Football bid unity needed
10th July 2012 8:25 AM

'UNITED we stand, divided we fall' might be the winning strategy for Central Queensland's football dreams.

Last night Capricorn Cougars coach and regional development officer Joe Fenech urged the region to band together in the name of elite football.

During the coming months Football Queensland embarks on a process to bring together the 12 best applicants to form the Australian Premier League in the Sunshine State.

"I wanted to explain what it would take to have Central Queensland represented and what it means," Fenech said.

Only 12 applicants for the Australian Premier League will be successful from throughout the state, currently Central Queensland has four bids and according to Fenech it is highly likely only one will be successful.

The purpose of last night's meeting at the Grand Hotel was to convince Gladstone clubs the best way to win a spot in the league was to work together to put one successful bid forward for Central Queensland, not four.

"We need to work together to put Central Queensland on the map in terms of football and to give our kids the very best opportunities," Fenech said.

However, to obtain a successful bid, Fenech outlined various issues the region needed to overcome. Coaching and facilities were top of the list.

Fenech said the criteria was stringent and advanced coaching licences would need to be obtained.

Facilities to train and play at were also of concern, with the possibility of 10 new teams on the cards, but he wanted to remain realistic.

"To be honest we don't have the numbers or the facilities to have more then one Central Queensland team.

"It is critical we work together and not out of self interest."

http://www.gladstoneobserver.com.au/story/2012/07/10/football-bid-unity-needed-central-queensland/

Will the QLD APL mean that Lismore FNNSW elite youth wont be able to partake as they do now in the SEQ JPL comp.

It may only be a rumour but I have been told that Football Far North Coast (Lismore etc) will be able to apply for the Qld APL division. That makes sense as this region is closer to the major hub of South East Qld than it is to Newcastle, where FFNC is basically treated as an afterthought (from what I've been told).

i haven't heard or read anything in relation to that, however it does make sense. The only reason they may not be included is if there is 12 decent bids from within the QLD borders. On the other hand if there is 13 good bids then a FFNC team may be accepted then to keep the even numbers.

Thanks Arthur,

So the Vic premier league is to be renamed Australian Premier League and the same will happen to New South Wales Premier League and so on throughout Australia.

They will play the main season in their own state premier league with the winners playing a champions league of sorts...

Hmmmm probably not a bad concept if state premier league clubs run with it and FFA and state bodies run with it also.

There isn't much talk from NSWPL clubs either. So will be interesting to see where this goes if anywhere.

When will the Queensland FA make a decision on the clubs to be accepted? I'm sorry; I'm interested, but I have no idea about the intricacies of forming a football league so this discussion could be in Mandarin to me.

Will be interesting to see which clubs apply to join the league, and more to the point to see exactly what requirements are placed on clubs before they can join the league.

FFV invited clubs to apply to run the zonal teams in Victoria for the Champions League summer comp a couple of years ago and very few were interested under the terms offered (from what I've heard the terms were essentially - you do everything and FFV gets the credit).

Recently we engaged Football Federation Australia, Australian Institute of Sport and the Queensland Academy of Sport about the age set up for the Australian Premier League.



While there was a lot of discussion around different age groups, one thing we now all agree with is that the boys Under 15 age group is an important step for the next pathway, more particularly our QAS program, the Under 17 Joey’s that play in the World Cup and the Under 16’s Australian team that play in the AFC Cup. We had previously been told that the combination of a 15/16 age group would be sufficient.



Therefore, effective immediately, we will be changing the age groups by adding in the Boys Under 15’s to the current Under 12,13,14,16, 18 Age groups.



Clubs wishing to participate within the Australian Premier League Competition should add this team to any budget or forecast that has been already prepared.



Over the coming weeks, there will be a number of Football Forums in South East Queensland being held in conjunction with Clubs. We will also hold an independent Open Forum for Players, Parents and the Football Family which we will advise through our communication channels.

Over the coming weeks, there will be a number of Football Forums in South East Queensland being held in conjunction with Clubs. We will also hold an independent Open Forum for Players, Parents and the Football Family which we will advise through our communication channels.

http://www.footballqueensland.com.au/index.php?display=item&id=1725

teams for cairns, townsville, rocky, 9 apparantly for seq if any show interest but the ffa visit to FB should be interesting

EXCLUSIVE: Two new National Youth League clubs in Queensland are set to be created under Football Federation Australia's National Competition Review, sparking hopes of a revival for North Queensland Fury and Gold Coast United.

The review highlighted the limited elite player pathway options in Queensland following the closure of the two A-League clubs over the last 18 months.

The FFA are now looking at a North Queensland side and a "third Queensland" side to join the NYL and create opportunities for talented youngsters to progress towards a professional career.

Gold Coast successfully fielded a youth team, winning the Championship twice in their short existence, but Fury never put an NYL side together in their two seasons.

However the FFA could choose to avoid resurrecting the bitter memories created by Fury's financial collapse and Gold Coast's acrimonious axeing over the fall-out with owner Clive Palmer.

Instead FFA Executive Manager Mark Falvo revealed they were also looking at the possibility of simply creating new sides to distance them from the past.

But he stressed they had yet to set a timetable for the project, and said any National Youth League expansion would be subject to a cost-benefit analysis.

The revelations came during a presentation to prospective Queensland Australian Premier League clubs where the FFA said creating an easily identifiable elite player pathways is one of their current top priorities.

However they are concerned that the introduction of two more Queensland teams to the National Youth League will create a pathway dead end without senior clubs to support the NYL sides.

Football Queensland CEO Geoff Foster backed a move towards more Queensland teams in the National Youth League, regardless of the name of the clubs.

“The inclusion of a Northern National Youth League team is critical to the success of the program’s stated ambition of providing a seamless and meaningful pathway for our elite youth,” Foster said.

“We continue to make representations to FFA that a Northern A-League licence is essential to a truly national league and we see the reinstatement of a youth league presence as a critical step to the reinstatement of a full licence.”

The FFA have ruled out further A-League expansion until 2015, but Foster added: “Queensland wants to be knocking on the door at the first opportunity.”

Keeping the Fury and United brands alive in the National Youth League was welcomed by both clubs' fans desperate to maintain links with their axed clubs.

Marcus Ellison, a prominent member of the North Queensland Fury’s F-Troop, said their supporter group would be delighted by the return of the Fury brand - or any other name.

“There’s a broad appeal with the Fury brand beyond North Queensland and I think it would get quite a lot of support," he said. "If it started up again I think people would get on board wholeheartedly.

“From my point of view, the fact they are talking about is a great. We definitely need that link between the grass roots and a national league.

“Whether it’s Fury or another entity that has aspirations to play at a higher level, they will get the bulk of support in the region.”

Save GCU's Nathan Mulhearn felt the same way about his former club.

“We were told by the FFA when GCU were wound up that they still wanted a youth team in the region,” Mulhearn said.

“Why would the FFA need to hold on to the brand? We’d be happy to work with their licensing agreements if they wanted to reignite the brand.

“We would look at building a community ownership model, this could involve Football Gold Coast and other investors, building from the bottom up this time around, and not from the top down as happened before.

“There is already brand equity, a Facebook page with 6000 fans and a twitter account with 2000 followers, so why start again with a new name

GCU is the strongest football brand on the coast. No other brand will get the number of football supporters behind it. The Stars was an absolute failure and that went down its own track, why make the same mistake?