Game can go to some lengths to build comp

AN elite football competition stretching 750km sounds farfetched but should be explored further, according to Football Queensland North general manager Declan Carnes.

Football Queensland released its Future of Football 2020+ Opportunities Paper earlier this week.

It is the latest step in FQ’s consultative process which is expected to drive the reform of how the sport is governed in the Sunshine State.

The document covers a range of topics, with data collected from meetings held at sites across the state, including Cairns, of how stakeholders view football and the way it is run in Queensland.

The lack of an elite football competition catering for regional Queenslanders, and the costs involved in existing models, were highlighted, and it could lead to the formation of a new premier North Queensland football competition featuring the best from Cairns, Townsville and Mackay.

Carnes said the strength of the rivalry between the regional cities was enough reason to investigate the viability of regular competition between them, but said it was important for the existing premier leagues to thrive.

“We’d have to work through how that is going to look, but there’s always been rivalry between Cairns, Townsville and Mackay,” Carnes told the Cairns Post.

“Alex (Srhoj, FNQ football administrator) and I would love to see the top level of competition get even stronger.

“We’d still have our premier league competitions, but we’d definitely need to investigate what it looks like, what clubs are involved and what the rules would be, and we’d have to ascertain a sponsor to make it all happen.”

Even if a three-city competition is some way off, Carnes said he was open to a regular representative series between the regions to allow for a higher level of football.