The Tiwi Islands Football League is an

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 ...

competition in the

Tiwi Islands The Tiwi Islands ( tiw, Ratuati Irara meaning "two islands") are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, to the north of Darwin adjoining the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island, Bathurst Island, and nine smaller uninhabited islands, wi ...

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 ...

. Australian Rules football is the most popular sport on the Tiwi Islands. The Grand Final of the TIFL was broadcast on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Northern Territory until 2012.

Tiwi football

The Tiwi Islands Grand Final is an event held in March each year that attracts up to 3,000 spectators and is a tourist attraction for the

. The Tiwi Australian Football League has 900 participants out of a community of about 2600, the highest football participation rate in Australia (35%). Tiwi footballers are renowned for exquisite ''one touch'' skills. Many of the players have a preference for participating barefoot. Many of the male players also play for the St Mary's Football Club in Darwin's

Northern Territory Football League The Northern Territory Football League (NTFL) is an Australian rules football semi-professional league operating in Darwin in the Northern Territory. The league is one of few (and the highest level) Australian Rules competitions played during ...

Notable players

Many players playing for the Tiwi Islands Football League have also played for St Mary's Football club, as well as the AFL. Some of these players include the

Rioli family The Rioli family are a notable Australian rules football family from the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory. Six family members have played in the Australian Football League (AFL), with a further five playing in the West Australian Football Lea ...

Clubs

* Imalu Football Club (

Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

s) * Walama Football Club (

Bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.Pumarali Football Club (

Thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

Lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

) * Tapalinga Football Club (Superstars) * Muluwurri Magpies (

Magpie Geese The magpie goose (''Anseranas semipalmata'') is the sole living representative species of the family Anseranatidae. This common waterbird is found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. As the species is prone to wandering, especially wh ...

- formerly Taracumbi Football Club) *

Tuyu Football Club Tuyu Township () is a township in Lan County, Lüliang Lüliang or Lyuliang () is a prefecture-level city in the west of Shanxi province, People's Republic of China, bordering Shaanxi province across the Yellow River to the west, Jinzhong and t ...

( Buffaloes) * Ranku Football Club (

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

s) *

Melville Island Roos Football Club Melville may refer to: Places Antarctica *Cape Melville (South Shetland Islands) *Melville Peak, King George Island * Melville Glacier, Graham Land * Melville Highlands, Laurie Island * Melville Point, Marie Byrd Land Australia *Cape Melville, ...

(Kangaroos)

Former clubs

* Warankuwu Football Club *

Nguiu Football Club Wurrumiyanga (), formerly Nguiu (, ), is a community on the southern coast of Bathurst Island, Northern Territory, Australia. Nguiu was founded in 1911 as a Catholic mission by Francis Xavier Gsell. In 2010 Nguiu was renamed Wurrumiyanga, ...

History

Br. John Pye and Br. Andy Howley introduced Australian rules football to Bathurst and Melville islands in 1941. The locals quickly took to the game and the first dedicated ground was built in 1942. In 1944, the first games consisting of a full complement of 18 players and matches according to the rule book were played. By the end of the decade, football was the Tiwi's No.1 sport. In 1954, the St Mary's Football Club began enlisting Tiwi servicemen, and in the following year with the assistance of a majority of Tiwi players won the NTFL premiership. Within a couple of decades, the major Australian leagues began to take an interest with the first player offered a contract being Joe Saturninas in 1955. In the 1960s, the most talented export of the TIFL, ruckman

David Kantilla David Kantilla (1938 – 13 June 1978, traditional name AmparralamtuaTatz & Tatz, p. 125.) was an Australian rules footballer who is recognised as the first Indigenous Australian to play in the South Australian National Football League and the ...

had a successful career first in the NTFL, and then reached its peak when he later became a leading player in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

(SANFL) with

South Adelaide Football Club The South Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club that competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Known as the ''Panthers'', their home ground is Flinders University Stadium best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

and leading goal kicking awards at the club. The Tiwi Island league's top goalkicking award was later named after him. The 1969/1970 Wet Season saw the first season of the TIFL, with 5 teams competing: Pumarali, Tapalinga, Imalu, Tuyu and Irrimaru. From 1980–1981, Tiwi Islander

Maurice Rioli Maurice Joseph Rioli Sr. (1 September 195725 December 2010) was an Australian rules footballer who represented St Mary's Football Club in the Northern Territory Football League (NTFL), in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and in th ...

won two

Simpson Medal The Simpson Medal is an individual prize awarded for Australian rules football in Western Australia. The medal has been donated by Dr Fred Simpson and family since 1945. Simpson Medals are currently awarded to the following players: *The best pla ...

s for

Western Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...

(WAFL) club South Fremantle as best player in WAFL Grand Finals before his recruitment by

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

, where he won the

Norm Smith Medal The Norm Smith Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best on ground in the Grand Final of the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to 1990 the competition was known as the Victorian Football ...

for the best player in the

1982 VFL Grand Final The 1982 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Carlton Football Club and Richmond Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 25 September 1982. It was the 86th annual Grand Final ...

. Michael Long would later also win a Norm Smith Medal, in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. Other Tiwi Islanders in the AFL include Adam Kerinaiua, who played three games for the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/A ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and

Malcolm Lynch Malcolm Lynch (born 16 March 1988) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne Football Club and the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). Originally from the Tiwi Islands in ...

, who played two games for the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

. Although these players were not from the TIFL, the success of these players in the elite Australian competition did much to boost the popularity of Australian Rules amongst the local Tiwi Islanders. In 2006, it was announced that a

Tiwi Bombers Football Club The Tiwi Bombers Football Club is an Australian rules football club, currently competing in the Northern Territory Football League. The club is notable as being the first all- Aboriginal team to play in a major competition. The team is affili ...

would join the

initially known as the "Super Tiwis". The team began 2006 season as the "Tiwi Bombers".Tiwis take a leap in their hopes for the side
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References

External links

* {{Aussie Rules in the Northern Territory Australian rules football competitions in the Northern Territory Tiwi Islands