To many F Troop is merely recognised as an old American sitcom, or a now non-existent group of Millwall fans. But those up to date with the happenings of North Queensland Fury would know F Troop is the recently formed supporters group of the A-League newcomers.

The group began when a number of North Queensland football fans individually contacted the club midway through last year, all of whom are committed to creating proper football support at Fury matches.

It was not until someone described as a ”local football entity” named Dave Robinson, organised discussions with club officials that the group really started to take shape. Since then there have been a further three figures key to bringing F Troop to life – Mark, a Nottingham Forrest fan who used to stand in the Trent End terrace at Forrest and Tony a Liverpool fan, who could formerly be spotted attending England matches around the world, including the 1998 World Cup in France.

The last of which wishes to remain anonymous. They are a football fan who has travelled to Europe watching football matches and has supported Melbourne Victory since the A-League’s inception, though he is committed to helping create active support in Townsville for the good of the league.

Suggestions the idea for the group’s name, ‘F Troop’, came from English-based club Millwall have been confirmed, although the name does have a connection of sorts to NQ Fury, one F Troop member revealed.

“F fits with Fury and Troop suits the identity of Townsville, as it is a military town with many residents being employees of the Army and RAF,” he said. “It is not an original name, F Troop was the name of one of the old Millwall firms, and in one sense Mark and Tony thought it would be a laugh to imitate them with the name,” they said.

Despite F Troop very much being about having a good time, there is one rule upon joining the group’s ranks, which is simply taking part in all things NQ Fury and F Troop. This includes learning all the songs and chants prior to matches, attending social events, and most importantly supporting the team through thick and thin.

“To begin with the movement is fairly open, but there are some clear and critically important guidelines associated with joining F Troop,” it was explained.

“The most important thing with active support is participation, we expect everyone that gets involved with F Troop to contribute to active support at Fury matches. This is crucial to the success of this movement.

“We urge people to consider what they wish to gain from their match day experience, if standing at games, singing and chanting does not appeal to you then we urge you not to buy tickets in our area.

“We also hope that rain, hail or shine and whether we are on the top or the bottom of the ladder our active supporters will be there week in and week out supporting the team,” he added.

Exactly how many members the F Troop will have on August 8 for the round one clash against Sydney remains a topic of interest. F Troop estimates the group, which currently contains around 60 members, will easily surpass the hundred mark.

“We think we could have around 120 active supporters in Round 1. It is likely that only about 50 of these will be knowledgeable about active support and this core will guide the rest.”

Perhaps of more interest to not only Fury fans, but A-League fans in general is the 2009/10 A-League fixture list. Despite complaints from numerous fans of different A-League clubs, F Troop are content with the draw, seeing the opening two rounds could be seen as possible highlights of the season.

“The draw is fine, North Queensland Fury have a really tough baptism though. We’d love to beat Sydney FC first up and we’re organising to take about 50 of the F Troop boys to Gold Coast in Round 2 for our first away game, against who will become an arch rival. Melbourne is going to be a very tough opponent in Round 3 – a draw will be great.”

“Beyond that, we hope to always beat both the other QLD teams and make our home ground a fortress. If we can win at home and pick up some points on the road then perhaps we can sneak into the 6 and give the finals a shake.”

Additional Info:

*F Troop expect to have unofficial merchandise available at the next social event to be held on May 30.

*A website and forum are underway, although expect it to be a while away as F Troop will be concentrating on ”face-to-face stuff” in the meantime.

*Important message to families from F Troop: “We must also stress that we will be engaging in an adult style of support and the vast majority of our core members are adults. It is left to parental discretion if you want to bring children into our area. Families are catered for in other areas of the ground away from our bay though and we encourage people with children to pursue those opportunities.”

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