have a right to access those fields,” Cr Hopper said, who was not part of the initial council decision to bar football from Traeger.

“Everyone’s in their corners and we’re kind of at loggerheads … it’s gotten down in the gutter a little bit.”