North Queensland FC

Football club infobox
clubname = North Queensland FC
fullname = North Queensland Football Club
nickname = n/a
founded = 2007
ground = Dairy Farmers Stadium,
Townsville
capacity = 25,000
chairman = n/a
manager = Ian Ferguson
league =
A North Queensland franchise is expected to enter Australia's national association football league, the A-League, in the 2009-10 season. A consortium headed by Don Matheson and known as North Queensland FC, was awarded a provisional license by Football Federation Australia in July 2008, with a final decision expected by the end of August.cite web|url=http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/InsideFFA/default.aspx?s=insideffa_newsfeatures_newsitem&id=22912|title=North Queensland FC awarded exclusive negotiating status|date=2008-07-24|accessdate=2008-08-16|publisher=Football Federation Australia]

Townsville-based bids were also considered for the 2007-08 season, when ALeague NZK' license was revoked,cite news |url=http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,21407148-5000940,00.html |title=Kiwis alive as Townsville pulls pin |date=2007-03-19 |publisher=Fox Sports |accessdate=2007-03-19] and the 2008-09 season, by Northern Thunder FC.cite news|url=http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/71821,no-aleague-expansion-this-season.aspx|title=No A-League Expansion This Season|date=2008-03-11|accessdate=2008-05-27|publisher=FourFourTwo]

History

A Townsville bid was first considered for the 2007-08 season, when the ALeague NZK' license was revoked. A group named Tropical Football Australia attempted to secure the spot but Football Federation Australia preferred to keep a New Zealand team in the competition, opting for the ALeague WP.

A bid known as Northern Thunder FC (or North Queensland Thunder FC) was considered for admission for the 2008-09 season along with Gold Coast Galaxy, but Football Federation Australia has delayed expansion of the league until at least the 2009-10 season. [cite news|url=http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=hal_newsdisplay&id=21732 |title=Hyundai A-League expansion delayed |publisher=A-League |date=2008-03-11|accessdate=2008-03-11]

The bid was publicly well progressed, with the teams badge and colours (red, white and black) released. The training facilities were to be located at the North Queensland Institute of Sport and the home ground was to play at Dairy Farmers Stadium.

The bid was tentatively accepted to join in the 2008-09 season expanding the league to ten teams. Needing to meet certain financial criteria to be granted entry into the league, the club's major financial backer pulled out of the franchise on March 5 2008, effectively collapsing the bid. The FFA determined on 11 March that neither Thunder or Galaxy would be granted entry "in the best interests of the league," given that a nine team format was generally unfavoured.

With expansion put off until the 2009-10 season, by June 2008 the FFA had received ten bids for new A-League teams, two of which came from Townsville - one headed by Melbourne businesswoman Milissa Fischer and one by local businessman Don Matheson. [cite news|url=http://news.theage.com.au/sport/interest-aplenty-for-new-aleague-clubs-20080603-2l97.html|title=Interest aplenty for new A-League clubs|date=2008-06-03|accessdate=2008-08-18|publisher=The Age] [cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/03/2264178.htm|title=FFA to consider 10 new bids for expanded A-League|date=2008-06-03|accessdate=2008-08-16|publisher=ABC News] Matheson's bid, which "rose from the ashes of the Northern Thunder bid" [cite news|url=http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/a-league/north-qld-fc-confident-of-success-120089/|title=North Qld FC confident of success|date=2008-06-04|accessdate=2008-08-18|publisher=The World Game] , was granted a provisional license by Football Federation Australia on 24 July. [cite news|url=http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2008/07/25/14906_sportsphoto.html|title=Townsville given provisional A-League licence|publisher=Townsville Bulletin|date=2008-07-25|accessdate=2008-08-18] On 27 August 2008 the franchise was accepted into the A-League by CEO Ben Buckley with the only matter outstanding the finalisation of all legal requirements. [cite news|url=http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=23378|title=Expansion Gets Go Ahead|publisher=A-league.com|date=2008-08-28|accessdate=2008-09-16]

Team

Central Coast Mariners assistant coach and Glasgow Rangers great Ian Ferguson has been unveiled as the inaugural coach of the new Hyundai A-League franchise North Queensland FC. [cite news|url=http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=23636|title=Ferguson to coach new franchise|publisher=A-League|date=2008-09-15|accessdate=2008-09-15]

References

External links

* [http://nqfc.proboards102.com/index.cgi North Queensland FC Fans Forum]
* [http://www.northqldfc.com.au/ North Queensland FC Unofficial Website]