Australian Rules football wasn't introduced to the Tiwi Islands until the 1940s but they've made up for lost time.
The two inhabited islands Melville and Bathurst have a mostly Indigenous population of less than 2500 but have produced numerous footballers that have made it to the elite AFL level.
Three Tiwi Islanders have won the Norm Smith Medal for best on ground in the AFL grand final, a remarkable feat given only 40 players have won the award since its introduction.
The quality of football Tiwi-style is such that an estimated 1300-plus people travelled on ferries and aeroplanes in Darwin on Sunday to Bathurst Island for the Tiwi football league's grand final.
Among the crowd of more than 2000 were dignitaries such as federal Labor MPs Warren Snowdon and Malarndirri McCarthy, Chief Minister Michael Gunner, AFL Commissioner Gabrielle Trainor, ex-AFL stars Joel Bowden and Indigenous man Michael O'Loughlin.
O'Loughlin was interested in the Tiwis' passion for footy and pleasantly surprised they were yelling out to him "since I've been retired 10 years".
One of the Tiwis' Norm Smith medallists, the recently-retired Cyril Rioli - Michael Long and Maurice Rioli are the others - was there with his family, helping run out drinks for an early junior match.
After his shock retirement from the AFL Rioli, 30, resisted pressure from relatives and locals last year to pull on the boots and play for the Tiwi Bombers in the major NT Football League.
Sunday's season decider saw the Ranku Eagles face the Tapalinga Superstars in a fast and entertaining game in intense heat and humidity.
The Eagles led in the first half, before the Superstars hit the front in the third quarter, but Ranku fought back and won by nine points, breaking a 19-year drought and delighting ecstatic fans.
The speed and skills of the often lightly-built Tiwi footballers dazzled many non-indigenous supporters, who said it was a better game than the higher-level NTFL's more defensive grand final the previous day.
The late Catholic Missionary John Pye introduced the game to the Tiwis, once saying in a TV interview he could see they were "athletic, spritely and springy".
The local Tiwi Islands Regional Council general manager Chris Smith recalled the first time he saw a Tiwi father and his five-year-old son kicking a football when he moved there a decade ago.
"Every kick to his father went straight into father's hands: bang, bang one after the other ... not off here or there, it was incredible hand and eye skills and ball coordination skills at that age."
The visitors to the grand final who come from all over Australia always looked relaxed and happy, partly because the Tiwi people were friendly and welcoming, he said.
They are proud of the fact that people want to visit them and see their culture.
"It is a good feeling when visitors come over and I think it is good for the kids too to speak English," local Rocky Tipungwuti said.
A large art sale also held on grand final day showcases art by Indigenous artists from the islands' three towns of Wurrumiyanga on Bathurst Pirlangimpi and Milikapiti on Melville.
They are best known for their carved and painted pukumani (burial poles).
Renowned Melville artist Pedro Wonaeamirri said the show was important for enabling him to share his culture with the younger generation and the rest of Australia and outside world.
The Tiwis' isolated island homes are seen as having helped them to better retain their culture than many other Aboriginal Australians.
The first European settlement was abandoned after only five years in 1829 partly due to resistance from the hostile Tiwis.
However alcohol, cannabis and then suicide have all had higher per capita effects on the Tiwis than non-Indigenous Australians.
The Federal Labor Lingiari MP Warren Snowdon, whose electorate includes the Tiwis, said the event was a cultural exchange of footy and art that "makes us a better place".
"It's something which enlivens you because this is a really important part of our country and explains to us why our First Nations people are so damn important and part of our national story," he said.
Australian Associated Press
