Further blow for United Chairman Sirio Bertucci quits embattled NPL franchise days after coach
NORTH Queensland United are looking for a new chairman just days after parting ways with their coach.
Sirio Bertucci quit as chairman of both the club and North Queensland Football boards at a meeting on Tuesday night with local club presidents, who threw their support behind a restructured NQU model to keep the embattled National Premier League franchise afloat.
NQF clubs were to meet again last night to vote on a replacement for both roles.
It’s another blow to NQU after coach Ian Shaw tendered his resignation last week before he even coached a game.
Football Queensland has accepted a proposal that allows NQU to boost junior numbers by sending male and female players from under- 20s down to local clubs but also be eligible to represent them.
Football Queensland boss Geoff Foster is in Townsville this week and was present at last night’s meeting, but did not return calls. It is understood club presidents gave the green Kershaw recently competed in the International Festival of Hockey where a shock loss to Japan relegated the Hockeyroos to third in the tournament behind the world No. 1 Dutch and the US.
Kershaw has her sights set on April’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, before the mid- year World Cup in England.
Kershaw said the Festival of Hockey losses to Japan and Netherlands taught them valuable lessons and for different reasons.
“We should have beaten Japan but unfortunately they got the better of us on the day,” Kershaw said.
“It was a good learning experience for the group and it’s probably a good thing we have that to grow on and realise no game is easy.
“( The Dutch game) was a good eye- opener to see how good we need to be going forward, especially with the World Cup next year which will be a good test for us.
“We weren’t too far behind and with a bit more work and a few more games under our belts I think we’ll be pretty good in Tokyo ( for the 2020 Olympics).
“The only thing we can do is play as many games as possible. We’re so inexperienced when it comes to games but there’s nothing you can do but keep playing and try and catch up.”
Kershaw said Gaudoin had unleashed the shackles on the Hockeyroos’ playing style after taking over from Adam Commens late last year, who was stood down for alleged serious misconduct.
“( Gaudoin) brings a lot of creativity to the group,” she said. “He wants us to play why we’re in the team in the first place, not go into our shells. For me he’s been really supportive. ”
The world No. 4 Hockeyroos were drawn in the same Gold Coast Commonwealth Games pool as New Zealand ( 5), Scotland ( 18), Canada ( 21) and Ghana ( 30) this week.
Kershaw is wary of the threat the rising Kiwis pose, but is confident Australia can retain the Commonwealth gold medal it won in 2014.
“New Zealand are always tough, they just came second in the World League to the Dutch and it will be our toughest match- up I think,” she said. light for NQU to press ahead with its new model.
The NQU board will now discuss the intricacies of the proposal before reporting back to local clubs and Football Queensland.
The Bulletin reported last week 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.
An NQF board spokesman confirmed Bertucci’s departure.
“He’s done a fantastic job and orchestrated a program moving forward that presidents have been after for a long period of time, where players can go back to their clubs but also play representative ( football) for a nominal fee,” he said.
“( Foster) has approved the program and there was a lot of discussion among the presidents. They want that representative pathway to continue.”
Juniors will be charged about $ 15 to play representative football.
“It’s about NQ football giving them ( clubs) skills to help train their coaches,” the spokesman said. “A director of coaching will go out and on school holidays there’ll be coaching clinics which will potentially be free, but we need to pay for that.”
The spokesman said they would seek to appoint a locally based coach to replace Shaw.
“The NPL has significantly changed and it’s not a full- time role ( anymore),” he said.
“To be honest, NQF couldn’t afford it. It’s a not- forprofit organisation. We’d be asking for more money from clubs and players and we couldn’t justify that.
“Hopefully, we’ll be looking forward to it being a paid pos- ition, but not a full- time position. We’ve got enough talented good quality coaches locally to step up.”
The proposal is still in need of sponsorship, but the spokesman was confident they could find the financial backing to make it viable in the long term.
A local club president said the proposal was given full backing by the clubs.
“All the clubs are behind Football Queensland’s decision to accept the new model proposed and all the clubs do want the NPL club to succeed and be sustainable,” he said.
Bertucci declined to comment.