Enough is enough, according to long suffering North Queensland Fury boss Rabieh Krayem. As rumours swirl around the A-League franchise, Krayem wants the Fury’s future decided “one way or another” when he meets with Football Federation Australia CEO Ben Buckley in Townsville today.
Buckley will fly to north Queensland with A-League boss Lyall Gorman for a meeting that will reportedly kill off the Fury.
Sick of hearing speculation regarding their future, Krayem wants a final verdict from Buckley.
“The impact on families of the players, the staff, supporters and the football community – now it is getting to the stage where they have had enough,” Krayem told AAP.
“People are starting to get angry about it.
“That’s why we are glad there is a meeting tomorrow and we can get some clarity.
“Because if it continued to go on any longer people would become despondent with the sport overall and that is not what we are trying to achieve in the football community in north Queensland.”
The Fury – solely owned by the FFA – had been told by Buckley to secure half of the club’s predicted $3 million shortfall for the 2011-12 season to ensure their future.
North Queensland have reportedly raised more than that – about $1.6 million – and have been poised to announce a $500,000-a-year sponsorship this week.
Yet Krayem remained frustrated by the doom and gloom in the Sydney media in the lead-up to Tuesday’s meeting.
“There’s not been strong positives coming from down south,” he said.
“That’s been the frustrating thing for a lot of people up here.
“There seems to be more innuendo and rumours from southern media and people about what is going to happen with the Fury.
“But hopefully tomorrow we can put all that to bed.”
Krayem will continue to work hard to secure Fury’s future despite the looming meeting, even organising talks with potential sponsors on Monday night.
“We will go into the meeting with a very optimistic view and find out how we can shore up the Fury’s future,” he said.
“And if the decision is the other way, well we will still hold our heads high and move on.
“One thing we have done as an advisory board is meet all our obligations that the FFA have set us.
“Until someone tells us we are not in the competition we will act like we are and continue to drive for sponsorships.”
Liam
Guest
The concept of the aleague is not realistic in this country. Keep the game in sydney and melb, the money or supporters are not viable enough to keep the game going. No true commitment was ever really there by the ffa. Shame on soccer Australia.
RedOrDead
Roar Guru
It's official - North Queensland Fury are no longer part of the A-League!!! It's another sad day for Football in Australia!! :-(
Realfootball
Guest
The Fury simply do not have enough supporters - end of story. When a club's survival is on the line, and only 4000 or so turn up to the games, then the only possible conclusion is that the club is not viable. And it isn't - and that isn't an end game scenario in the long term (though it is terrible for all those involved in the club right now). Look at the NRL experience on the Gold Coast, for example. Winding up the Fury will be, I deeply regret to say, the only rational decision.
NF
Guest
Fury will stay I admit i was hesitant at first at football in general I didn't even hop on the 06 World Cup bandwagon but I went to the Fury games and it opened my eyes to the passion of the supporters and the team. They need more than 2 years as I said in another thread, 2 years is short to make judgment of a team in vein of the Western Reds/Adelaide Rams/South QLD crushers who only lasted 2 years never got a chance to prosper and given extra time to potential succeed. I hope the FFA realizes that and the Fury needs more time and they will do right and learn from the mistake of other codes in particular the NRL when cutting teams you cutting them off for potentially for good. So if the Fury goes, I go simple as that. I'm sure the same happen when the Reds/Rams were cut league could never return again for a long long time let's hope the same doesn't happen to football in NQ. So I insist FFA make the right choice keep the Fury.
The Answer
Guest
I actually believe there will be a stay of execution. They'll give them another year, they'll be a surge of hope, people will talk about the club turning things around, some journo will talk about taking on rugby league head on and then three weeks into the season we'll have a lame duck franchise on the books...again.
RedOrDead
Roar Guru
North Queensland has plenty of growth - Townsville and Cairns are growing, but the area extends down to Mackay and Rockhampton too. Throw in Darwin North Melbourne will go to Ballarat so they can still keep their name, North Melbourne and Ballarat rejuvenates their tourism in the process. I see Western Bulldogs becoming Tasmanian Bulldogs or Tasmanian Devils as the old VFL team was called ;-) They could also move Richmond Tigers to Tassie, but there's already a Tasmanian Tigers team participating in the cricket! :-P My 2c.
Chris
Guest
Commenting with hindsight is easy. I agreed with the expansion into the Gold Coast, but I always thought Townsville was a stretch. We can argue all we like about whether it was a good idea or or not, or even whether it was a good idea, but poorly executed, but at the end of the day it just hasn't worked. The FFA have to pull the pin now - the organisation isn't rich enough to keep pouring the sort of money they have been into propping up the Fury. Better to cut the losses now and LEARN from the experience before deciding what to do as a next step. Another Sydney team is probably the best bet, but it needs to be done properly and not rushed. The last time the process felt very rushed, and so I wasn't all that surprised when the Rovers bid fell over.
JamesP
Guest
Like I said - dont grow for expansions sake. The NQF was a mistake. CGU could have worked had it not been for Palmers arrogance. The AFL are not expanding for expansions sake - going to Tasmaniia would be expanding for the hell of it. Going to GWS and Gold Coast on the other hand takes tremendous guts and carries huge risk (especially for GWS) - but the potential upside will be worth it. Finally, I still firmly believe that North will end up in Tasmania one day - but that will be it for remaining Victoria based AFL clubs.
Savvas Tzionis
Guest
Who says? I would contend that the public has been brainwashed into believing that GROWTH IS GOOD!! AFL has already lost Fitzroy, South Melbourne, and the SA and WA comps have been decimated. The true cost of this growth will be seen when the likes of North Melbourne go to the wall. Plus they REFUSE to include a Tasmanian team i nthe comp because there is no potential for growth!
JamesP
Guest
Of course soccer fans want the game to expand. Of course NRL fans want there game to expand. And of course AFL fans want there game to expand. All I am sying is dont expand for expansions sake. I think it was very clear the A-league expanded with an eye on the World Cup bid. Talk abotu puttign all your eggs in one basket. Personally, I think they should kick the Gold Coast and the Fury out (appears as if the Fury is now dead according to some media sites), and put in a West Sydney team. And stick on 10 teams for the next few years and see how that goes.
Savvas Tzionis
Guest
Actually this is an interesting point of difference. Australian Soccer fans WANT the game to expand within the country. But the majority of Aussie Rules fans DO NOT WANT their game to expand.
JamesP
Guest
Your argument has so many holes in it. Melbourne and Sydney had an exclusiveity clause for the first 5 years. Once that passed, Heart stumped up the cash, the Rovers didnt. You cant blame Buckley for that. With regards to to Gold Coast you had a rich fat cat wanting to help you put a team into the fastest growing area in Australia. They had to go for it. Lowy pulls all the strings anyway - whats more he extended Buckleys contract so you should be going for his throat. But you wont do that becuase Lowy has basically saved soccer in this country. You cant have it both ways. Accept that soccer will only ever be a niche sport in this country and leave aside the Craog Fosteresque illusions of grandeur.
Savvas Tzionis
Guest
What do you expect when Capitalism AND Liberalism are both at the Apex of their powers! Capitalism means endless and rampant growth. But it needs pliable people who are 'open' to new things. People who are 'liberated'! If everyone was truly Conservative and STUCK to their clubs or codes of origin there would be no Code war and no need for the FFA to go into STUPID markets!!!
Hadmeister
Guest
Yep, Buckley's head should roll for the way he handled (fumbled) the A League expansion, and then the way he has handled the Fury debacle -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Now that's an interesting thought.
midfield general
Guest
I agree with you except for the last bit!
agga78
Guest
If Fury go, Ben Buckley should be sacked immediately, he has seen two clubs come in without solid business models and expanded into two lower end markets instead of just bringing in a West Sydney and Melbourne Heart earlier. Frank lowy the anonymous leader of football in this country, where are you? You led the charge for a world cup, while neglecting the most important part of football in this country, the A league, which is there to produce and nurture young players to become Socceroo's. The most important legacy you were suppose to leave was a strong viable league and through you and your teams mismangement, it will look like the NSL all over agian with teams like NQF going under. Lowy and Buckley out, Clive Palmer and Brendan Schwab in.
MyLeftFoot
Guest
the writing has been on the wall for at least 4 months