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In order to reduce the quantity of fixtures for next season and subsequently ease financial constraints on club owners, conspiracy theorists could easily argue that Football Federation Australia is slowly killing off the North Queensland Fury.
With the obvious financial troubles surrounding the club this season, it has been well documented that the club has been a financial mess.
Despite their lowly position on the table, the support for the community club has been encouraging, with the region willing to back to club regardless of its indefinite future. The FFA has a crucial board meeting today, to access the future of the Fury and, in addition, the Sydney Rovers situation.
Currently, the Fury is funded by the FFA. The club’s major backer Don Matheson pulled out his financial services at the conclusion of last season due to bigger than expected loses.
Since then, Fury management have proposed a community based ownership model where the reliance on the Townsville and North Queensland community will assist the club economically, as opposed to one major financier.
With the new ownership model, it has been documented that the Fury has $5 million in financial promises from community sources and subsequently only need $1 million in funding from the FFA to assist the club throughout next season.
“Our submissions to FFA show it a clear exit strategy from the club in its transition to full community ownership but there will be a shortfall of just under $1 million in 2011-2012 and we are seeking its help to meet that shortfall,” Fury CEO Rabieh Kreyem said.
Fury has predicted that they will be fully self-reliant by the 2012-13 season without the assistance from the governing body.
With such optimism surrounding the club’s financial model, why is the FFA so hesitant into committing towards the Fury existence?
Presently, the head governing body is doing no favours at all for the club. The FFA is not allowing the club to sign uncontracted players or make offers to sign new players for next season.
With only David Williams contracted for next season, it seems as though the FFA is slowly and painfully killing off their existence.
Consequently the club has already lost four bright prospects, signing for rival A-League clubs. Isaka Cernak has signed for Melbourne Victory, Chris Payne to Newcastle Jets, Osama Malik to Adelaide United and goalkeeper Justin Pasfield to Central Coast Mariners.
It’s quite bizarre that the FFA is doing this towards a club that seemingly has much potential in the tropical region. It’s as if the FFA doesn’t have a financial strategy or a planning process after the current season.
They spent much time planning the expansion process for the Townsville based club, choosing to expand there ahead of Western Sydney, a geographic region which arguably has the most potential out of any A-League club. Therefore, with the FFA choosing to expand in North Queensland, they should make it work, or at least try.
If the club had no business plan, fans or a foreseeable future then we could argue that the FFA has no choice but to shut shop.
Conversely, there is an obvious future for the Fury, there is a well-balanced business plan, the Townsville people want to stay and the wider A-League community enjoy having the Fury in the competition. Thus, why is the FFA delaying the process?
Frank Lowy, chairman of the FFA has repeatedly stated that it is up to the people of Townsville to demonstrate their support for their club before the governing body can make a decision on their future. The Westfield owner is reluctant to financially back the club and believes it is not up to the governing body to finance the club.
“This job is for the people of Townsville. We will assist them but we will not carry the Townsville team on our books. This is not what we are supposed to do.
“The money we have belongs to all of the clubs. We can’t just support one club. We don’t have any resources to do that. If there is to be a club in Townsville it’s up to the Townsville people. They’ve got to want it, and they’ve got to pay for it. We will assist but will not take the load on.” Lowy said.
Accordingly, with the FFA putting so much time, effort and resources into the expansion club, the governing body don’t want to assist the fledging club in a time of need? It seems farcical that it has come to this situation.
With players leaving the club due to their future uncertainty, the FFA is doing the club no favours.
How can the FFA expect there to be an overwhelming support for the club when fans don’t even know if the team will be around next year. It doesn’t give any average sport fan the motivation to go out and support the struggling Fury.
What seems more peculiar, previously the FFA has financially supported Perth Glory, Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar and more recently Newcastle Jets. So why does this $1 million dollar burden seem like such a massive issue for the governing body?
The charismatic Fury coach Franz Straka is a fantastic representation of what the North Queensland Fury’s community brand brings towards Australian football.
Assuming the Fury folds it will not only have a detrimental impact on Townsville football, however it will also give the A-League a negative image comprising of an unstable fruitless competition. If the FFA cannot find a way to embrace their presence within our market place, then I for one have lost faith with the governing body’s lacklustre business credentials.
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