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Prior to the start of this year’s A-League competition, all the talk was of the two new clubs, Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury. Barely three weeks into the competition, and some serious problems are apparent at one of those clubs.
Something must be done, and soon, to reverse the fortunes of the Fury, lest it fall off the sporting radar.
Even by Australian standards, Townsville is not a large city.
With a population of less than 150,000, Townsville is less than a tenth of the size of Brisbane and less than 3 percent of the size of Sydney, not exactly the numbers that would provide a compelling case for a team.
This is particularly evident when one considers that both Sydney FC and Brisbane Roar are averaging crowds south of the 15,000 mark (even with their substantial population bases).
In addition to these less-than-appealing facts, Townsville is rugby league mad (the North Queensland Cowboys have the third highest crowds in the entire National Rugby League).
All things considered, the decision to base a team in Townsville is nothing short of perplexing.
Evidently someone in the FFA or Fury management realised at the last moment that perhaps the people of Townsville were not going to flock to see a group of men they had never heard of before playing a sport that they did not know an awful lot about (especially with Thurston and company playing at the same ground every other weekend).
Thus the search for a messiah was begun.
This messiah came in the form of Robbie Fowler, and the Australian football community gazed on in awe.
Hardly anyone in the football fraternity could believe an Australian club was capable of signing such a big name player. However, one large problem was that while the Australian football community may have heard of Robbie Fowler, the average resident of Townsville (and the average Australian) could not tell him from Karl Dodd.
Things have not improved for the Fury now that the A-League season has started.
Crowds have been well below expectations (crowds of 8,897 and 6,514 flying in the face of owner Don Matheson’s prediction of “ten to twelve thousand”) and on field performances have hardly set the league alight (5-0 anyone?).
I cannot see the crowds improving in the future – especially if the results continue to be so poor.
Everything about the Fury has, to date, been disappointing. The crowds, the results, the jersey and even the name have been met with widespread derision.
One can only hope that something happens soon to turn the fortunes of this club around. If not, the FFA has two options: either to step in and attempt to make the Fury artificially successful or to simply pull the plug on the team altogether.
Neither of these options are particularly palatable, but both are infinitely preferable to the long term damage the A-League could incur if the Fury continue on their present trajectory.
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