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Northern Fury FC


FieldValue
clubnameNorthern Fury
imageNorthern Fury FC Logo (2013–).png
upright1.0
fullnameNorthern Fury Football Club
nicknameThe Fury
founded
dissolved
groundTownsville Sports Reserve
capacity4,000 (seated)
6,500 (total)
owntitleCEO
ownerConsortium of Local Figures
chrtitleDirector
chairmanMassimo Di Giovanni
coachPaul Roncato
leagueNPL Queensland
season2018
position13th
website

6,500 (total)

Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from the league due to financial instability. On 3 October 2012, the club officially re-formed after it was granted a licence to participate in the National Premier League Queensland. After rebranding themselves as "North Queensland United" in 2017, the club disbanded a second time at the end of the 2018 Football Queensland season. The club played their home fixtures at Townsville Sports Reserve.

History

Foundation

A bid known as Northern Thunder FC (or North Queensland Thunder FC) was considered for admission for the 2008–09 season along with Gold Coast Galaxy. The bid was publicly well progressed, with the team's badge and colours (red, white and black) released. The training facilities were to be located at the North Queensland Institute of Sport and the home ground was to play at Dairy Farmers Stadium.

The bid was tentatively accepted to join in the 2008–09 season expanding the league to ten teams. Needing to meet certain financial criteria to be granted entry into the league, the club's major financial backer pulled out of the franchise on 5 March 2008, effectively collapsing the bid. Football Federation Australia determined on 11 March 2008 that neither Thunder or Galaxy would be granted entry "in the best interests of the league," given that a nine team format was generally unfavoured and delayed expansion of the league until the 2009–10 season.

With expansion put off until the following season, by June 2008 the FFA had received ten bids for new A–League teams, two of which came from Townsville – one headed by Melbourne businesswoman Milissa Fischer and one by local businessman Don Matheson. Matheson's bid, which "rose from the ashes of the Northern Thunder bid", was granted a provisional licence by Football Federation Australia on 24 July. On 28 August 2008 the franchise was accepted into the A–League by CEO Ben Buckley with the only matter outstanding the finalisation of all legal requirements.

On 6 November 2008, the franchise named was officially revealed as North Queensland Fury FC. Their inaugural kit was revealed in April 2009, featuring dark green sleeves/socks, and a white/light green front.

It was announced on 10 December 2008, that the Fury had signed Rockhampton–born businessman Dean Hassall as their CEO. Also the club signed Scottish club, Celtic's strength and conditioning coach Alan McCall and was also joined by Football Operations Manager Nicholas Deluca.

Struggles and demise

On 7 June 2010, former Sparta Prague and one time Czech Republic national team coach František Straka was announced as the club's coach for the coming 2010–11 A-League season after agreeing to a one-year deal.

The club finished last in the 2010/11 A-League season, winning only 4 of their 30 matches. The crowd average of 4,245 was the 4th lowest in the history of the A-League behind the Gold Coast United crowd average of the same season and the two seasons of the New Zealand Knights.

A community ownership model was launched, aimed at finding 1.5 million dollars (per year, for three years), of capital investment being sought to cover half the expected losses for the next three seasons. Ben Buckley, in an open letter to Fury supporters, made it clear that the FFA would not fund continual losses.

On 1 March 2011, the club officially had its A-League licence revoked due to financial reasons. The FFA reported that the Fury had received only $300,000 of the investment required for the next season, and despite increased sponsorship revenue the club would still lose $2 to $3 million. FFA released a statement confirming earlier reports that a decision had been taken not to continue with the franchise as the financial position of the club for season 2011–2012 considered too big of a financial risk for the FFA to undertake.

Re-establishment and further demise

On 3 October 2012, the club was officially re-established after it was announced that the club would participate in the 2013 NPL Queensland Conference, with North Queensland Football forming the new board. The club made an announcement that they would keep the old North Queensland Fury logo. On 12 November 2012 the club announced former player Gareth Edds would take up the head coach role as well as field his position at the club.

On 13 September 2017, the club announced that it would be dropping the Northern Fury name and colours in favour of the name "North Queensland United" and the region's traditional football colours of blue, red and gold.

At the end of the 2018 Football Queensland season, NQ United disbanded again.

Rivalries

Northern Fury had a rivalry with fellow North Queensland NPL team Far North Queensland FC (now called Cairns FC), with both teams contesting the 'Frank Farina Cup'.

Colours and badge

North Queensland's colours were light and dark green and white. These were chosen to represent the lush green vegetation of the northern parts of Queensland. The badge was revealed in 2008 soon after the bid was granted entry to A-League. The light green was often referred to in the local media as "tropical green" but was particularly unpopular with many fans of the club.

File:North Queensland Fury.svg|2008–2011 North Queensland Fury File:Northern Fury FC Logo (2013–).png|2013–2017 Northern Fury File:Northern Queensland United logo.png|2018 North Queensland United

pattern_la =pattern_b = _Kit_body_Nqfury_homepattern_ra =leftarm = 008000body = 7FFF00rightarm = 008000shorts = FFFFFFsocks = 008000title = Home
2008–2011pattern_la =pattern_b = _italiangreenwhiteverticalpattern_ra =leftarm = 008000body = 008000rightarm = 008000shorts = FFFFFFsocks = FFFFFFtitle = Home
2013–2017pattern_la =pattern_b = _thinyellowsidespattern_ra =leftarm = 0000FFbody = 0000FFrightarm = 0000FFshorts = 0000FFsocks = 0000FFtitle = Home
2018
pattern_la =pattern_b = _Kit_body_Nqfury_awaypattern_ra =leftarm = FFFFFFbody = FFFFFFrightarm = FFFFFFshorts = FFFFFFsocks = FFFFFFtitle = Away
2008–2011pattern_la =pattern_b =pattern_ra =leftarm = 000000body = FFFFFFrightarm = 000000shorts = FFFFFFsocks = FFFFFFtitle = Away
2013–2017pattern_la =pattern_b = _thinredsidespattern_ra =leftarm = 0000FFbody = FFFFFFrightarm = 0000FFshorts = FFFFFFsocks = FFFFFFtitle = Away
2018

The North Queensland Fury played at Dairy Farmers Stadium in the A-League and the Townsville Sports Reserve in the NPL Queensland.

Players who earned International caps whilst at North Queensland

  • Australia Shane Stefanutto
  • Australia David Williams
  • New Zealand Jeremy Brockie
  • Uganda Eugene Sseppuya

Managers

NameFromTo
SCO Ian FergusonJul 2009Jun 2010
CZE František StrakaJul 2010Mar 2011
AUS Gareth EddsNov 2012Aug 2013
SCO Ian FergusonOct 2013Feb 2017
AUS Paul RoncatoFeb 2017Dec 2017

Club captains

DatesNameNotesHonours (as captain)
2009–2011AUS Ufuk TalayInaugural club captain

Competition timeline

Placement Timeline

Competition2009–102010–112012201320142015201620172018
A-League7th11thDid Not Participate
NPL QueenslandDid Not Participate7th11th8th12th8th13th
FFA CupCompetition Not HeldFifth RoundSixth RoundSixth RoundSixth RoundSixth Round

Season by Season Record

SeasonDivision (teir)PWDLFAGDPtsPosFinalsAustralia CupLeague2009–102010–11201320142015201620172018
A-League (1)2788112946-1732DNQN/A
A-League (1)3047192860-3219DNQ
NPL Queensland (2)229584843+532DNQ
NPL Queensland (2)2464143850-1222DNQFifth Round
NPL Queensland (2)22101114244-231DNQSixth Round
NPL Queensland (2)2204182273-514DNQSixth Round
NPL Queensland (2)2274113655-1925DNQSixth Round
NPL Queensland (2)2661193571-3613DNQSixth Round

Honours

Minor Trophies/Honours

  • Australia Queensland Queensland Nickel Cup
    • 2009/10 (NQ Fury vs Gold Coast United: {Contested Over 3 League Fixtures} NQ Fury W2/D0/L1)
  • Australia Northern Territory Chief Minister's Cup : – 2009 (3–2 vs Adelaide United – Played In Darwin/NT 02/07/09)

All time league records

  • Record victory: 8–0 vs SWQ Thunder (H), 16 March 2014
  • Record defeat: 1–8 vs Adelaide United (A), 21 January 2011
  • Highest league crowd: 8,897 vs Sydney FC, 8 August 2009
  • Lowest league crowd: 600 vs Olympic FC, 27 July 2013*
  • Winning streak: 3 games (29 June 2013 – 13 July 2013)
  • Undefeated streak: 6 games (9 June 2013 – 13 July 2013)
  • Losing streak: 14 games (22 August 2015 – 4 June 2016)
  • Winless streak: 23 games (22 August 2015 – present)
  • Goals in a game: 4 – Gareth Edds vs Olympic FC (H), 27 July 2013 & Braedyn Crowley vs SWQ Thunder (H), 16 March 2014
  • Goals in a season: 17 – Braedyn Crowley, 2014
  • Most assists in a season: 13 – Reyze Kelly, 2013

Note: From 2013 onwards, the Fury played at stadiums where the capacity can only reach approximately 3,000.

Appearances

AppearancesRankPlayerAppearances
1AUS Corey Waples126
2AUS Hamish Cassady86
3AUS Caleb Hobson65
4AUS Ari Isman56
5AUS Jacob Crowley51
6AUS David Williams49
7AUS Chris Grossman43
8AUS Jake Perry40
AUS Benjamin Stanley40
AUS George Dalton40

Goals

AppearancesRankPlayerGoals
1AUS Braedyn Crowley17
2NZL Michael Eisenhut12
3AUS Alex Read11
AUS Jonathon Bagley11
5AUS Gareth Edds10
AUS Jake Perry10
ENG Joseph Thornton10
8ENG Robbie Fowler9
9AUS David Williams8
10Curaçao Dyron Daal7
AUS Jake Navarro7
AUS Corey Waples7

References

References

  1. (16 February 2017). "Kruse scores in draw with McBreen's Eagles". Football Federation Australia.
  2. "Fury earns spot in Australian Premier League".
  3. (31 August 2018). "NQ United Confirm Exit". footballclick.com.au.
  4. (2008-03-11). "No A–League Expansion This Season". [[FourFourTwo (Australia).
  5. (2008-03-11). "Hyundai A–League expansion delayed". A–League.
  6. (2008-06-03). "Interest aplenty for new A–League clubs". [[The Age]].
  7. (2008-06-03). "FFA to consider 10 new bids for expanded A–League". [[ABC News (Australia).
  8. (2008-06-04). "North Qld FC confident of success". [[The World Game]].
  9. (2008-07-24). "North Queensland FC awarded exclusive negotiating status". [[Football Federation Australia]].
  10. (2008-07-25). "Townsville given provisional A–League licence". [[Townsville Bulletin]].
  11. (2008-08-28). "Expansion Gets Go Ahead". A–league.com.
  12. (2008-11-06). "North Queensland Fury at Launch". au.fourfourtwo.com.
  13. http://mattwintersfootballblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/north–queensland–fury–kit–revealed.html {{Dead link. (July 2022)
  14. (2008-12-10). "Fury announces new CEO". www.northqueenslandfc.com.au.
  15. (2009-01-08). "Townsville A–League team turns up heat with extra coach". [[Townsville Bulletin]].
  16. "Fury's Czech Mate". FourFourTwo.
  17. "Clearing air over the Fury".
  18. link. (30 June 2012 , [[Fox Sports (Australia)). Fox Sports]]
  19. "Fury earns spot in Australian Premier League | Townsville Bulletin Sport".
  20. "NQ Football to drop Fury name and colours". ftbl.com.au.
  21. "North Queensland Fury eye return through Australian Premier League {{!}} Goal.com".
  22. http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2012/11/10/369793_sport.html {{Dead link. (July 2022)
  23. (17 July 2015). "Farina Cup on offer in North Queensland NPL derby".
  24. "Derby match heats up for Frank Farina Cup". Northern Fury.
  25. "6-pointer at stake for Frank Farina Cup". Northern Fury FC.
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