I am old enough to remember the excitement of the days when an arriving circus was the be-all-and-end-all of excitement. Galloping into our happy but somewhat predictable day to day lives, the travelling roadshows would light up our days. We would admire the elephants, lions, horses and monkeys. We would laugh at the clowns and goggle at the spectacle of the high wire acts. For that brief period in time we were enchanted and lived in another world not usually ours.

Today, at least in my mind, the arrival of an AFL match to my home city, Cairns, has much of that same magic. The big lumbering elephants will be replaced by Will Minson and Zac Smith. The roaring lions, kings of their domain, are replaced by Gary Ablett and Matthew Boyd. The old warhorses are replaced by Griffen, Cooney, Rischitelli and Harbrow and the exciting, agile monkeys are the excitement machines like Dalhaus, Bontempelli, Bennell and O’Meara.

Next week the circus comes to town (no disrespect to the Stardust Circus who is already here). The Gold Coast Suns, our adopted AFL team, takes on the Sons of the ‘Scray – the Western Bulldogs. A modern team created from next to nothing which in just three and a half years is looking a genuine finals prospect (Gold Coast) up against the working class heroes from the western Melbourne suburb of Footscray (Western Bulldogs).

And the “Big Top” is our own Cazaly’s Stadium – surely one of the finest venues in regional Australia. Surrounded by the majesty of the Great Dividing Range, and adjacent Murray Prior Range, Cazalys is an Australian Rules football oasis in a tropical wonderland.

The eyes of the AFL supporting world will be firmly fixed on two northern Australian cities – Darwin and Cairns – in coming weeks as the highest level of the game continues to reach out to audiences across Australia. Fans will be flocking into TIO Stadium in Darwin and Cazalys Stadium in Cairns as the Melbourne Demons, Fremantle Dockers, Gold Coast Suns and Western Bulldogs pack their bags and head north.

Darwin, the capital city of the Northern Territory, will host its one and only premiership match for the season. With a capacity of 14,000, TIO Stadium is sure to have a huge crowd on deck for the game.

A few weeks back the Melbourne Demons hosted the Port Adelaide Power at TIO Traeger Park in Alice Springs (the same venue hosted an NAB Challenge between the Demons and the Geelong Cats in the pre-season). This time it is the relaxed, tropical city of Darwin that gets its chance to shine.

On Saturday 5th July, the Paul Roos coached Demons host last year’s grand finalists, the frugal Ross Lyon coached Fremantle Dockers. For Melbourne the game will be another step in their evolution under Roos from perennial cellar-dwellers into a defence minded team capable of upsetting better placed teams.

LEFT: Darwin's TIO Stadium

The AFL this week announced the 2014 Flying Boomerangs squad which will compete at the NAB AFL Under 16 Championships in July on the Gold Coast.

Coached by Eugene Warrior, former Port Adelaide and Norwood (SANFL) player, The Flying Boomerangs squad will participate in Division Three and will take on the World Team, WA North-West and the South Pacific.

The Flying Boomerangs is a personal development and leadership program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young men aged 14 -15 years-old, supported by the Coles AFL Indigenous Program.

Apologies this was published after the filming mentioned below, due to worldfootynews.com being in the process of major site maintenance.

Northern Territory football, and the game overall, will soon receive a boost with a new Australian movie to hit our screens in 2015. The following press release from the AFLNT details the call out to footy fans in the Northern Territory to be a part of the extras in the film, as well as being a part of the match being filmed for the movie.

WANT TO BE IN A NEW AUSSIE MOVIE WITH AN AFL LEGEND?

NT AFL fans will have the chance to be in a new Australian film, currently shooting in Darwin – at TIO Stadium on Saturday, June 14.

Last Cab to Darwin is Jeremy Sims’ road movie drama starring Michael Caton, whose character Rex Macrae is a cab driver who, when told he doesn’t have long to live, sets out on an epic journey from Broken Hill to Darwin.

Along the way he picks up a couple of passengers, including the character Tilly Johnson - the ‘best full forward in the history of Oodnadatta’ - played by Mark Coles Smith.

AFL legend Brian Taylor has a guest role as ‘The Coach’ of the Saints – St Mary’s Football Club, Darwin – in the film and will shoot his scenes on June 10 at TIO Stadium with players from the club.

All but the most fervent Melbourne and Port Adelaide supporters probably saw the scheduling of the Demons/Power encounter at TIO Traeger Park, Alice Springs, as a lesser match in the upcoming Indigenous Round. 

With a round that starts with a clash between Sydney and Geelong on Thursday 29th May, and then features the showcase “Dreamtime at the ‘G” clash between Essendon and Richmond on the Saturday night, one could be excused for missing the Demons v Power clash crammed in between.

 

World Footy News reported during last year a decision by the AFLNT (Australian Football league Northern Territory) to include the Alice Springs based club into the premier division of the NTFL. The club played half of the 2013/14 season as an extended trial after an initial four game exposure in the 2012/13 season.

On the field the Redtails certainly enjoyed some level of success. Their 2012/13 performance was heartening with three wins from their four games, including a shock win over eventual premiers, St Mary’s. Last season was not as successful on paper with just one win from their eight games, but closer inspection shows two losses by less than 10 points and only two losses by more than 50 points. The team certainly proved to be competitive over those two trials.

However, the following media release from the AFLNT states that the idea will take on a longer term planning direction for a number of reasons, delaying the club’s admittance to a permanent place in the NTFL Premier League.

The 2014 Under 15 National Kickstart Championships wound up yesterday in Coffs Harbour, NSW with the powerhouse Western Australia team, having dispatched all opponents throughout the carnival, blitzing the Northern Territory team in the Grand Final.

The carnival, played at the Coffs Harbour International Sports Park from April 11th to 16th, also featured the round robin matches and final of the South Pacific Cup (see stories below)as well as the Australia Post All Nations Cup.

The following press release from the AFLNT looks at the development of an exciting new footballing initiative for school aged players who wish to consider Australian Rules football as a personal development pathway. The Batchelor Area School is in the town of Batchelor located almost 100 kilometres south of Darwin.

NAB AFL Auskick Ambassador Shane Crawford, NT Thunder Head Coach Xavier Clarke along with Department of Education CEO Ken Davies, will today unveil the newest AFL Northern Territory's initiative at Batchelor Area School, announcing them as the first of many AFLNT Future Leaders Football Schools within the Northern Territory.

The following press release from the AFLNT details the Under 15 squad selections for the upcoming carnival in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales. As with previous seasons, many of these boys are just this step away from possible selection in the national indigenous team the Flying Boomerangs. The event will also feature teams from all other states and territories as well as the South Pacific Cup, this year featuring teams from New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the combined Oceania team selected from last year’s Oceania Cup in Fiji.

Thirty-six Territory boys will line up for the Northern Territory at the National Indigenous Kickstart Championships and the All Nations Carnival to be held simultaneously in Coffs Harbour, from April 11-16.

The St Mary’s dynasty added more silverware to an overcrowded cabinet tonight when they won the NTFL (Northern Territory Football League) 2013/14 premiership against Wanderers at TIO Stadium in Darwin. The weather threw up a temperature in the mid-thirties and almost 100% humidity, creating tough conditions for a grand-final.

Going into the match as raging hot favourites after an undefeated season, many felt that another Saint’s premiership might have been a foregone conclusion, and on face value that is probably true. But that does not adequately recognise how well Wanderers played. Over four tight quarters, the Eagles simply never gave up. Every time St Mary’s looked like breaking away, Wanderers found something to bring themselves into the game.

Picture Courtesy NT News.