Darwin Hearts FC is a non-profit sports organisation encouraging kids and youths in outdoor sports activities and competitive tournaments building their skills and developing gradually since the establishment of the club in 2010. Initially registered with the Football Northern Territory under the management of the Nepalese Association of Northern Territory Inc., referred to as NANT hereafter, in 2014, the club is a separate entity and has its own registration as an organisation however the club is still closely working together with the NANT and other local and national Nepali organisations. It was a huge effort of passionate football lover Nepali youths residing in Darwin to socialise and harmonise with the sole sports activities. Although it was limited to a fun and fitness activity for most of the players in the beginning, many non-Nepali locals and wider community friends joined the activities regularly. Along with time and the development of skills, players started believing in themselves to compete with similar other teams formed around Darwin and teams down South. By the time the club succeeded to make its networking to youth attraction and formed the first squad for the 2012 MIT Cup in Melbourne. The tournament registration fee was funded by NANT to participate in the tournament however all other costs including travelling, food and accommodation were self-managed by the players. It was a promising inspiration of teamwork by those individuals to trigger the initiation to form a better and well-funded club. After the team participated and represented the Nepali Community under NANT in the MIT cup in 2012, we had a solid first squad and participated in different leagues and tournaments representing the Nepali Community of Northern Territory across Australia. Since then, we were encouraged and dreamed to build up a team that can play NT League and introduce the Nepali Community to sports within the multicultural society of the Northern Territory. Finally, we registered our club with the Football Federation of Australia of Northern Territory (FFANT) and Good Sports Club in 2015 as a DARWIN HEARTS FC under the NANT subcommittee. But as the Nepali community grew by 100-200% each year, more players from the Nepali and wider community started to join the club in various age groups and then the club realised to register as a separate organisation. In 2019/20, the club registered as a separate non-profit organisation incorporated with Northern Territory Government. Since then, Darwin Hearts FC has been developing more and competing in more age-group tournaments including Men’s and Women’s Premiere League and Reserves, Juniors Under 12 and MiniRoos Under 6-11 tournaments. We look forward to working with local kids of all ages, ethnicity, culture, gender and personal preferences to promote the best sports we all love around the world – Football.
