Families tapped to fund United

NORTH Queensland Football ( NQF) is confident a restructured proposal for its National Premier League licence will save it from the axe, but it will require families to dig deeper to pay for junior registrations.

NQF president Sirio Bertucci held talks with Football Queensland boss Geoff Foster yesterday to negotiate a system where players who register with local clubs would be charged a levy, understood to be around $ 30-$ 40, to help fund fledgling NPL club North Queensland United ( NQU).

NQU was granted an extension by Football Queensland this month to state its case after failing to find the number of under- 15 and under- 16 players required to meet criteria.

The club was hit with another major setback yesterday after newly- appointed coach Ian Shaw gave three months notice of his resignation before he has even coached a game.

NQU is struggling to attract sufficient sponsorship to fully fund the franchise, and the local football community will be asked to provide 45 per cent of the money required.

The NQF board met with club presidents on Thursday night; they will discuss the outlined proposals with their respective clubs before another meeting is held next week.

NQU’s fate isn’t expected to be revealed until Monday, but Bertucci is hopeful the local football community will embrace the proposal.

“If the clubs and the community are not willing to accept we have to find money from our members to fund a representative program in the region, there isn’t going to be one. It’s finished,” Bertucci said.

“I’m confident it will be looked at seriously by the ( Football Queensland) board.

“It’s not the preferred format, but I said from the start this was always going to be a community- based ( venture).”

Bertucci was adamant an increase in registrations was unavoidable. “Current player registrations ( costs) for this zone aren’t on the high sides of regions in NSW, Queensland and ACT. If anything, our charges to parents and players are on the low side,” he said.

Male and female NQU players from the under- 20s down would play in the weekly club competition, with players chosen for representative duty re- evaluated after each game.

“The sweetener in getting everyone to pay a levy is your son or daughter who missed out on representation that week is back in the mix for representation, because our scouts and coaching staff will go out and look at local games,” Bertucci said. “( NQU) technical directors will come to the clubs weekly and help, because that’s where our representative players are coming from.”

It is understood NQU board director Glenn Mintern has stepped down from the role, citing other commitments.