- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
With questions being raised over potential A-League expansions and a second division for professional football, this discussion is based on where Cairns realistically stands from a fans perspective.
If there are questions over infrastructure, Cairns’ facilities are more than adequate. The recent NRL match between the Cowboys and Rabbitohs saw 11,000 pack Cairns’ Barlow Park for the showing, backing up a 2016 attendance of 15,000. Both of which crush the measly 5000 turnout for the Brisbane Roar versus Wellington Phoenix A-League match that featured at Cazaly’s stadium in December 2015.
(AAP Image/Michael Chambers)
The Australian Rugby League Commission and Queensland State Government are seemingly doing what they can to satisfy the appetite for rugby league in the region with the Cowboys-Rabbitohs fixture set to become an annual match. This, combined with three Rugby League World Cup matches the city is set to host at Barlow Park later in the year spells danger for football in the region.
Financially, Cairns-based Far North Queensland Heat have suffered a major setback in recent months. For the past three years they may have been the most stable in the NPL with the backing of billionaire Tony Fung.
However, with the demise of his Aquis project and Fung set to withdraw entirely from the city, so too goes his sponsorship of the FNQ Heat. New endeavours are being explored by the club but will the new suitor be willing to fund an A-League bid, new stadium and a national youth league program like its predecessor? Unlikely, but one can hope!
What would definitely help is putting bums on seats and how do we get that? Well promoting would help and I’m not talking about multi-million dollar ad campaigns but something is better than nothing.
I spent two days at the Cairns Show this year. For those who don’t know, the Cairns show is the biggest regional show in Queensland and runs for three days annually. It sees something in the ball park of 80,000 locals attend every year.
That accounts for almost half of the Cairns population. I didn’t see a single promotion for the FNQ Heat. What I should have seen is a tent selling memberships, merchandise and interacting with the community.
So why bother marketing a team that only competes in the NPL? Simple. Cairns is unique in that there is only one professional sports team within a four hour drive and that’s the Cairns Taipans (NBL). Why not try and take advantage of that, because it certainly isn’t going to last much longer?
When it comes to A-League expansion, the FFA is already looking for much larger prospects than what Cairns can currently offer (a population in the millions) so they need to be shown exactly what we bring to the table. What better way to do that than being the most supported NPL level club in the country?
It feels some years before Cairns is represented in the A-League. However, I don’t think a successful Cairns based semi-professional team (were a second tier A-League to come into the picture) is unrealistic. It would give us a better opportunity to compete with other codes and help us to grow into what is hopefully a brighter future for football in Australia.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.