Dear fans,
We look forward to welcoming you to the best day of the 2018/19 TIO NTFL season – Grand Final Day, which is also one of the highlights on the Territory’s sporting calendar.
Tomorrow is the culmination of more than five months of blood, sweat and tears by many. Players, coaches, volunteers, officials, families, sponsors, fans and staff have all worked tirelessly and shown great commitment and dedication to get their teams to this point.
There have been plenty of highlights and “firsts” this season, from the Under 10 mixed and Under 13 Girls’ mini-seasons that went off with a bang, and well done to the Southern Districts women who made history just by making it to the finals for the first time.
Congratulations to Waratah on maintaining their dominance in the Women’s Premier League, and to the Darwin Buffettes for doing the same in the Under 18 Girls. We also extend our wishes to St Mary’s for their achievement in the Under 15 Girls and to the Nightcliff Under 12s for taking home the premiership in both divisions last Friday.
Across the NTFL competition, there are over 2,000 people involved in over 50 games each weekend, a significant competition to administer across 18 weeks and finals. The challenge to work with all stakeholders to ensure this competition is the best it can be is a challenge that we love and an aim that will continue to drive us into the future – the NTFL competition is a jewel in the AFLNT crown.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank TIO, the NTFL's naming rights sponsor, Northern Territory Government and all our partners for their unwavering support in allowing us to put on this great competition.
It has been a fantastic, even season right across all divisions, so we congratulate all clubs and teams on making it to Grand Final day. Our crowds through the turnstiles at TIO are up 6% on last season, participation in our game is up 9% to 20,191 people in Darwin, and we’ve had more live streaming of games with viewership across Australia totalling more than 3.3 million minutes already, we are in pretty good shape.
Thank you to everyone that has played their part in this NTFL season and finally, best wishes to all participating teams on Grand Final day, all the very best in your quest for premiership glory.
See you on Saturday!
