It was a perfect night for football under the lights, on a pristine playing surface at a fantastic stadium, with one of the best teams in Queensland playing in the biggest cup competition in Australia.
But there was one thing missing – where was the crowd?
Lions FC played host to North Star FC at Luxury Paints Stadium the sixth preliminary round of the Australia Cup. North Star, languishing in tenth place of Football Queensland Premier League 2, had the gargantuan challenge of facing the reigning NPL QLD champions.
A small crowd of around 200 people were scattered around the 5,000-capacity stadium to watch Lions dominate North Star FC, with the final score coming to 8-0 in favour of the hosts in a professional display from the side currently placed 4th on the NPL Qld ladder.
The fixture, one that should have been coveted by both sets of supporters as the competition nears the introduction of both A-league sides and interstate clubs, garnered little support from fans.
What ought to have been North Star FC’s chance to showcase their club and supporter base in a spectacle against one of the best clubs in the state turned into a drubbing in front of a lacklustre crowd comprising of only a few of the Lions FC faithful.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
The Australia Cup seems to have failed to capture the imagination of the fans in the way in which I am sure it was intended at its inception in 2014. No other competition in Australia has the potential to create the fairy-tale upsets and cruel heartbreaks that we see in its overseas counterparts, yet this fixture has passed by in the eyes of the fans as a midweek hinderance to a Lions side that has bigger fish to fry.
However, the Australia Cup has done wonders for football clubs like Lions FC across the country. As the inauguration of the National Second Division approaches, the competition has without doubt bridged the once unbridgeable gap between the professional and semi-professional game.
The Australia Cup offers from amateur and semi-professional clubs to play against the best teams Australia has to offer.
Lions FC central midfielder Fletcher McDonald relishes progression onto the national stage “[The Australia Cup] is always exciting. It’s special. I think it’s something all the boys look forward to during the season because there is that possibility to go on a cup run and compete on the national stages and showcase our talents.”
Despite being the clear favourites in the tie there was no complacency from the home side. Lions FC hit the ground running with the NPL’s leading goal scorer, Andy Pengelly scoring a close-range header in the opening two minutes. The Lions went on to lead by 3-0 within 17 minutes, thanks to a close-ranged finish by Joe Duckworth and another header by Pengelly.
The dominance continued throughout the rest of the first half, with midfielders Cooper Nichols and Fletcher McDonald quick to win back any loose passes from North Star and the Lions’ centre back trio of Jesse Rigby, Hassan Ramazani and Dominic Horward dealing easily with North Star’s attempted longballs and clearances as the away side clambered to hang on to the chance to get back into the game.
In spite of sporadic chances for North Star’s strikers, Horward added to the visitor’s misery in the 39th minute scoring a tap in after the North Star failed to clear an inswinging corner, rounding out a dominant first half performance with the hosts leading 4-0 at the break.
The controlled performance continued in the second half, despite the substitution of Pengelly having already wrapped up a brace in the opening term. His replacement, young striker Novak Kljajic scoring a brace of his own, as well as goals from Cooper Nichols and Ivan Ozzi leading Lions FC to a convincing 8-0 victory.
Lions FC captain Joe Duckworth said after the game: “We don’t really mind who the opposition is, we just want to continue building our process and I thought we did that well. A lot of younger guys had their opportunity tonight and I thought they took it well.”
The Lions will go onto face the winner of tonight’s clash between Magic United FC and fellow NPL side Redlands United away from home in the seventh and final preliminary round. The winner of that tie will become one of four Queensland clubs to progress to the round of 32, where a potential match up against an A-League opponent awaits.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
And they cover a huge range of topics too …not just biographies or straightforward history of a club.
Anthony Ferguson
Roar Rookie
True to an extent. Football is intrinsic to English culture. A solid 150 years of popular history. As an aside, I recall after the scant pickings of football literature on offer here, I wandered into a multi-level bookstore in London. Headed up the lift to the sport section - the football books took up the entire floor.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
For me, I think the Australia Cup barely rates in my mind because I'm mainly invested in the A-league. When the cup gets to the round of 32 then I'll take more notice.
Grem
Roar Rookie
And I just saw a comprehensive fixture list on KeepUp.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Probably a basic answer like go to the Australia Cup site, but is there a fixture list that can be printed off with television coverage? Having that on my fridge will remind me to watch games when they are on 10 Play.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Great point Para. Where I live is a Group 6 rugby league area and their field is a short walk away. How many people turn up to watch a Group 6 game at a local field - not many!
Lachie
Roar Rookie
Great points made here. It would be a great opportunity for Australian sport if we could just capture, as you put it eloquently Max, the “magic” of football that is felt overseas. I just hope a country so in love with other codes can get there.
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
Roar Rookie
Max good comment. All the best on your journey as a sports journo. :thumbup:
At work
Roar Rookie
A little bit of promotion wouldn’t go a stray. The only reason I know about a game is I see a Facebook notification and realise there’s a live game being cast. Add to that half the time the camera angle is low and very difficult for viewing, means I rarely keep watching.
Max Dent
Roar Rookie
I understand it to a point in which I’ve played in the competition and gone and supported my club team in brisbane (who are a lower level than North Star) in earlier rounds. We always get great support for ffa/Australia cup games. Might have been overreaching to expect that from all clubs.
Garry
Roar Rookie
What I dont get is why we eliminate a couple of A League clubs from the Cup..wouldnt it be better to put them in earlier in the comp instead??
chris1
Roar Rookie
And Tuesdays are traditionally training nights
Lionheart
Roar Rookie
most 'local rags' in Australia have the same owner who conveys the same message, across Australia, and it's largely anti-football.
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
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Max, I don't think you understand the Australia Cup competition. First of all, it was on a Tuesday night, 18:30 pm correct? (work and school weekdays). Realistically what you expected was unrealistic. Perhaps at the Nth Star home ground, there may have had a few more, but this Australia Cup hasn't got a 100 yrs history yet, and it's going to take a lot more time and promotion for the grassroots clubs to get it, or get very excited about it, or even to understand what the Australia Cup means.
Max Dent
Roar Rookie
I didn’t expect a sold out crowd by any means but I thought that a few more people in and around North Star FC would make an appearance. North Star have 5/6 other senior sides who could have turned out to watch, and many more involved with the juniors at the club. It should have been seen by North Star to be their biggest game of the season but I only saw one person in the whole ground supporting them.
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
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The point is the players at the Loins FC at best are semi-pro. How many amateurs are there playing in the Lions FC squad 10% or 90%?
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
I disagree, England they dont have the sports promos they have here that are non stop . They cover at all levels, they dont try to overcover stuff, their is a lot football becaise they have so much of it, they dont ignore other sports. The number of repeat stories for example about how the rugby league players are supporting their mums in jail, it seems to repeat every 2 weeks. The great manly christian supporting players also supporting their mate and sibling in jail so religious stabbed their church youth leader with a knife. Maybe we need more crime being committed In Australia you dont have the local coverage that you have in the UK. In the UK rugby league doesnt feature in the national papers but in the north of England it features there in a big way. I dont expect to see the SMH covering Adelaide vs Perth they should be covering every Sydney club. You look at Macarthur local paper nothing on their only team its beyond a joke. In the UK the local rag will cover whatever team they have no matter the sport.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Yeh really. Even Solarzano is at the Lions, he wouldn't get 2 cents playing in Costa Rica these days. Lions are overcashed if anything. They do have their pokie palace so its not like NSW style rego fees to cover that. Plenty of names in the rest of their squad. Louis Fenton. In Australia you have a rich semi pro scene, in Latin America pros get less than our semi pros, of course its a lot more expensive here but work is easy to find here. In Australia you can earn good money at the bottom at any job, in Latin America if your at the bottom you earn peanuts less than the dole here. Albert Riera he was a paramedic even in NZ it was better for him to be semi pro get something extra on the side.
Sheffield WesDay
Roar Rookie
There was a good little crowd at AJ Kelly Park last night for Pen Power's 2 nil defeat of Caboolture FC. The club spruiked it with their community and cut all training short to allow all youth players to attend. A healthy number of Cabbo supporters there too. Power were a little wasteful in front of goal and probably should have come away with more, but Caboolture played well and had a couple of quality chances that on another night may have gone in. Not the most raucous event, but good spirits and good football. I am sure the interest will pick up when the A League teams enter the scene. That is really what we all want to see. NPL clubs putting the Pro's through their paces.
Para+Ten ISUZU Subway support Australian Football
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North Star FC’s is a grassroots, amateur club, and they play in an amateur competition. And you could say the Brisbane Lions players are amateur as well.