Rugby union in the Northern Territory
The first match was played in Darwin between Town and Vestees, originally planned for New Year's Day 1916, it was postponed[5] after original plans to involve sailors from a visiting warship fell through, Vestey's won 9 to Darwin's 3 on Monday 24 January.A New Zealander named David Cooper advertised for other interested players which led to the founding of the Northern Territory Rugby Union in 1975.[11] In 1984, the Alice Springs club competition was started by the Central Australian Rugby Union.[8] Katherine also later briefly fielded a composite team in the Darwin competition, but found the logistics associated with the travel distance difficult to sustain.Teams from East Arnhem (initially under the name of Gove Rugby) have regularly entered tournaments such as the Darwin Hottest 7s and Singapore CC 7s.