AFLNT postpones Central Australian Football League's first round amid dispute with Alice Springs council

The AFLNT has confirmed it will postpone the first round of the Alice Springs community football season, amid an increasingly bitter stoush with the local council. 

In the most recent Central Australian Football League (CAFL) community fixture submitted by AFLNT, two matches were set to be played at the council-owned Traeger Park on Sunday.

This was despite Alice Springs Town Council banning all forms of football from Traeger Park oval, and voting against community football taking place on council-managed grounds.

It came in the wake of the council withdrawing support for the upcoming Central Australian community football competition amid concerns about crime rates and social issues in the town.

After a fortnight of silence, an AFLNT spokesperson confirmed today that matches scheduled for this weekend would be deferred to "later in the season", as the council continues to block access to the park.

"AFLNT continues to have discussions with Alice Springs Town Council," the spokesperson said.

While the two matches scheduled for this weekend have been deferred, the AFLNT said three round-one matches booked for May 14 will "at this stage" proceed as fixtured.

Two of the games are scheduled to be played at Traeger Park, while the third match will be played at Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa).

The AFLNT said no matches had been cancelled.

Mutitjulu, 470 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs, was among the teams scheduled to play this Sunday, with the Cats set to take on the Arlparra Dockers.

Coach Craig Woods said he was contacted by the league mid-week with the news the match had been deferred.

He said the lack of certainty was making it difficult to prepare for the season.

"We're having to plan a lot of things logistics-wise — players, staff members, transport, accommodation and personnel," he said.

"And also keeping the interest there with the players themselves."

This is the latest chapter in an escalating dispute between AFLNT and the Alice Springs council over the community competition.

The AFLNT announced in late April that the competition would go ahead, with some games played at Traeger Park, according to its licence agreement.

But the council accused the AFLNT of breaching the licence agreement, by not providing the council with 30 days' notice of the competition fixture before the first round.

In a statement, the AFLNT said it had drawn up the fixture following an emergency summit in late March, which reduced the season from 12 rounds to seven, and included some games in remote communities.

It claimed the licence agreement with the council gave AFLNT "priority access" to Traeger Park for football.

The AFL has since threatened to pull the annual Melbourne Demons match from Alice Springs, unless the town council reverses its decision to bar community football from Traeger Park.

But Alice Springs Mayor Matt Paterson has told the ABC the council won't be "held hostage to the AFL and their bullying attitude".

The council has also continued calls for AFLNT to increase its investment in remote communities to improve the state of sporting fields and related infrastructure.

Mr Woods said while he had confidence in the AFLNT, he was concerned about the actions of Alice Springs Town Council, and said the matter should have been discussed with community leaders last year.

"It's sort of pushing community people away from Alice Springs ... people that are not part of the incidents that have happened in Alice Springs," he said.

The CAFL town competition, which features teams from within the Alice Springs urban region, has also been barred from playing at the Traeger Park oval.

The AFLNT said it "remained committed" to both the community and town competitions being played this year.

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