Length of season on agenda for NQ clubs

NORTH Queensland Football clubs are set to meet on Saturday to determine the length of the 2020 season.

As it stands the state’s governing body of the sport has given a return date of July 1 amid the coronavirus pandemic, and with that has come an extensive restructuring of seasons.

The major vote to come from the meeting on May 9 will be whether the senior North Queensland season goes ahead as a 21-round or 14round competition.

North Queensland Football general manager Declan Carnes said while the organisation was happy to proceed regardless of the vote’s outcome, it was important to note the number of members who also played cricket.

He said a 21-round season would not finish until November, meaning the seasons would inevitably overlap.

“The main vote is going to be on the senior and the junior rounds, but also we need to understand how many of our members play cricket,” Carnes said.

“Cricket normally starts in October, but I do understand the state governments are talking to all the different sports involved about delaying their seasons.

“They had a full season, so from a revenue point of view they managed to get all the way up to their finals.

“Where we sit, we’ve had two junior rounds and some FFA Cup rounds. We’ve got an enormous cost to run the competitions and keep the grounds looking spectacular so the kids can turn up and play immediately.

“We really need to get a season away.”

Carnes said that at this stage there were no definitive plans to return to training, but he said the green lighting of football in the Northern Territory to get underway in June had given him some cause for optimism.