Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Congratulations to the member for Mitchell; I thank him for his contribution. Congratulations also to Rugby League on 100 years of the game. Rugby League has provided many great moments in sport in this country that have centred around fantastic eras: St George’s 11 straight premierships in the fifties and sixties; and, as the member for Mitchell said, Parramatta in the eighties, with legends such as Sterling, Price, Edge and Cronin, to name a few. My father used to go out and plant trees after Parramatta won. But the game evolved outside of Sydney as well. Some of those teams have dominated the competition: the Canberra Raiders, in the late eighties and early nineties; the Brisbane Broncos—I would argue that winning six premierships in 20 years is a significant contribution to the sport; and the Melbourne Storm, whose rise is more recent, in the heartland of Madam Deputy Speaker Burke’s area. As part of the journey, the dominance of the Kangaroos cannot be forgotten. The Australian side is the invincible side—it is indestructible, unbeatable and all of the other sorts of names that they used to call them.

But life has not always been easy for Rugby League. In the early days, trying to establish the game against Rugby Union was quite a significant battle. Later, the Super League war divided Rugby League between the traditionalist ARL and the Super League. It ended friendships. That is how much passion there was: it divided the game and it ended friendships. There was also the failed expansion of the game into South Australia and WA throughout the nineties, but through it all Rugby League has survived.

The State of Origin, as the member for Mitchell alluded to, is the showcase of the game. It is a premier sporting event, but I think at times it is a double-edged sword. The State of Origin is such a fantastic game that the premiership struggles to step up to that mark. I know that other codes step away from playing State of Origin because of that.

The history of the game in my electorate of Solomon commenced in 1940, when there were three teams. During 1949, there were two scratch matches organised by expat New South Welshmen and Queenslanders who had arrived in Darwin to take part in its reconstruction after the war. The armed services and the Commonwealth Public Service made up some of the sides, along with Qantas. At this time, there were 7,000 people living in Darwin, and most of the population were single men. The sides were the Wallabies, Qantas, Army, Navy and RAAF. By 1950, Rugby League had gained permission to use Kahlin Oval, which the Army was responsible for. Rugby League had trouble establishing itself and, after sharing the Gardens Oval facility with Aussie Rules, it finally moved to Richardson Park, which is the home of Rugby League today.

But the thing about Rugby League is that it is a game made by the people. It is the people’s game. Recently in Darwin they lost ‘Shadow’ Mount, who was the groundsman at the football field. His death, at the hands of others, was untimely and very tragic. They remember him as a volunteer. The game of Rugby League in the Northern Territory has been built around the volunteers who have contributed their time, effort, toil and passion to making it work. Brothers, Litchfield, Nightcliff, Palmerston, South Darwin and University make up the Darwin Rugby League competition now. Brothers is currently celebrating 50 years. They are having a reunion of all Brothers clubs in Darwin in October this year. I will be the guest speaker there, though it is a bit ironic that they will have an Australian Rules Football coach member of parliament coming to speak at their 50-year celebration.

Nightcliff and Litchfield have been two of the most successful clubs but, once again, it is the people who have contributed. The current president of Brothers, Johnnie Adams, puts in a lot of time, and Frank Geddes and Frank ‘Doodles’ Ahmat had a long history with the club. There was Mark Fitzgerald at Litchfield and Lyle Mackay, the past president. Frank McPherson was the founder of the Litchfield club. Nightcliff have had greats like Stem Edwards, Ron Gatley, Kane Bonson and the late Chico Motlop. Former Kangaroo Steve Rogers coached the club to a premiership in 1993, and I played on that side; they recruited an Aussie Rules guy to carry them over the line! Palmerston had John Johnson and South Darwin had Paul Kelly and Mick Palmer, a former federal policeman. We have had players play at the highest level as well—Frank Stokes, Johnnie Alder, Steve Larder and Duncan MacGilgray. Rugby League has a fantastic history in Australia and, while there have been lean times, it continues to contribute. Passionate supporters of the game call it the greatest game of all—and who could argue? Being born in Queensland, let me say: ‘Queenslander!’ (Time expired)

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