FNQ FC Heat will live stream their final home match of the NPL Queensland season this Saturday night when the Cairns-based club plays host to Sunshine Coast Fire.

The fixture will be the first NPL Queensland match to be streamed live this year and continues the club’s emphasis on engaging their fanbase through the latest technologies.

Viewers from anywhere around the world will be able to tune-in for free by logging on to the FNQ FC's Ustream account – www.ustream.com/fnq-fc-heat-wave

Heat Technical Director Chris Collins was enthusiastic about the club’s latest initiative.

“This is fantastic. Streaming the game live for other people to watch all over Queensland, all over the country, all over the world I suppose.”

“I was speaking to (FNQ FC Interim Coach, Joe Fenech) today and he was saying his son in Edinburgh was going to watch it, so let's hope everything goes to plan. It's just a fantastic achievement for the club in its first year,” Collins said.

The match will be played at the home ground of local Cairns club Stratford FC as Heat continues to strengthen their ties to the local football community.

It is the fourth Far North venue to host a NPL Queensland game this year – the Heat previously playing home games at Endeavour Park (Cairns) and Borzi Park (Mareeba) as well as their official home, Barlow Park.

Stratford President, Rowan Coates is delighted to have his club involved with Australia's second-tier football competition.

“Very proud to have them here in fact, it's a great little coup for Stratford,” Coates said.

“I can see a lot of positives of their games coming into the club-type system and obviously, from the club's perspective, a lot more people equals a lot more sales.”

The initiative is all part of FNQ FC's continual drive to connect with as much of the Far North community as possible and widely expose those in the region to top-quality football.

Collins explained that he was proud of Heat’s partnership with Stratford FC describing it as a “win-win for everyone”.

“It's something we've wanted to do for quite some time,” Collins continued. “We're trying to promote the game throughout the region and hopefully a few more clubs like Stratford will host NPL games in the future.

“Stratford's got a great playing surface, their junior base is growing out there. It's a club that wants to improve.”

Heat currently sit tenth on the NPL Queensland table going into this weekend's final round, the side suffering a nail-biting3-2 loss to Palm Beach at Mallawa Complex last Sunday.

Their Sunshine Coast opponents are currently third, just a single competition point behind Brisbane City heading into their last match before the finals.

The two teams last met in May when the Fire triumphed 4-0 at Sunshine Coast Stadium.

Kick-off is scheduled for 7:30PM at Stratford Dolphins Football Club. Tickets are available at the venue.

 

Words: FNQ FC Heat
Image: Keith Eigeland