Sunshine Coast Fire are confident local players are recognising the benefits of the National Premier Leagues, proving the club is paving a path for football’s future in the region including a possible A-League bid.

Previously the undisputed powerhouse club within the former Queensland State League competition, where the club won the final three senior grand finals, Fire continue to expand their focus in the NPL to provide development opportunities for even more players on the Sunshine Coast.

Club Chairman Noel Woodall, who founded Fire in 2007, said his club was thriving on the new challenges provided by the competition and that continued success will benefit the region’s entire football community well into the future.

“The NPL is a culmination of what we’ve been working on for ten years (at Fire),” Woodall explained.

“The QSL team was about trying to create a credible league for the kids to aspire to and then go on from there.”

“At the Fire, when I established the club, we basically adopted those (same) philosophies – our ambition is to include the kids and create the ultimate pathway for them.”

“I think within the first 12 months of the NPL operating on the Sunshine Coast, as opposed to the QSL and the Junior Premier League, I think we’ve got some pretty good results.”

“If you look at the progression and number of kids coming out of the Fire, there has been a dramatic increase in the numbers going to state (teams) and QAS.”

Since the NPL was introduced in Queensland for the 2013 season, Fire have added teams across age divisions in boys and girls competitions to further underpin the youth and senior programmes that operated under the QSL.

Fire Technical Director Kevin A’herne-Evans highlighted the club’s record of promoting talent through the pathway following the club’s junior NPL restructure.

“It’s about pushing players on to the next level. We’re here to ensure that the best players in the programme are in an environment to be identified, to continue to improve and go on to Queensland (representative teams) and the Roar pathway.”

“We had three or four more girls go into the QAS system, so our girls programme is really strong as well.”

“We want to build on that and it’s a good reflection on our first year and want to build on that and get more players from the region identified and on the pathway.”

He explained Fire’s approach was about not only technique, but cultivating decision-making processes in junior players.

“We don’t try to over complicate it and confuse them and give them information overload. We have a guided discovery approach so they are learning and making their own decisions within the game.”

“The benefit you get from Fire is the support you get not just on the field but off the field.”

“We’re very mindful it is a youth development programme as well and very few go on to be professional footballers.”

“The structure and support we give to the players and the parents, including our information evenings, is invaluable and it’s a great place to grow up basically,” A’herne-Evans summed up.

Woodall further explained that junior players and their parents were responding to Fire’s holistic development ethos, saying that as many age groups saw near one hundred triallists earlier this year.

“The parents are picking it up very quickly and the kids, even the older ones, they are picking it up and they want to be part of it.”

“So where it has been successful up here is at the direct point of entry, kids turning up at the trials. We’ve had very strong trials numbers in most age groups.”

“The football community support is getting a serious amount of traction -it’s captured the imagination of the players.”

However, Woodall pointed out that increased support from the local football community can only serve to further strengthen the game for all clubs in the Sunshine Coast region.

“The number one thing is that people need to understand that there is a pathway and they need to support that pathway,” Woodall said.

“If they don’t support it there is no guarantee that the NPL or the club will remain. People need to actually get behind it and back what we’re trying to achieve.”

“The Sunshine Cast has a decent population of football players. If we have a successful NPL it will draw more people into our sport.”

A’herne-Evans seconded his Chairman’s sentiments, dismissing criticism that Fire’s priorities were merely self-serving.

“Fire always produced good players in the QSL years in our youth squads. They are now going back to the local scene and they are improving the local scene,”

“We look to promote players up, but the ones that go back to the local league, because they have study or work commitments and can’t commit to the senior set-up, they often go back and improve the local football as well.”

“We develop the whole region, but we also develop individuals, so it’s a win-win situation for everybody on the coast.”

Woodall also suggested that regions that genuinely embrace the NPL Queensland pathway will be well positioned for bigger and better things in future.

He was adamant that an A-League licence remains an objective should community support reach a critical mass.

“It’s about developing a community base that is going to support the club from the day it gets its A-League license.”

Woodall however said any thoughts of A-League participation remained more a long term ambition than short term target.

“If people ask me the question, I still say the same thing – we have a ten year plan and we are half way through it.”

“We stick by that, but at the end of the day that plan is going to be impacted upon by how successful we are in getting community support behind what we are trying to achieve.”

 

Words: Michael Flynn (Football Queensland)
Image: Sunshine Coast FC Fire