A Redcliffe Roar opens up Brisbane

THE Roar’s defection to Redcliffe has left the door wide open for a second Queensland A-League team to be based in Brisbane.

With the Roar now only Brisbane in name following the club’s departure from Suncorp Stadium to play at Redcliffe venue Dolphin Stadium, and their decision to train on the Gold Coast, the time seems ideal for a new Brisbane ALeague team. Currently a 12team competition with the inclusion of newest club Macarthur, the A-League is set to further expand in coming seasons, with a second Queensland club and a Canberra side looming as the next two expansion teams.

Foundation Roar coach Miron Bleiberg said his former club was “digging their own hole” by moving to Redcliffe.

“Somewhere along the line, whether it’s the people from Suncorp Stadium, someone will start a team t that will be in central l Bib Brisbane serving the whole Brisbane population,” Bleiberg (pictured) said.

“Suncorp Stadium will find another party. It’s business logic.”

Bleiberg believed the Roar had taken a step backwards by leaving Suncorp Stadium — the best rectangular football venue in Australia — to play at a smaller venue outside of Brisbane.

“It took us a long time to take soccer to the front row,” he said.

“All the hard work from when (then NSL club) Brisbane Strikers moved to Suncorp Stadium in the 1990s and now the Roar take us all the way back with this decision.”

Football Queensland CEO Robert Cavallucci said regardless of the Roar’s decision to move to Redcliffe, Brisbane needed another A-League club.