Colour Bar, Indigenous Rights

Football is much more than a game in the Northern Territory. It is very much part of Northern Territory identity and culture. One of the reasons for the games place in our collective imagination is that football is also a battle ground for civil rights. Who controls the game and who is allowed to play says a lot about our society. The ‘Colour Bar, 1926/27 to 1929/30 is undoubtedly the most controversial and important episode in the Northern Territory’s sporting history.

When the North Australia Football League expelled all non-European players and introduced a clause into its constitution to only admit ‘White’ players it started a battle for rights that continues to this day.

31 May 2014, Colour Bar, Indigenous Rights