Barcelona II play in the lower divisions as do dortmund II and a number of other big clubs. There is a big enough gap between the a league and the npl that i think playing reserve sides is sensible.

At least I would like to see every nyl player loaned some where in the npl

Fury beat FNQ FC 2-0 in a friendly today.

Reasonable turn up?

Reasonable turn up?

Reasonable turn up?

Silver Boot Final A Sign Of Things To Come
Feb 23, 2013by Steve Pitman

A pre-season final might be beckoning for the Brisbane Strikers, in the shape of Sunday’s Silver Boot tournament decider against Olympic FC, but as far as the club’s coaching staff are concerned, the emphasis remains very much on “pre-season” rather than “final”.
After disposing of Brisbane Premier League opposition in Wolves FC and Peninsula Power over the last week and a half on the way to the final, the Strikers find themselves up against a fellow National Premier League club in the tournament’s showpiece.
And to add a little bit of spice to the occasion, while the new second-tier competition is yet to have a ball kicked in anger there is history between the two clubs. Olympic played two seasons against the Strikers in the QSL before opting out of that league and were among their strongest rivals for honours. Indeed, Olympic’s last season in the QSL (in 2009) saw them lead the competition coming into the home straight of the season, only to be pegged back by the Strikers in the race for the premiership and then dumped from the finals in a memorable semi-final, beaten 3-2 at Perry Park after leading 2-0.
Back then, it seemed nothing motivated Olympic more than the opportunity to beat the Strikers and their head-to-head record against them was good before their crucial last two fixtures. The Strikers would be foolish to expect anything less than a high level of desire from Olympic on Sunday.
Not that any of this is exercising the mind of Strikers assistant coach Graham Harvey (pictured), who insisted on Friday that the Strikers’ thoughts were focused on the NPL season starting in a fortnight.
“Our focus is on ensuring that all of our players are as fit and as ready as they can be for the start of the season”, Harvey said when asked what approach the Strikers would take into the match. “We’ve got a tough opening four games and we have to be ready to play from the first week of the season”.
One of the Strikers’ opponents in those opening games will be….you guessed it….Olympic FC! But Harvey was loathe to buy into the theory that a win over them on Sunday would give the Strikers an advantage when the two teams meet next in the NPL on 23 March.
“I’m not really sure if it helps”, Harvey said. “Peninsula Power might have thought they had a psychological advantage over us after beating us a few weeks ago, but it didn’t do them any good this week”.
Wednesday night’s 3-1 win over Peninsula Power came on the back of a very convincing team performance, but Harvey said that was no guarantee that the players who featured in that game would necessarily do so again. Instead, a training session on Saturday would go a long way towards determining who pulls on the Strikers’ playing strip on Sunday.
One player, however, who definitely will not play is former Whitsunday Miners midfielder Clark Bradford, who came on as a second half substitute on Wednesday and helped to set up the Strikers’ second goal, before having to leave the field with a rolled ankle. That injury has forced Bradford out of action for two or three weeks – a cruel twist (no pun intended) of fate for a player who had only been trialling with the club for ten days and needed as much time on the field as possible to push his case for inclusion in the squad.
However, Bradford’s misfortune might pave the way for an early return to action for Nick Robinson, who arrived back in Brisbane from an unscheduled visit to England for family reasons on Tuesday and was on hand to witness the Strikers’ win over Peninsula Power.
Other key selection decisions for the Strikers will revolve around who to include in the forward line. New signing Josh McVey impressed up front in his first game on Wednesday, but he has not had much training time since arriving at Perry Park. The coaching staff will need to balance his encouraging form against the need to ensure they do not overload him physically, while also weighing up the need for young striker Chris Roulston to get competitive minutes into his legs and looking for the best ways to utilize Josh Taylor, whose workrate has been excellent but who still needs a goal or two to boost his confidence.
Meanwhile, Olympic go into the final high on confidence after thrashing Moreton Bay United 7-1 in their semi-final. Moreton Bay fielded an under-strength lineup that night, but on the basis that you can only take on and beat the eleven players put in front of you, Olympic will have been more than happy with the way they went about the job of doing just that.
Having recruited strongly in the off-season with the obvious intention of being one of the teams to beat in the NPL, Olympic will be looking to make a statement – to themselves as well as to their opponents. That being the case, the Silver Boot final should provide a good sneak preview for football fans of the strength and footballing methods of two teams who will be aiming high when the new competition kicks off its inaugural season in two weeks’ time.
The final will kick off at Lions Stadium at 7.00 pm, preceded by the third v fourth place play-off between Moreton Bay United and Peninsula Power at 5.00 pm.

I'd take it that there was a fair few there. Great news. Keep supporting.

A few hundred for a friendly game that had little advertising is pretty good.

Much advertising up there?

Much advertising up there?

Little to none.

Now now, the odd Facebook post here and there is tops!...

-PB

I was being generous saying a little.

Fury fitness work pays off in the heat of battle
LIAM BUTTERWORTH | February 25th, 2013

NORTHERN Fury coach Gareth Edds says his team's hard work in pre-season appears to be paying off after beating Cairns-based FNQ FC 2-0 in their final trial match before the start of the National Premier League season.

Second half goals to Alex Read and Jake Navarro gave the Fury the win in their first ever match against NPL opposition at Murray Park on Saturday.

Playing in humid conditions at 2pm, Edds said the fitness work his young squad had been doing seemed to be working.

"So far (it's paid off). We've still got a long way to go, the players are only six weeks in so they have worked tremendously well but there's still a long way to go, we've still got a lot of work left to do," he said.

"But overall, we've just got to keep going.

"At the end of the day with development you've just got to keep on moving forward."

The former A-league midfielder said his focus would be getting more game time into his 20-man squad's legs ahead of their season opener against the Cairns side.

Edds has said the aim behind picking a young squad is develop them over the next two to three years, but they had taken some strides in the work they had already done.

"We've got to keep working on our tactical side of the game to get the understanding into the players but they've taken that on board - the stuff we have worked on," he said.

Edds said Read, who played two games with the North Queensland Fury in the A-league in their final season before moving to the Newcastle Jets youth league side, was slowly getting back to full fitness after a groin injury he picked up not long after moving back to Townsville. The Fury coach said Saturday's game marked the start of what they hoped would be a challenging and exciting derby between the traditional North Queensland rivals, and thanked the Cairns team for coming down to play.

"It's going to be a great derby, it's obviously going to be a good challenging game which a derby should be and it's going to be a terrific battle," he said.

"It's only competitive battle in playing football, we're fully supportive of Cairns and what they're trying to achieve."

The Fury open their NPL campaign away to FNQ at Barlow Park on March 9.
http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2013/02/25/376153_sport.html

A COMPLETE redevelopment of Brolga Park and a boutique 8000-seat stadium at Murray Park are part of a plan to upgrade Townsville football facilities.

Townsville football figures met with staff from global technical and management support firm Aecom yesterday for a planning workshop to start a 15-year plan to cater to the needs of an ever-growing football player base.

Common complaints about Brolga Park relate to the availability of toilets and public amenities, shade and access issues on weekends when junior fixtures are being held.

Northern Fury board member Rabieh Krayem said the plans were about servicing the entire football community in North Queensland, working from the grassroots up, and would complement the region's push for youth, women's and A-League teams in the next five years.

He said their early brainstorming involved all-weather surfaces, lighting and shade improvements and upgrades to the public amenities and catering facilities at Brolga Park.

"The plan is to get Brolga Park all lit and if we can do it, maximising the space, maximising the facilities for the 3500 registered players, which over the next five years we're expecting to double," he said.

"We just don't have the facilities (now) so all parties are involved to make sure it meets the needs of the community. It's transposing what we have and making it a showpiece as the home of football and then to for the elite level is to create a boutique stadium that will allow us to play in the youth league and hopefully an A-League side (after that)."

Aecom's North Queensland regional manager Chris Paterson said they would take the input from yesterday's workshop and work on some plans and sketches, which they would then present back to the football bodies.

He said they pledged their services for free and had flown up staff from their Brisbane office to help with the planning and were looking at a wide range of factors including parking and traffic access.

"The ultimate is the five-year vision for the boutique stadium which I'd like to think complements a larger stadium that the council are looking at and positions Townsville for the 30-year horizon," he said.

"Without planning we're going to run out of capacity very quickly."

Krayem said they were not planning "to build the Taj Mahal" but they would have a more accurate idea of costings when the plans were complete.

He said they had already received positive feedback from all levels of government and opposition.

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2013/02/27/376291_sport.html

Oh God!!!

[-o< [-o< [-o<

Who ever thought regional clubs were the ones who would lead the charge for boutique stadiums.

:-k

Still no conformation about the Roar. Maybe it won't happen at all then.

I emailed the club regarding the NYL team competing in the NPL and where their home games would be. They replied saying that they are still yet to announce a home ground as the process takes time. However I was assured that the Roar would be competing in the NPL.

Edited by maninorange: 28/2/2013 11:54:26 AM

Obviously it's pie in the sky stuff at the moment but the fact that they're even talking about it is awesome.

-PB