David Kantilla

Who was David Kantilla?

David Kantilla was an Australian rules footballer who is recognised as the first Indigenous Australian to play in the South Australian National Football League and the first Tiwi Islander to successfully play in a southern football league. Throughout his footballing career he was known by his 'Anglo' name David Kantilla but also had his tribal name of Amparralamtua.

Kantilla was born on Bathurst Island. Standing at 196 cm, Kantilla played as a ruckman for a couple of seasons with St Mary's in the Northern Territory Football League before joining South Australian National Football League club South Adelaide for the 1961 season and had an immediate impact, kicking six goals against Glenelg Football Club on debut and winning the club's best and fairest award in his first two seasons.

Nicknamed "Soapy" following the publication of a photograph showing him lathered in soap in a bath, Kantilla was then moved back into the ruck, becoming a member of South Adelaide's premiership side in 1964 and by the time he left the club at the end of the 1966 season he had played 113 games.