Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

is a mostly amateur sport within the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The game is run by the

Northern Territory Rugby Union The Northern Territory Rugby Union, or NTRU, is the governing body for the sport of rugby union within the Northern Territory in Australia. It is a member of Rugby Australia. The Northern Territory Rugby Union manages competitions in several age ...

, composed of representatives from clubs, regional rugby unions, referees, and affiliated bodies for schools and junior rugby. There is no professional rugby team based in NT but the annual Hottest 7s tournament held in Darwin draws teams from around Australia and overseas, and awards prize money to the winners.

History of rugby union in the Northern Territory

Rugby was the second football after soccer played in the Territory. The first match was played in Darwin between Town and Vestees, originally planned for New Year's Day 1916, it was postponed after original plans to involve sailors from a visiting warship fell through, Vestey's won 9 to Darwin's 3 on Monday 24 January. However after the initial fanfare, the NT Football Association (

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

) commenced a month later and its popular weekly matches took the limelight off rugby for over half a century. Efforts were made after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

to organise matches against visiting warships in the 1920s however the arrival of rugby league in the 1920s was a further setback to organised rugby. A rugby union competition in Darwin was started in the reconstruction phase following

Cyclone Tracy Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from 24 to 26 December 1974. The small, developing easterly storm had been observed passing clear of the city i ...

. A New Zealander named David Cooper advertised for other interested players which led to the founding of the

in 1975. The first Darwin club rugby competition match was played on 2 October 1976 at Alawa Oval between the South Darwin Rabbitohs and the RSL Dragons (now the Darwin Dragons). From 1983 onward, the Bushratz RUFC from

Jabiru The jabiru ( or ; ''Jabiru mycteria'') is a large stork found in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina, except west of the Andes. It sometimes wanders into the United States, usually in Texas, but has been reported as far north as Mississippi. ...

played in the Darwin 2nd grade competition, and also briefly in the Katherine competition in 2009. However, due to a shortage of player numbers (as of 2013), the club no longer takes part in these competitions. In 1984, the

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

club competition was started by the Central Australian Rugby Union. The

Katherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and Catherina, other variations are feminine Given name, names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria ...

club competition was established by the Katherine Rugby Union in 1987. Katherine also later briefly fielded a composite team in the Darwin competition, but found the logistics associated with the travel distance difficult to sustain. In 1989, the inaugural Territory 7s tournament was held in Darwin and won by Fijian team Duavata. The annual tournament was renamed the Hottest 7s in 2005, and the organizers in 2013 claimed it was the richest rugby sevens tournament in the Southern Hemisphere with a prize pool of $65,000. The East Arnhem Rugby Union was created in Nhulunbuy in 2004, with a junior rugby competition played during the Dry Season between April and August. Teams from East Arnhem (initially under the name of Gove Rugby) have regularly entered tournaments such as the

Darwin Hottest 7s The Darwin Hottest Sevens, known as the Hottest 7s in the World or the Hottest 7s, is a rugby sevens tournament held annually in Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia on a weekend in early October. The event is sponsored by Heineken Inte ...

and Singapore CC 7s.

Club competitions

Darwin

The Darwin club rugby competition runs from March to September since switching from Wet Season to Dry Season in 2003, and is administered by the Northern Territory Rugby Union. There are six clubs based in the Darwin metropolitan area that have 1st and 2nd grade open teams, and juniors from under 7 to under 17. Some clubs also have a women’s team. * Casuarina Cougars * Darwin Dragons * Palmerston Crocs *

South Darwin Rabbitohs The South Darwin Rabbitohs are a semi-professional Rugby league club based in Marrara, Northern Territory. They play home games at TIO Stadium. They won one premiership in 2003 by beating the Darwin Brothers 51–50. See also *List of rugby l ...

* Swampdogs * University Pirates

Alice Springs

The Alice Springs club rugby competition runs over the summer from November to April and is administered by the Central Australian Rugby Union. There are four clubs (as of 2013) with one open grade team each: * Alice Springs Eagles * Dingo Cubs * Federal Devils * Kiwi Warriors

Katherine

The Katherine club rugby competition runs over the Wet Season from October to April and is administered by the Katherine Rugby Union. There are four clubs (as of 2013) with one open grade team each: * Barbarians Rugby Union Football Club * Brahmans Rugby Union Football Club * Pirates Rugby Union Football Club * Tindal Lions Rugby Union Football Club

Representative teams

Senior and junior representative teams are selected from players within the Northern Territory each year to compete against representative rugby teams from other Australian states and territories. The senior men's team is known as the Mosquitoes and the senior women's team is known as the Goannas. Team colours are ochre, black and white. The Mosquitoes competed in the Australian Rugby Shield prior to the cancellation of the competition after the 2008 season. From 2018 an additional competition was formed for teams from so-called "Minor States", called the Emerging States Championship, featuring the Mosquitos,

Adelaide Black Falcons The Black Falcons is a representative rugby union team based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team is selected from the best senior club players in South Australia and represents the state in matches against other Australian representative team ...

, Victoria Country Barbarians and the Tasmania Jack Jumpers. The first Competition was held in Adelaide in September 2018, and the Black Falcons were the inaugural winners.

References

External links

Official website: Northern Territory Rugby Union

Official website: Darwin Hottest 7s
{{National Rugby Championship