Your anti NZ shite is bordering on xenophobic and is utterly boring as fuck.

And also pretty amusing when he called others xenophobic for not supporting the malaysia/indonesia idea

If we're going to open the league up to non-Australian based teams, then the likes of Malaysia and Indonesia have the same rights to our league as NZ does.

I'm done discussing this.

if you can't say it to my face, don't type it.

good riddance, however it's safe to say that Auckland if done right could be an a-league powerhouse whereas Malaysia and Indonesia would be a logistical nightmare and would be one of those teams which would draw poor away crowds

Probably more because Indonesia, Malaysia, etc already sustain their own pro leagues, unlike NZ.

I have set up a new facebook page:
A-League for South West Sydney
You can check it out, build up support.... :)

because eventually it will happen. NRL and ALeague should be placing permanent teams in this growing area , the NSW govt will be building another stadium soon in the sydney basin so liverpool should be the area. (close to new airport, population growth etc). Just need another Man city to invest in a new team. (part of football heartland in Sydney)

Nostalgia for fallen A-League clubs not the way forward

Time and time again on social media, comments along the lines of ‘Bring back the North Queensland Fury and Gold Coast United’ litter A-League related pages; die-hard fans of the now-defunct clubs begging for their team to be given another chance in Australia’s top flight.

I have recently heard the North Queensland Fury (now Northern Fury) are attracting regular crowds of over 1,000 people to their matches in the Queensland National Premier League and have designed a plan to try and have a National Youth League team by 2017 (I think) in an effort to forge their way back into the A-League.

It is great there are people in Northern Queensland who are so passionate about their cause, however how does the club plan on ensuring they don’t face the same fate it did last time it was in the A-League?

I had a soft spot for the Fury but the cruel, hard facts are that despite being a community club they averaged only a few thousand people at their home games and were financially unsustainable, even with the likes of Robbie Fowler in the side.
I was impressed when holidaying in far North Queensland with the community feel the club had, in particular noticing they featured prominently on the evening news each night, which makes me wonder how much more could be done to reach out to locals to support the team.

I do not believe there is potential for any growth on their previous A-League existance, especially if their on-field woes were to repeat themselves.

Focus from football fans in the country must be to expand the league in other locations.

Places such as Tasmania, Canberra and possibly Woolongong or Geelong should be the focus of the future expansion, as they have not yet had a team to call their own and have every chance of succeeding and winning over the general public.

While the calls for Gold Coast United to return are mainly from their bunch of die-hard supporters, the calls for North Queensland Fury to return seem to come from all corners of the A-League fan-base.

We need to let this franchise go and try and spread the word in new places of the country of the excitement this league has to offer.

You only need to look at Football Federation Tasmania’s Facebook page whenever the Melbourne Victory are in town to see the genuine excitement of Tasmania’s general public about the code and the potential fan-base that exists there.

Crowds of around six to seven thousand people (similar figure to a couple of existing A-League clubs) whenever the Victory have played there suggests there is genuine interest.

The annual A-League fixture the Wellington Phoenix play at Eden Park, Auckland, which generally draws 15-20 thousand people, also brings up calls for Auckland to have their own team.

The defunct New Zealand Knights were located in Auckland and we all know how many people they got to their games and their eventual fate. The Phoenix’s annual game is seen as a novelty to the general public, hence why the attendance is so great.

I don’t call the push for an Auckland team as nostalgia for the Knights but, rather, short memories of how dismal an Auckland-based team was.

Some may argue the annual game the Victory have been playing in Tasmania may be seen as the same novelty to Tasmania’s general public as Auckland’s annual game is.

However as Tasmania are yet to have a non-cricket professional sports team to call their own, the seven thousand people who turn up would not neglect an A-League team should one be put there, and the potential for growth is evident.

using this reasoning PNG and Solomon Islands for A-league :-s

Well sure they don't have a pro league like NZ, but unlike NZ they don't have enough support for one or a few teams, which NZ can provide us.

Actually Solomon Island league sides get up to and over 20k to games which is impressive - However i don't think they pay.
On Twitter in Jan this year Christian Karembeu stated the OFC still has a invitation for a "A-League licence" Team and that he is close to finalising it for a 2015/16 expansion.

Edited by nomates: 8/2/2014 06:57:13 PM

You got a link?

If it's Karembeu related it'll be based in New Caledonia, which given they are a part of Metropolitan France hence football mad and have a higher GDP per capita than New Zealand would be a different prospect, if done correctly. Still a small population base though.

Mind you, this doesn't look like the worst place in the world for an away trip:

Yeah it is, already done some research, on OP.

Ocean 11 FC. :lol:

I'm all for committing to a pun, but creating a whole A-League club for one is a bit much!

I believe its called Ocean's 11 or Oceania's 11.

I have set up a new facebook page:
A-League for South West Sydney
You can check it out, build up support.... :)

because eventually it will happen. NRL and ALeague should be placing permanent teams in this growing area , the NSW govt will be building another stadium soon in the sydney basin so liverpool should be the area. (close to new airport, population growth etc). Just need another Man city to invest in a new team. (part of football heartland in Sydney)

Fury launches members drive

The Northern Fury organisation that wants to join the A-League if it expands in 2018 has started a membership drive that is designed on the acclaimed Bundesliga model.

Townsville-based Northern Fury has embarked on a long road to regain a place among Australia's elite clubs.

And it is doing it be engaging the community in a way no other Australian club has ever done.

"For us it's always been a matter of how to get the community to own the club," group chairman Rabieh Krayem said.

"In Germany their model makes it compulsory for clubs to be owned 51 per cent by its members.

"We want our club to be 100 per cent owned by members because if there is one way to get a community involved in a club it is by giving it the chance to own it."

Krayem said the 100 per cent community ownership model is one that has been in use overseas but has not been used in Australia.

"Other clubs have looked at this model from time to time but it has not been implemented. We were on the verge of introducing this at North Queensland Fury three years ago before we were axed from the A-League," he said.

"Northern Fury belongs to North Queensland.

"And by that, we don't just mean buying a ticket to games but actually having a say in the club by voting for the board of directors."

The club is offering three membership options.

The top range Fury Foundation Membership costs $1000 and gives the bearer the chance to stand for the board, with half the directorships expected to be up for election every second year.

The Fury Forever option costing $135 or $250 for families is for those who still want to have a say in the direction of the club by voting.

The last option costing from $99 to $30 is for a simple membership.

"We were pleasantly surprised with the huge feedback and support from people from even outside town even though it has bene a low-key launch," Krayem said.

"I did not expect this launch to have the impact it has had.

"Now is the opportunity for everybody who wants to see the Fury back at the elite level to support us.

"At the moment it is all positive and if the A-League expands in 2018 we want to be in a position to be ready to join.

"We want to earn our stripes and we believe we have enough time to do so this time."

Krayem said the name of the current company is called Northern Fury but he did not discount the possibility of the organisation going back to its original name of North Queensland Fury.

The previous Fury club was disbanded by Football Federation Australia in 2011 due to financial instability, two seasons after its acceptence in the A-League.

I have set up a new facebook page:
A-League for South West Sydney
You can check it out, build up support.... :)

because eventually it will happen. NRL and ALeague should be placing permanent teams in this growing area , the NSW govt will be building another stadium soon in the sydney basin so liverpool should be the area. (close to new airport, population growth etc). Just need another Man city to invest in a new team. (part of football heartland in Sydney)