History
Br. John Pye and Br. Andy Howley introduced Australian rules football to Bathurst and Melville islands in 1941.
The locals quickly took to the game and the first dedicated ground was built in 1942.
In 1944 the first games consisting of a full complement of 18 players and matches according to the rule book were played.
In 1954, the St Mary's Football Club began enlisting Tiwi servicemen, and in the following year with the assistance of a majority of Tiwi players won the NTFL premiership.
In the 1960s, the most talented export of the TIFL, ruckman David Kantilla had a successful career first in the NTFL, and then reached its peak when he later became a leading player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) with South Adelaide Football Club, where he was a member of the 1964 premiership team, and won Best and Fairest and leading goal kicking awards at the club. The TIwi Island league's top goalkicking award was later named after him.
The 1969/1970 Wet Season saw the first season of the TIFL, with 5 teams competing: Pumarali, Tapalinga, Imalu, Tuyu and Irrimaru.
From 1980–1981, Tiwi Islander Maurice Rioli won two Simpson Medals for Western Australian Football League (WAFL) club South Fremantle as best player in WAFL Grand Finals before his recruitment by Victorian Football League (VFL) in 1982, where he won the Norm Smith Medal for the best player in the 1982 VFL Grand Final. Michael Long would later also win a Norm Smith Medal, in 1993. Other Tiwi Islanders in the AFL include Adam Kerinaiua, who played three games for the Brisbane Bears in 1992 and Malcolm Lynch, who played two games for the Western Bulldogs. Although these players were not from the TIFL, the success of these players in the elite Australian competition did much to boost the popularity of Australian Rules amongst the local Tiwi Islanders.
In 2006, it was announced that a Tiwi Islands Football Club would join the Northern Territory Football League initially known as the "Super Tiwis". The team began 2006 season as the "Tiwi Bombers".
Read more about this topic: Tiwi Islands Football League
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