TIO CAFL

Memberships can be purchased from the AFLNT office at TIO Traeger Park and offer entry to all TIO CAFL games at all venues.

As AFLNT does not charge a registration fee for players we charge at the gate to recoup some of the money the organisation spends putting on games. This gate money goes towards insurance, umpires, lights, line marking, casual staff, security and so on.  It does not fully cover all our costs and the CAFL season runs at a loss.

The following administration contacts are available to assist with specific areas of the CAFL:

Football Operations Department - ntfooty@aflnt.com.au

Media Enquiries - aflnt.media@afl.com.au

CAFL Umpire Queries - umpireaflnt@afl.com.au

Tribunal, MRP & Complaints Officer
Glen Dooley: glen.dooley@afl.com.au - 0499 227 028

Transfers & Registrations
Bradley Coleiro: bradley.coleiro@afl.com.au - 0433 031 198

The CAFL By-Laws are drafted and designed to provide direction for the administration of all grades of CAFL club competition and should be read in conjunction with the most recent version of the AFL Northern Territory Rules and Regulations, Laws of Australian Football.

For all Community Football Policies including disciplinary matters please refer to the National Community Football Policy Handbook.

Protecting the short and long-term health and safety of players is an extremely important priority for the AFL across all levels of Australian Football. The AFL has outlined new guidelines and has made tools involving concussions public. Please refer to the 2024 AFL Community Concussion Guidelines.

The AFL is dedicated to ensuring all juniors are able to learn and play AFL in a fun and safe environment. Please refer to the Junior Football Rules Program Handbook.

The following teams currently play in the TIO CAFL Competition:

• Pioneer Eagles
• Federal
• Souths Kangaroos
• West Bulldogs
• Rovers Football Club
• Alkamilya (Women's Only)

The following teams play in the CAFL Community competition:

• Ntaria Bulldogs
• Laramba
• Papunya
• Ti Tree
• Arlparra
• Ltyentye Apurte
• Mt Allan
• Yuendumu
• Harts Range Swans
• Titjikala

Alice Springs was transformed by World War II. For the first time the town had a reticulated water system, a power station and a new airport and with the new infrastructure came rapid development.

At the beginning of the war Alice’s population was 764. During the war when Alice Springs was the Northern Territory’s civil administrative centre and major military transport hub the population rose to 5,000.[1] In 1947 the population was 1871.[2]

Sports introduced during the war continued after the military departed. A series of five football games was played between July and August 1946 between Railways and PMG (Post Master General). The PMG also played the ‘locals’ on one occasion.[3]

One of the PMG players, who played a key role in establishing football in Alice Springs in 1947, was Mick Costello who was of Arrernte descent. As a youth he had been sent to Rostrevor College in Adelaide where had played football.[4] He had served in the RAAF in England during World War II where he had married and returned to Alice Springs.

In July 1947 there was a scratch match between the Allied Works Council versus Halfcaste Boys from the Alice Springs Bungalow. The Halfcaste Boys won. H. [Henry] Peckham and M. Goodhall were the best players.[5]

A week later the Centralian Football Association (CAFA) was established.[6]

P.F. Muldoon, the Superintendent of the Alice Springs Gaol and former Waratah player was elected Patron and J.W. Nichols, now resident in Alice Springs, became president. Nichols’s vast experience with the NTFL would give the CAFA a sound foundation. Mick Costello was appointed the captain of the ‘existing’ town team.

Early CAFA games were played between the Combined and Town teams. By the third round, Federals played Rovers and the following week Pioneers made their first appearance.

Pioneers won CAFA premierships 1947-49 establishing a proud tradition.
 

[1] Donovan. At the Other End of Australia, p. 152.

[2] Julie T Wells, Mickey Dewar, and Suzanne Parry, eds. Modern Frontier: Aspects of the 1950's in Australia’s Northern Territory (Darwin: CDU Press, 2005), p.187.

[3] The Dead Heart, 3 August 1946.

[4] Penhall, Oral history interview, National Library of Australia, National Library of Australia / Australian Sports Commission, Sports Oral History Project, nla.oh-5900-0070-0001, 51.40, 26 May 2008. See also The Australian, 4 September 2010.

[5] Centralian Advocate, 5 July 1947

[6] Centralian Advocate, 19 July 1947

The Central Australian Football League's most prestigious individual men's award, the Minahan Medal, is named after Mona Minahan.

She was a prominent businesswoman who first donated the medal to the CAFL in 1947. Mona's Lounge at Traeger Park is also named in her honour.

In 1947 and 1948 the Minahan Medal was awarded to the fairest and more brilliant player in the competition as judged by the umpires. From 1949 - 1980, the Mail Medal became the award voted on by the umpires, while the Minahan Medal was decided by spectators votes until returning to its former status in 1981.