Should FFA cut the North Queensland Fury loose?

isnt it summer all year round up there anyway?

But why turn up if you have better things to do in Summer? Like go to the beach perhaps? You watch your sport during the Winter (Although this is not very pertinent in NQ's case obviously) and then enjoy the great outdoors the rest of the year? Watching sport religiously all year is rather sheltered wouldn't you think?

They are not getting "screwed" by the stadium deal - don't you understand - stadiums cost money to operate! The money they have to pay to use the stadium is the money that has to be paid to keep the stadium viable and kept up to date. If you think they are getting "screwed" by the stadium - it is probably because the stadium is too big for their needs - and yet folks want to expand this stadium to 33,000 or even 40,000! That is crazy - and the upkeep costs will skyrocket as well. If NQ Fury can't handle the costs at present - how on Earth are they going to afford it when costs double or triple in an expanded stadium?

The Federal Government allocate money to NQ Fury to keep them alive! You're having a larf aren't you! I presume you'd expect the same privilege to be extended to the Newcastle Knights, the Cronulla Sharks or perhaps the Queensland Reds if needs be - yes? Where is this evidence you speak of that Soccer is the "sport of choice of the Federal Government" anyway? A World Cup bid is one thing - but propping up individual clubs on my dime! No thanks - and I can tell you the majority of Australians would agree with me. Doing so would be an obscene waste of money. Obscene.

You'll find this is part of the success of the Adelaide fan base where cross-code support is very common

Good point ;)

Hey, it's a million bucks worth of ratepayers' money, I can see why Council would be a bit sensitive about it. They can call it what they want if the team survives!

I'm with you completely. I'm more interested in union than league (my father was a rugby man), but still enjoy the State of Origin, and go to the odd Cowboys game. I follow cricket, tennis, whatever. I'm not trying to restart a code war here. Just that as a Fury fan I was a bit perplexed not to see more cross-code interest during the NRL offseason (and again, if anyone has the numbers that say otherwise, fire away). I just think, there's no rugby league on anyway, why not turn up and support the team?

DT I heard that money was promised as sponsership early on to secure the bid but was then changed to a guarantee so they didn't actually put the money in they said they would. Now because the Fury are in trouble that Guarantee has been activated but their dolling it up and calling it a sponsership.

Personally, I can't see why any sports code is mutually exclusive. Sport's sport. It's all good to watch at the top level, and its all entertainment. My father was a rugby man, and I played football while growing up in an AFL town. The different codes target different athletes. Can't see the problem.

How about "a pronounced lack of interest from rugby league supporters in Townsville" instead? Given the difference in crowd numbers between the Cowboys (~25,000) and Fury (~7,000), it could well be that there are plenty of Fury fans who also support the Cowboys. What I didn't see was any evidence that the mainstream Cowboys supporters paid much attention to the Fury. I can't say for sure whether this was driven by anti-soccer sentiment or just apathy. If there was more cross-code interest from Cowboys supporters I would have expected to see, for instance 1) a big drop in numbers when there was a direct scheduling clash early in the season, 2) crowd numbers pick up once the NRL season was over, and 3) a dip in crowd numbers for the clash with the Indigenous All Stars game. None of these things happened to any obvious degree. I'm sure the Fury have done their market research so if someone has some numbers on this I'm curious to know if this has any basis in fact. AndyRoo, actually the Council has put their money where their mouth is, no complaints from me there http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2010/03/08/120545_news.html

I think they expected more cross code support. The Council had been quite supportive fo the Cowboys and the Crocs, so the Fury rpobably expected such hospitality to extend to them.

Well said True Tah.

DT why does it have to be "anti-soccer" feeling in Townsville, could one not draw the argument that there is a strong "anti-rugby league" feeling amongst Fury fans?

A little observation about the Fury crowds (from someone who was there, every game): I haven't seen the market research, but I have a feeling that the crossover between Cowboys fans and Fury fans is essentially zero. There was absolutely no discernible difference in crowds once the NRL season finished, and on 13 February the Fury pulled their second biggest home crowd of the season (8517) for the final match against Gold Coast. On the same night nearly every RL fan in Townsville stayed home and watched Jonathon Thurston lead the Indigenous All Stars to victory over some other blokes. Just musing here, but I don't believe that Matheson fully realised the extent of "anti-soccer" feeling in Townsville. The flip side is that if the Fury can come up with a business model that works with 7000-9000 through the gate they'll be laughing. These numbers are already rusted on, and already generate a fantastic atmosphere. Fury, like the Roar, are clearly getting screwed by an unfavourable stadium deal. The question is, why? Without the Fury, Dairy Farmers just sits vacant for half the year.

It was always going to be a battle in Nth Qld, but I think the Fury have done well, all things considered. The out and out failure has been Gold Coast. There were reasons in Auckland - terrible coaches and admin, an awful team. With an operation like the Phoenix, Auckland would still be in the comp. GCU have no excuses. This club is the A-League's first out and out, unmitigated failure - a star studded team that can't pull more than 4k to a final (and that figure was certainly inflated - there were considerably less than 4k in that stadium). Canberra, however, have proven that they have a viable football public, as have Woolongong, so with enough capital there is still room for viable expansion. The Fury won't be allowed to fall over. It sends completely the wrong message with our WC bid still with a pulse (albeit fading fast) on the operating table.

I dont believe the FFA will ever let the Fury fall over, and will do everything in its power to keep them in the competition, given that futbol is the current sport of choice for the federal government, Im sure they would allocate funding to keep them alive. The reason why I think the Federal Govt will step in to support the Fury is to do with the FIFA World Cup bid. Dairy Farmers Stadium is one of the key stadiums needed for this and it needs an upgrade. If Australia get the FIFAS WC and the Fury end up going under, then you would end up with the situation where the Cowboys would have a 40,000 stadium (would they fill it regularly?), and it would be a huge free kick to the NRL, which I think the Federal Govt would be mightily annoyed about. Something similar to what we're seeing in South Africa where the government is asking two Currie Cup rugby teams to leave their stadiums (which they own) and play at stadiums built for the FIFA WC this year to ensure the stadiums viability. One thing the FFA really needs to be mindful of is placing teams in markets that cannot really support them. North Qld is RL territory and the Cowboys get 20K to each game, but is the population great enough to support another team? From this perspective West Sydney is a no brainer and probably should already be in the competition. Again from this perspective, Canberra is likely to be a graveyard, already have two established professional teams with successful histories in an area with a population of less than 400K.

Sheek You make some valid points .. the crust of it is the expansion was done to those that applied rather than those that could make it... IMO Rovers are a must ... WS is heart land football over 100, 000 registered winter players 8 former NSL clubs, 5 associations.. parts of WS especially SWS it is football first daylight second.. the Rovers launch will be the most important of the A-League .. they have a huge potential ... if they can unite the various football tribes in WS they will become Australia's biggest club in every measurable way... that is a big ask BTW and one which is a tad unfair because no one has managed to unite the tribes other than the Socceroos... As we have often discussed on the rugby threads ... a strong domestic competition is at the core of a codes future... Football wants a 12 to 14 team domestic competition for its next media deal, to provide players for the national teams, to maintain its player base etc. ... all clubs need to survive till the next media deal... so clubs have been chosen as much for the ability of the owners to absorb losses in the first few years... NQF have lost those guys with the money ... to stop the A-League expansion to save NQF is a no go ... Canberra can take over... Not good news for the A-League to loose a team ... but better to face up to the facts rather than let the mistake of choosing the wrong area hold back the rest of the expansion...

I was a bit surprised at how quickly the A-League has grown. Perhaps now is time for consolidation. Should the intro of the Rovers & Hearts be delayed a season or two??? I also think you still need another two teams in the mid-term - bring back Auckland & perhaps add Canberra also. That would bring it to an eventual 14 clubs (12 Aussie, 2 Kiwi). But for the moment the FFA should hold the line of 10 clubs at all costs. That means keeping NQ afloat whatever it takes.

can't agree with the comment "fail here and things might get really messy in the a-league" with respect to the world cup bid. getting the world cup to australia would be a bonus and not a determining factor as to whether the a-league is a success. granted there are a stack of issues that the ffa has to face with respect to the a-league (crowds, expansion, playing standards, marketing, other codes, salary caps etc), but if they or anybody believes that hosting or not hosting the world cup will seal the fate of the a-league one way or another, then we are in serious trouble.