Northern Territory Women's Aussie Rules Football Association

The Northern Territory Women's Aussie Rules Football Association (NTWARFA) is the governing body of the sport of Women's Australian rules football in the Northern Territory.

History

The first competitive game was played in late 1993 when women associated with NTFA clubs University and Banks played a match at Gardens Oval. The two clubs were bitter rivals on the playing field and the women supporters carried the rivalry on to a challenge match. The two teams played twice at Gardens Oval, once as a curtain-raiser to an NTFA fixture and once as a game alone. For the record, University won both of the games. The women enjoyed playing the game so much that they arranged to travel to Jabiru to play against the Jabiru women. Due to a lack of competition the interest waned and in 1996 the team finally disbanded with a plan to one day get the competition up and running again. In 1999 interest in Women's Football resurfaced again a small group of women began training on a regular basis, three times a week, under coach Charlie King.

The following 12 months proved to be a defining year in NT Women's Football. After playing a few exhibition matches at NTFL and NTFA fixtures, the women started their own 9-a-side competition at both schoolgirl and senior levels with over 100 women and girls involved. Exhibition matches were also played in Jabiru and Katherine involving local women.

All of this culminated in the selection of a representative team to travel to Canberra in June 2000 for the National Women's Aussie Rules Football Championships. This was the first time that the Northern Territory had been represented at the National Championships.

Clubs

• St Marys WAFC
• Southern Districts Football Club
• Waratahs WAFC
• Nightcliff-Fannie Bay Tigers
• Darwin Buffaloes
• Wanderers WAFC
• University WAFC
• Banks WAFC

External links

• [1]