Doubts over AFL match in Alice Springs amid council dispute

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The AFL has told Alice Springs council it will consider moving the June match between Melbourne and GWS from the town unless the council reverses its decision to withdraw support for a local football competition.

In an email from the AFL to Alice Springs Town Council, seen by The Age, the league says it will consider the impact holding the match would have on the community, and “review the viability of staging the Round 16 AFL match between Melbourne and GWS Giants in Alice Springs”.

Melbourne star Kysaiah Pickett kicked six goals in last year’s Alice Springs match.Credit: AFL Photos

However, in a statement released on Friday afternoon, the Alice Springs Town Council said it would “not permit AFLNT to access Traeger Park to conduct competitions in 2023”.

“This outcome is a result of the failure by AFLNT to comply with its obligations for the 2023 season, under the licence agreement with Council which expires in September 2025,” the rest of the council statement read.

Alice Springs mayor Matt Patterson told The Age the AFLNT’s contract breach referred to the need for council to know of the competition fixture 30 days before April 1, whereas the Territory football body released it on Thursday night.

In late February, the council withdrew its support for the Central Australia Football League’s community competition going ahead, following months of anti-social behaviour and a significant spike in crime in Alice Springs.

The crime spree coincided with increased access last year to alcohol after a decade-long agreement expired on its restriction and banning on certain Aboriginal land.

An AFL match is supposed to be held at Traeger Park, in Alice Springs in late June.Credit: Getty Images

In effect, the council’s decision meant players and fans of the community competition would not have access to any council-owned sporting grounds in Alice Springs. The community competition typically played on Sundays and includes teams from remote communities, whereas the Saturday competition comprises teams from the town.

Part of council’s concern centred on people travelling to Alice Springs on a Sunday for football reasons, then staying for days and further impacting what were “the lowest attendance rates in the country”, Patterson told The Age.

The AFL review is predicated on whether the council restores its support for the CAFL’s community competition going ahead, according to the email.

“The AFL will look to review all facets of the game impacted, from grassroots through to the elite, with consideration given to the most suitable location to host what is one of three AFL matches to be played in the Northern Territory in 2023,” the AFL’s email to the council read.

The Age has contacted the AFL for comment.

AFLNT, with the AFL, released a truncated CAFL community competition fixture on Wednesday night, to start on May 7 and be held at Traeger Park – known colloquially as the MCG of the desert – and other remote communities, increasing the pressure on the council.

Sources familiar with the situation, who preferred to remain anonymous because of political sensitivities, told The Age that AFLNT had a legal agreement for six months each year to use Traeger Park for football purposes. There is not the same agreement at other remote community facilities, but access to those grounds was discussed at a community football summit with key Central Australia stakeholders in late March.

The Northern Territory government announced new alcohol restrictions in Alice Springs in January, and the NT’s Chief Minister, Natasha Fyles, extended them for another three months on Thursday.

The extension came after leaked hospital data revealed that alcohol-related emergency department presentations at Alice Springs Hospital almost halved in the month after the restrictions came in. Domestic violence incidents dropped by about a third in the same period.

Alice Springs will continue to have alcohol-free days on Mondays and Tuesdays for takeaway purchases, and the sale of alcohol will be limited to between 3pm and 7pm, except on Saturdays.

An AFL match has been played at Alice Springs’ Traeger Park every year since 2014, excluding 2021 because of Covid-related concerns and border issues.

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