It was interesting to read the piece by Roarer Luke Paraman regarding ‘nostalgia’ for former A-League clubs such as Northern Fury.
He asked how the football community know a reborn Northern Fury wouldn’t suffer the same fate as last time.
As he didn’t attempt to answer the question by speaking with anyone from Northern Fury, allow me to do so.
Let’s recall why North Queensland Fury was set up by FFA in the first place.
It was a rush decision to place two expansion clubs in Queensland for one reason – the World Cup bid.
FFA needed more stadiums to include in the bid and the only way in which it could be assured of the stadiums it needed – and, more importantly, the funds required from state governments to upgrade the stadiums to the standard required by FIFA – was to have two A-League teams located in Townsville and the Gold Coast.
The FFA found a willing owner, without a strong knowledge of the game or community links, and North Queensland Fury was born.
The difference now is this. As a community we had to metaphorically pick ourselves up and brush ourselves off after we were dumped from the A-League three years ago.
But what has held fast is the love of football among the community of North Queensland.
The previous owner has gone to be replaced by a board of people with deep community roots. We have a new ownership model in place in which our members will be the owners, and we have strong national and local corporate support.
We’ve rebuilt the club to field nine teams in the National Premier League (NPL) competition, and we intend being part of the ‘big picture’ of football in Australia.
That is because we want to give the young people of North Queensland something to aspire to, and we want to build on our proud record of producing outstanding players for Australia on the national stage.
North Queensland’s most famous player, Frank Farina, refers to as much in his blog.
In short, from my perspective as Chairman of Northern Fury, the difference between Fury then and Fury today is we now have the opportunity to build from the ground up.
Our long-term aim is to be part of the A-League again. But we’re not in a hurry. We don’t see this happening until around 2018 when the A-League is likely to be in a position to expand on a sustainable basis.
In the medium-term (the next one to two years) we want to be part of the W-League and the National Youth League, as this will help lay the foundation for participation in the A-League.
We intend earning the right to be there, rather than having it imposed on our community.
I won’t debate the point about the other locations mentioned in the article. All of them have their merits.
Like anyone involved in football, I hope the A-League continues on its upward trajectory and is able to sustain expansion by two, four or even more teams eventually.
But this has to be done at the right time for the club, the community and the competition overall.
Rabieh Krayem is Chairman of Northern Fury and is the former CEO of the North Queensland Fury, a position he assumed to help save the club after it encountered financial difficulty under the first owner. He has had a long career the sport and recruitment sectors, including as CEO of North Queensland Cowboys. He runs his own recruitment services company with operations in Townsville, the Gold Coast and Sydney.
Passionate_Aussie
Roar Rookie
Nice work TheRoar for getting such a person to write an article on the site. Would be lovely if it happened more. Enjoyed the article too!
keyless sky blues fan
Guest
Completely agree, but at the same time I don't think fury can be in the a league without a new stadium with at least 5k covered seats. 1) let's be honest in such a small area to be getting regular crowds of 6-8k is the best we can hope for realistically - which is fine, but out of a 10k ground Really intimate with the action this will be a great experience. 2) the amount of times wed hear fury were doing well in the community etc and were hoping for 7k then a storm would ruin it and bring it back down to 4k... With a stadium of zero roof this was particularly crazy. Come on fur, from an SFC supporter! #respectfromrbb haha tossers
Allan
Guest
What's with the WSW comments ?
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
I was pretty appalled when the original Fury got the push. I thought it showed a lack of foresight on behalf of the A-League to not allow a new club at least three or four seasons to find their feet, especially as the club seemed to be better run than Clive Palmer's shambolic outfit. However, I could also appreciate that the FFA weren't able to pour money into the club to keep it afloat, but it did seem unusual that they hadn't accounted for the club to not be an instant runaway success. Hopefully this time around there won't be a rush to get the club into the A-league and the club can stabilise and grow without any undue pressure. Interestingly, I hadn't even realised that the club's speedy introduction to the A-League was probably linked to the World Cup bid and the need to have a greater spread of clubs and stadia, but that does make a lot sense now I think of it. It also does explain how the rug was pulled from under both the Fury and Gold Coast so soon after the announcement of the World Cup hosts (3 or 4 months later IIRC).
nordster
Guest
It is meaningless in some respects in this league. A failure of the level playing field model though which is out of reach for too many areas in Oz.
pies&beer
Guest
Imo this team or a northern qld franchise should be based in the untapped cairns and not townsville. Cairns will surpass townsville in the near future population and commerce wise.
Football United
Guest
Cairns doesn't have a decent stadium at all, every time someone suggest building it everyone is up in arms over how their part of the town should be focused on instead.
Evan Askew
Guest
Tommy Oar.
Evan Askew
Guest
I know Frank Farina is on the nose as a coach at the moment. But he was a great Australian players and perhaps one of our best. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Farina to sum up top scorer in Australia and Belgian leagues. Won two grand finals in the NSL and a Belgian league title and cup. Admittedly unsuccessfull in Italy but was a solid striker in the French league which was and still is in the top 5 leagues of Europe. And regarding the Italian sojourn, it was in an era when teams could only have 3 foreigners so it was generally those considered to be the best players that were signed. This put Farina in the same category as the likes of Maradona, Careca, Gullit, Rjikaard, Van Basten, Matthaeus, Klinsmann, Sosa, Skhuravy, Francescoli and Boban. Yes he was uncuceesfull but he was a striker in a team that came second last in a league which was renowned for tough unscrupulous defenders.
Cpaaa
Guest
Cheers Mid, I read the articles, just chose not to post until now, Football and this site can be like crack cocaine- addictive. hows the ticker these days ?
Cpaaa
Guest
RoarFan, you of all people would know what negativity FF is bringing to the Cove. His drink driving offence whilst at Brisbane Roar was a God sent for it was the end of Farina and the appointment of Ange. FF is not completely to blame for the mess at SFC but he is part of the problem. I was never a fan of Farina as a coach, but as we have seen with Ange and GA, they made me believe that everyone deserves a second chance, but after this season i believe that FF will struggle for another coaching role in the ALeague. The point being, Rabi's timing mentioning FF in a positive light was off que and not necessary considering the current situation at SFC. I also thought Frank was a Cairns boy not a Townie. PeterK, For the record i was at that grand final and your crowd figure falls short of around 12,000k. I have nothing against Farina as a player, but that career has long past and its his coaching career that is now under the spot light. Like i said in my response to the article, I wrote it because I care. I said it because we have had this play out previously on the Roar that led to a still birth. Has Rabi held a Fan Forum questioning the community in regards to name and set up model ? Until the Townsville community, starting with those that will be season members inform me as to what discussions the money men, the suits and active supporter groups have had between themselves then i will only, only, only, only consider this article as a puff piece.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
A really good question, Michel. If the Fury were just a franchise with a few wealthy owners I would say "yes" out of hand. However on a community based model it will depend on if the Cairns community also embrace the club. With a community based model it is imperative to remain as close to the community that supports you as possible. Another question is that should the FFA not be interested in the Fury joining the A-League, would they be interested in joining the mooted ASEAN Football Federation Super League (I remain supportive of a Darwin based side however there is room for two Australian clubs).
Michel
Guest
Would it be possible for a North Queensland team to play 4-5 games a year in Cairns? I know it's a few hours away, but could it work? Does Cairns have a decent stadium?
rob
Guest
I think expanding to north queensland is a great idea. The federal government is looking for ways to develop that region economically which means that it will have a population growth and new companies which means the fury have an area in which they can get sponsors. but it can't be rushed
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
I am not sure about Perth being sensible however Ipswich could have some merit. Separate enough to be its own team but close enough to pick up football fans who for one reason or another don't like the Roar. I think Clive Palmer has left the FFA rather nervous about re-engaging with the Gold Coast which is unfortunate.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
It will be interesting to see how many "favourable neutrals" buy a non-participatory membership in order to help get this off the ground. I suspect there may be a few.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
Per capita attendance is a key indicator to measure the potential success of a community driven model. Hence it is a risk assessment tool and rather useful for measuring resiliance and the likelihood of further community input into the club. This in turn can determine the ability to access the community's resources to reduce the cost of running the club, which in turn reduces the mininimum gate taking required each game to break even as a club. Numbers matter, but percentages help determine how low those numbers can be realistically set.
bill boomer
Guest
The " HIGHEST" per capita attendance is meaningless. While it is commendable to have community support, if that community is small the gate is small, even if everyone is there. Numbers are whats important not percentages.
Johan
Guest
Good Luck with your efforts to get the club eventually back in the a league but won't happen while gallop is in charge. He is on record as saying no more tiny towns. Townsville is just too small and the embarrassment for the FFA if it had to unceremoniously dumped again would ensure that it is way down the list of prospective cities where the a league will establish clubs. Possibly in 15 or 20 years.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
@Shane If the club is being built from the grassroots, does all that matter? If you don't like the model that is being supported by Rabieh Krayem, why don't you & your mates create your own club based on your utopian model ... and lets see which club is more successful - on & off the park? Competition is good for all. Aussies are very quick to whinge about things proposed by others. And, even though anyone can create a football club, from what I've noticed, few are willing to put in the time, effort & money.