With the Australia Cup 2023 Playoffs heading to Darwin later this month, take a look back at how a newly formed club from the Top End competed in the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) league briefly in the mid 1990s.
The Darwin Cubs were founded in 1994 as a semi-professional side and put Northern Territory football on the international map as they joined the FAS Premier League, making history and becoming the first Australian team of any sport to play in a foreign home and away league.
But just how did this idea get off the ground and become a reality?
Inaugural Cubs president Nick Mitaros spoke to ABC Radio Darwin in 2022 to explain the club's formation nearly three decades ago in a story that is likely unfamiliar and perhaps even forgotten about for many Australian football fans.
"It was a momentous day for not just Territory sport, but Australian sport because as the commentator said, it was the first time that an Australian team had played in any code in an international home and away competition," Mitaros told ABC Darwin Radio's Jack Hislop.
"And that was the Darwin Cubs playing in Singapore in April 1994. We actually approached the Singapore Premier League it didn't happen the other way around.
"We approached Singapore because Singapore was so much closer to Darwin than where the National Soccer League was happening in the rest of Australia and there was no conversation about a Territory team being admitted into the Australian national competition.
"So we took it into our own hands, and there we were playing in an international competition."
Mitaros recalls the challenges he and his administrative staff faced during the process of being admitted into the competition before ultimately the club's existence ceased after 18 months due to soaring financial costs.
"It was not easy," he stated. "It took nearly two years of negotiations and then the reality was we had to foot a lot of the costs associated with it, including the travel of the Singapore teams to Darwin, and there were eight teams that came to Darwin.
"Once we played home and away, so we played them once in Singapore once in Darwin. So it was a very costly exercise, and at the end of the day, it just wasn't financially sustainable."
Mitaros added they received backing from both the public and private sector and played their home matches out of Marrara Oval.
"From memory the Territory government provided us with $30,000 of financing.
"The the Darwin City Council at the time provided us with $10,000 and then the rest of the money came from private sponsors and the name itself, Cubs, was Carlton & United Breweries.
"And you know what they provided us with a significant donation and look, my memory seems to remember an $80,000 to $100,000 annual commitment and, Diadora out of Singapore. They were another one of our big sponsors, and it was made up of government and private sponsors."
The Darwin outfit managed to secure the services of a number of respectable players within Darwin thanks to head coach Frank Falzon, while also capturing players who boasted some National Soccer League (NSL) pedigree or later played in the competition following the club's termination.
The likes of Luis Rodriguez, Peter Politis, Manuel Lolias, Hamilton Thorpe, Cyrille Ndongo-Keller, as well as Adelaide City trio Jason Petkovic, Joseph Barbaro, and Carlo Talladira all signed with the Cubs.
"Frank Falzon happened to be the coach of the the Territory amateur side that played in the Australian national amateurs competition, and he pulled together the Darwin players he had a good knowledge of and also a handful of players out of South Australia, mainly out of Adelaide and, and made the first squad," he said.
In their inaugural season, the Cubs finished in second spot behind another Australia side who also competed, the Perth Kangaroos.
The Cubs won their opening game 4-0 over Jurong Town Football Club and went on to lose just three fixtures all campaign, which included two defeats to eventual champions Perth Kangaroos.
But the 1995 season would be the club's last.
"I had a young family and decided to stand back in the second year. So I wasn't the president in that second year," he continued.
"They were successful on the field, the Perth team had decided not to compete in the second year.
"So we were the only Australian team in the second year and again, you know, the team was successful on the field.
"But financially, it started to become a drain on resources and from memory the competition.
"The team actually withdrew towards the end of the second season, and the Singapore Premier League itself had decided to go in a different direction."
However, Mitaros was adamant the legacy of the Darwin Cubs certainly helped improve a number of local footballers.
"What it did was it allowed Darwin players to be put in the shop window of playing at a level of competition that at that time was superior to the local competition in Darwin," he concluded.
"And a number of players from Darwin went on to play in the National Soccer League, which then became the A-League and players like Nick Politis and Hamilton Thorpe ended up with careers at a national and international level."
Source: ABC Radio Darwin
