PARKING THE BUS
THE FNQ Women’s Premier League schedule may be sorted by the end of this week after months of frustration.
The fixtures are a nightmare to decipher due to changes to the schedule – there were games on Monday and Tuesday nights this week – and the withdrawal of Marlin Coast after just six rounds.
Marlin Coast’s games will be stricken from the record because it didn’t play every team once. It means Edge Hill United’s 23-0 flogging of the Rangers didn’t happen, and Siobhan Macken’s 10 goals in that effort won’t count towards the Golden Boot.
The results could not remain because they provided
a huge advantage over a side like Mareeba United, which didn’t face Marlin Coast, so that is the right call.
Administrators face a bigger problem now, in that the competition is more lopsided than ever.
Edge Hill United and Leichhardt remain strong, Mareeba United is running alongside them, but the gap to JCU, and Stratford further behind it, is vast and makes for quite a few big margins.
North Queensland has a presence on the Football
Queensland board after the election of Peter Brine at the state body’s AGM.
Brine is a businessman in Townsville, and while he’s not directly linked to Cairns or FNQ clubs, it should be a good thing for the region to have a voice at the table.
Nigel Fanning is the other new face on the FQ board.
It’s just a shame former Matilda Amy Chapman is now off the state board after her immense work in the women’s space over the years. Jon McKain is also off the board.
The region’s junior representative players enjoyed some time away in Brisbane for Winterfest, which included TSP and SAP carnivals.
Far North Queensland showed it was punching well above its weight with some strong showings across several age groups.
Edge Hill United has four of the FNQ Premier League’s top five goalscorers.
Crios O’Hare is a runaway leader with 17 goals – more than Marlin Coast (16), Southside (16) and Mareeba
United (13) have managed among their own teams.
Ben McDonnell and Joshua Taylor are tied for second with eight each, the latter scoring a hat-trick in Sunday’s tight 3-2 win at Innisfail United to jump up the leaderboard, while
Jesse Casson is fifth with six.
Commiserations to the region’s proud Englishmen, who endured a penalty shootout loss in the Euro 2020 final.
After weeks of playing It’s Coming Home on repeat, the silverware is off to Rome after Italy’s miraculous victory.