India did it first

Futsal-playing sisters from rural Queensland set to represent Australia

Updated 9 minutes ago

Two outback Queensland sisters are set to play for Australia in a sport they picked up by chance.

Courtney Jackson, 16, and her sister Kayla, 13, are budding soccer players, but tried futsal to retain fitness during the off-season on the advice of their coach due to the similarity between the sports.

Futsal is likened to a scaled-down version of soccer, played five per side on a hard court and mainly indoors.

The sisters said they never intended to take the sport seriously and were shocked when emails notified them of their selection into the Australian squads.

"We both ran in to [tell] Mum and Dad, and they were crying," Kayla said.

"I said to mum, 'I don't know if you're crying because you're happy or because it's going to cost a lot'."

Playing for Australia does not come cheaply — it will cost the sisters about $7,000 each to tour abroad.

Courtney will embark on a 16-day trip to the US National Futsal Championships in July, while Kayla is off to the United Kingdom in April for a 19-day tour with the under-14 team.

It is a massive achievement for the south-west Queensland town of Eulo, 70 kilometres west of Cunnamulla, and with a population of about 70 people.

"We've actually been told we're the first two in our shire to be selected for an Australian team," Courtney said.

"To have two sisters chosen from the same shire is pretty amazing and the amount of money the shire has put in to help us and the people in the community is amazing."

The community has rallied behind the sportswomen, from fundraising via online crowdfunding campaigns and organising raffles in the local pub.

In addition, the Paroo Shire Council has made a $1,000 contribution to both sisters.

"When people don't even know what the sport [of futsal] is they're a bit questionable about it," Courtney said.

"But they dig in and give us some money because they're just proud of us to go over there to wear the green and gold."

would be perfect for ronaldinho

Actually, I think it was that night I ended up playing table football against Lily Allen's Dad in the Peveril of the Peak pub.

I lost, but it was still better than the Futsal.

How is a futsal comp the answer to bbl? The bbl is a shorterned version of cricket in terms of game time, but the fields and all the rest are the same, futsal would be the answer to indoor cricket lol

The question may be wrong, but the idea has meet it IMO.

And no amount of belittling from you or anyone else can change my mind. 

Football can be played and enjoyed in a variety of ways, both actively and passive (similar to cricket) and the FFA should be doing a better job of promoting all forms of the game.

The fact that they are too busy sticking their fingers into the A-league is part of the problem. More so probably than BBL.

But I digress, my original point stands. We should be promoting other forms of the game including distal etc. And can do this during the summer period too with ideas like this or similar

what is the worst idea ?

I wouldn't be against them looking into a small sided version of football for academy players, if only to improve the technical skills of the players. If the game looks good and it offers a proof of concept, then we can try it for a-league teams.

But futsal is shit fucking boring.

Futsal, 5-a-side, indoor footy...  Whatever...  Has never been a ratings winner anywhere in the world.  Even Masters tournaments filled with big names don't rate well (or raise enough interest for tv coverage at all).

Cricket NEEDS the Big Bash because the standard format is too long and too slow.  Football doesn't need it, it just needs to raise the stakes in the actual games - you do this by not playing against each other too often, by not giving out prizes for 6th out of 10 place, by introducing a threat at the bottom, and a real prize at the top...

True, but its pretty damn close

We don't need an "answer" to the BBL. We need more than 10 teams playing in a viable league that is a proper development platform for our national teams

The premise of this idea needs some critical analysis - First and foremost, why do you think any team of HAL players could beat or be more entertaining than say the Australian or state rep futsal teams? (Rogic @ CCM being the obvious exception)

Would be great to watch however you would need some big names or atleast decent futsal players to flesh out the teams.  Remember futsal is where Tom Rogic got his start and look at his technical ability.  

Futsal is the football equivalent of indoor cricket not Twenty20.

Saw Man City & others play in a comp organised in the late 80's

Died a very quick death.

It might just be me but if really like to see it. Sell it to fox for a buck. See how it goes. 

Not sure how a futsal comp that the general public probably wouldn't give two shits about is an 'answer' to the BBL.

I would like to see more emphasis on futsal at junior level, now that would be more effective! 

BBL is  popular spectacle simply because the sport of cricket is popular in Australia. It also has FTA and prominent advertising.
 If we really want to compete with the bbl (which I think is moronic), then let's just keep enjoying the a-league.

WE ARE A UNIQUE SPORTING MARKET. 

Vomit/suicide gif.

We mimic these sports at our peril. You forgot to answer how bbl helped germany win the world cup. Perhaps bbl can help us win the world cup bc we are apparently this big unoque sporting market in the sky.....and of course bbl is imperative to ffa engaging the 82% participants who dont give a flying shit about the hal.

Futsal is mad. As long as they keep the teams (albeit with futsal players) I would watch. 

Not to if you are going to point to those countries then you should know how popular futsal is there. Especially Kazakhstan. 

We'll find out on Friday how transferrable the skill sets of BBL players are to international cricket. I would be surprised if they are. 

I get your point, But we are not German, Japanese, Belgium or Whatever-stanina

We are Australian, and we have to operate in the market we are in. Ignoring that is like sticking our head in the sand.

I am not saying i total agree with it, i am just stating that your argument, to give parallels to other countries like you did, is irrelevant to the discussion.

The idiocy is a trickle down. Our admin is obsessed with these abberant stupid sports, and now the fans are obsessed too. Ask the bundesliga, or the j-league....or the belgian or Kyrgyzstan league for that matter how relevant BBL is. Ask germany how bbl helped them win the world cup.

Ban and lock any more fucking bbl threads.

Not as an answer to the BBL but yes we should have one out of season and maybe run over a couple of weeks in multiple locations such as Gold Coast, Canberra, as well as some HAL heartlands. Done properly it would raise money for HAL/NPL clubs involved as well as topping up the salary cap for players involved. But let's not try and compete with other codes - do it for football reasons, indoor football is big in other countries already and has a World Cup even. Like the beach comp idea as well

I see the future for football in aus: 20/20 soccer. 20 min halves. Teams wear neon. Fans wear kfc buckets on their heads. We shutdown our now defunct National setup. Give up any and all World cup ambitions. Focus all resources at tv ratings within aus. Still in 3rd place to AFL and BBL.

I think a better comparison would be to hold a beach soccer tournament? Hold it at Bondi and sign up only just retired big name players to come sit on a beach jog around on the sand for a little while trying to smash the ball in the net from their own goal line.

90% of players in the A-League, have the touch of a donkey :laugh:.

No.