| Full name | North Queensland Fury Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Fury | ||
| Founded | 2008 | ||
| Dissolved | 2011 | ||
| Ground | Dairy Farmers Stadium Townsville Queensland Australia (Capacity: 26,500) |
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| Owner | Football Federation Australia | ||
| Chairman | Rabieh Krayem | ||
| Coach | František Straka | ||
| League | A-League | ||
| 2010–11 | 11th | ||
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| Current season | |||
North Queensland Fury FC were a professional football (soccer) club based in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, which competed in the A-League. North Queensland played its home fixtures at Dairy Farmers Stadium. The club was closed on 1 March 2011, due to financial instability.
A Townsville bid was first considered for the 2007–08 season, when the New Zealand Knights' licence was revoked.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 Wellington Phoenix.[1]
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. 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 5 March 2008, effectively collapsing the bid. Football Federation Australia determined on 11 March 2008 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 and delayed expansion of the league until the 2009–10 season.[2][3]
With expansion put off until the following 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.[4][5] Matheson's bid, which "rose from the ashes of the Northern Thunder bid",[6] was granted a provisional licence by Football Federation Australia on 24 July.[7][8] 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.[9]
On 6 November 2008, the franchise named was officially revealed as North Queensland Fury FC.[10] Their inaugural kit was revealed in April 2009, featuring dark green sleeves/socks, and a white/light green front.[11]
It was announced on 10 December 2008, that the Fury had signed Rockhampton–born businessman Dean Hassall as their CEO.[12] Also the club signed Scottish club, Celtic's strength and conditioning coach Alan McCall.[13]
North Queensland in the 2009/2010 season won the 'Queensland Nickel Cup', which was a tri-tournament played throughout the regular A League season between the Queensland clubs of North Queensland, Brisbane Roar and Gold Coast United.
At the end of the 2009–10 season the club was reportedly under severe financial pressure following lower than expected crowds. The Fury were expecting a crowd average of over 8,000 as opposed to an actual average of 6,723. Losses were estimated as high as $50,000 per week, with an expected first year loss of $4 to $5 million. Don Matheson handed back the franchise license as he was unable to continue to pay these large losses on his own. Organisationally the existing club company was shut down, and all existing contracts at the club were cancelled.
Inaugural coach Ian Ferguson left the club and accepted the assistant manager role at fellow A-League club Perth Glory. Some players from their inaugural season were re-signed on new terms. These were David Williams, Dyron Daal, Justin Pasfield, Jack Hingert, Ufuk Talay and Osama Malik. The rest of the squad was assembled prior to a new coach being put in place and largely comprised young players and some who were released from other A-League clubs. The FFA chose to have the club operate at the minimum 85% of the salary cap, as some other clubs in the competition also choose to do of their own accord. This was done to reduce the cost of the playing staff wages. All players were signed on to a 1 year deal with the exception of David Williams who had been re-signed on a 2 year deal.
On 7 June 2010, former Sparta Prague and one time Czech Republic national team coach František Straka was announced as the clubs coach for the coming 2010–11 A-League season after agreeing to a one-year deal.[14]
North Queensland Fury started the 2010/2011 with many of their new players performing above expectations despite their match record being poor. They were generally outclassed, but played with an energy, passion and commitment that caught the imagination of fans across the league. New manager Franz Straka proved to be a charismatic figurehead for the club's new dawn.
With the exception of David Williams, as per A-League regulations, all the players having signed only 1-year deals become free agents in October 2010. They, along with all other players on 1-year contracts or on the final year of multi-year contracts, are allowed to be approached by other teams for followings season. In this case, the 2011/2012 season. FFA decided not to re-sign any of their current players or attempt to sign new ones for the following season, as the future of the club beyond the current season was not assured.
The club finished last in the 2010/11 A-League season, winning only 4 of their 30 matches. The crowd average of 4,245 was the 4th lowest in the history of the A-League behind the Gold Coast United crowd average of the same season and the two seasons of the New Zealand Knights.
A community ownership model was launched, aimed at finding 1.5 million dollars (per year, for three years), of capital investment being sought to cover half the expected losses for the next three seasons. Ben Buckley, in an open letter to Fury supporters, made it clear that the FFA could not fund continual losses.[15]
On 1 March 2011, the club officially had its A-League license revoked due to financial reasons. The FFA reported that the Fury had received only $300,000 of the investment required for the next season, and despite increased sponsorship revenue the club would still lose $2 to $3 million dollars. FFA released a statement confirming earlier reports that a decision had been taken not to continue with the franchise as the financial position of the club for season 2011-2012 considered too big of a financial risk for the FFA to undertake.[16]
North Queensland's colours were light and dark green and white. These were chosen to represent the lush green vegetation of the northern parts of Queensland. The badge was revealed in 2008 soon after the bid was granted entry to A–League. The light green was often referred to in the local media as "tropical green" but was particularly unpopular with many fans of the club.
The club's home ground was the Willows Sports Complex, although it is currently known as Dairy Farmers Stadium due to sponsorship rights. It is situated in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. The stadium's capacity is 26,500
After it was announced that Townsville's bid for a team was successful, fans set out to establish a supporters group in conjunction with the Fury board. After much debate the name F-Troop was settled on. The name was intended to encompass both the military history of the town and the club name. F-Troop gained a boisterous and impressive reputation for loud active support on match days.
Given the location of the club in North Queensland, there were no clubs that could be classed as a local rival. However, given the status of Gold Coast United as the other new team to the A-League and both clubs' status as Queensland clubs a rivalry was developed between the two. This was intensified by the Fury's 5–0 thrashing at the hands of Gold Coast in their second A-League game, whilst Fury gained a measure of revenge in the following away game, beating the Gold Coast two-nil, with a double from Robbie Fowler. On 13 February 2010, in the final game of the regular season, NQFC again defeated the Gold Coast, 2–1, at Dairy Farmers Stadium, in front of their 2nd highest home crowd of the season: 8517. Many Fury fans use the abbreviation "FTB" whenever they referred to Gold Coast United or their fans online.
Brisbane Roar was also considered rivals due to their being a Queensland club as well (and North Queensland Fury's closest geographical opponent), the first competitive match between the clubs ended 1–1, Fowler scoring for the Fury. Fans of North Queensland Fury believed that the 1354 kilometres between Townsville and Brisbane makes fixtures between North Queensland Fury and Brisbane Roar the largest geographical "local derby" in world football.
Last updated 19 February 2011
| Club | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide United | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 19 | -11 |
| Brisbane Roar | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 9 | -5 |
| Central Coast Mariners | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 12 | -7 |
| Gold Coast United | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 13 | -6 |
| Melbourne Heart | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 6 | -4 |
| Melbourne Victory | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | -5 |
| Newcastle Jets | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 12 | -7 |
| Perth Glory | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 3 |
| Sydney FC | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 9 | -1 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 11 | -6 |
| Total | 57 | 12 | 15 | 30 | 57 | 106 | -49 |
| Club | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hekari United | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Tampines Rovers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 |
| Total | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
See also List of North Queensland Fury FC players
Australia
Germany
England
New Zealand
Togo
Uganda
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