OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF
QUEENSLAND FUTSAL ASSOCIATION INC.

This Saturday the 14th December sees the WOMEN?S SOCCER NATIONAL LEAGUE GRAND FINAL played out at Carmichael Park, Wynnum starting at 3.00 pm .

Not that this is a major event on the futsal calendar, however our own APRIL MANN from the office will be playing for QUEENSLAND in the final. April, as some of you may be aware, is also a member of the Australian MALTILDA?S women?s soccer team.

I am told that the QUEENSLAND team manager?s have been extremely impressed by the increased crowd figures at the last three home games, all due to the large number of Futsal supporters now coming to watch APRIL.

So if you have nothing to do this SATURDAY, get out and support APRIL and the QUEENSLAND STING.

(I hope she does better than last week?s Futsal State Titles when her team were beaten in the final! )

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Kuala Lumpur Futsal Tournament Replaces Singapore Tiger 5's
KUALA LUMPUR (12-4-02) - Ibrahim Saad, Vice-President of The Football Association of Malaysia announced on Nov. 6 that the Singapore Tiger 5's Tournament will not be organized in the future and it will be replaced by the Kuala Lumpur (KL) Futsal International Tournament in Malaysia next year (2003). The bi-annual event will once again be broadcast on ESPNstar in Asia and will take place in June. Similar to the Tiger 5's, the KL tournament is expected to draw the top futsal national teams from around the world. Australia, as present OCEANIA champions should be invited.

AUSTRALIA TO HOST 2003 OCEANIA FUTSAL CUP
The 2003 Oceania Futsal Cup, which will double as the qualifying tournament for the 2004 FIFA World Championship, will be held in Australia and tentatively set for September. Soccer Australia will confirm the venues and fixtures at a later date. With just one spot available for Oceania at the 2004 World Championship, Australia is looking to advance to their fifth consecutive tournament. Australia is one of five nations (Argentina, Brazil, Holland, Spain) to have played in all the previous FIFA Futsal World Championships (Holland 1989, Hong Kong 1992, Spain 1996, Guatemala 2000).

BRAZIL TOPS ITALY TO CAPTURE 2002 PYRAMIDS CUP
Brazil's Futsal National Team added another championship to their crowded trophy case as they captured the 2002 Pyramids Cup in Cairo, Egypt after topping Italy in the finals 3:1 on Nov. 30. Two tallies by midfielder Manoel Tobias and one by forward Falcão paced the Samba Kings in the victory. In earlier games on Nov. 30, Argentina took the third-place match with an easy 4:1 win over the host Egypt, while Uruguay settled for fifth-place in the six-team tournament with a 2:0 blanking of Russia. Brazil advanced to the 2002 Pyramids Cup final after posting a 4:2 victory over Egypt in the semifinals on Nov. 29. The Samba Kings opened tournament play with back-to-back victories against Italy (3:2) on Nov. 27, and then Uruguay (6:2) the following day.

(THANKS TO TIM SHELDON FROM FUTSAL ONLINE FOR THESE)

NEWS FROM BRAZIL TOUR
The tour to Brazil is traveling along well, except for the heat where most of the days are hitting 37 degrees. Speaking to Mauricio Saturday morning, the under 16 team had beaten Colegio Santo Antonio and the 19?s had drawn 4-4 the night before, excellent results for us. The team now go on to visit the GRANDE CAMARJ, the home of Brazilian soccer , and then finish with sightseeing in RIO. The tour lands back in Australia this Friday and hopefully we will get more information and photos then.

NEWS FROM NEW ZEALAND TOUR
Paul rang today to give me the under 13?s results from the Wellington tournament on the weekend. Our boys came out winners overall beating Wellington 2-1 in the final with goals from Jason Firth and Paul Tanschievski. The team also won other games 7-4 3-0 and 3-1 with Jarred Pythian putting away five. The team now head back to Auckland to take on the New Zealand under 13?s in a test match to avenge their loss to the 14?s last week (apologies to the boys as I had said they lost to the 13?s when in fact had played an age group higher. Can?t get good overseas correspondents these days ).

OVERSEAS FUTSAL TOURS COMING UP

SINGAPORE FIVES(MEN) - JUNE 2003

BRAZIL - 16TH MAY 2003

CANADA - 7TH MAY 2003

JAPAN - 14TH MAY 2003

USA(under 18 Qld women) - 15TH JUNE 2003

Italy (Australian open women) - 20th JUNE 2003

Spain (Queensland Open ) - 1st SEPTEMBER 2003

NATIONAL NEWS

FUTSAL BECOMES UNIVERSITY GAMES SPORT
In an important step for the sport, Futsal has been at last placed on the Northern Universities Sports Calendar as a recognized sport. The Futsal university games will be held at the Gold Coast from Tuesday the 22nd April to Thursday the 24th April during the school holidays.This works in well as it will start just after our club Regionals. Queensland Futsal Association and Northern Universities will be running the tournament jointly. If you want further information re the tournament email me back or go to the Northern Universities website.

CLUB TITLES AT NATIONAL
If any Queensland teams wish to enter the individual team competition at the nationals, entry forms are available at their local center, or email me back and I will send one out. You can also download from the site www.nswfutsal.com.au Could Queenslanders please note that the state buses will be returning Friday night, getting home Saturday morning and will not be staying for the individual team series.

The individual series is open to any team playing at a recognised Futsal center.

APPLICATIONS CALLED FOR NATIONAL WOMENS COACH
Soccer Australia is presently calling for applications from suitable applicants to coach the national women?s team. For further details contact George Dick at Soccer Australia or email george.dick@socceraustralia.com.au Applications close 25th December.

JEFF ASTLE HEADING STORY
Last week I mentioned that a coroner in England had found ex England striker JEFF ASTLE had died as the result of brain damage from heading the ball. Our ex state coach, GRANT ABT, now lecturer in Exercise Physiology at ST MARTINS COLLEGE LANCASTER ENGLAND, has written to me to provide his findings on the possible dangers on heading the ball. I will put the article up on the website, however if you would like it emailed to you, please write to me and I?ll send.

STATE NEWS

RESULTS FROM THE STATE TITLES WEEKEND
Another great state titles weekend, with the playing of the female and senior men?s competitions. Results as follows:

14 GIRLS
MIXED NUTS (LOGAN) 5 BOB THE BUILDER(PARK RIDGE) 3

16 GIRLS
BULLETS (SUNSHINE COAST) 3 PERRY?S ALLSTARS( DECEPTION BAY) 1

OPEN WOMEN
BLANES TEAM( CARINA) 5 REJECTS(CARINA) 3

17 YEAR BOYS
JAGUARS ( MT GRAVATT) 4 TPC ENTERPRISES(PARK RIDGE) 2

YOUTH
SQUIGIKOFF (ACACIA RIDGE) 5 CAMIRA ( CAMIRA) 4

OPEN MEN B GRADE
LISMORE (LISMORE) 4 JUMBIES( TOOWONG) 3

OPEN MEN
RICHO?S CHEESE (ACACIA RIDGE) 7 ALQUEEDA ( TOOWONG) 1

Good to see an equal spread of results around the clubs, especially Lismore picking up their first win. Hopefully we?ll see them at even more competitions. The open competitions saw Australian player DAMIAN CONQUEST lead RICHO?S CHEESE to an easy victory, while his sister GABRIELLE CONQUEST, also an Australian player, led BLANE?S TEAM to victory in the women?s comp.

Overall our state titles series throughout November and December have been very successful with 179 teams involved across three tournaments .Bring on the regionals !!!!

SUNSHINE COAST CUP
This weekend (14th/15th December) Sunshine Coast Association will be running the Sunshine Coast Cup at Caloundra in all age groups. If you haven?t already entered and want too, ring Alec Holman on 54791547. Age groups ten years to open men and women.

LOGAN CITY CUP
Please note that the next club event on the calendar is the LOGAN CITY CUP on the 8th /9th February at Logan. Entry forms are available at centers or can be emailed to you. This will be the last event for the year before the climax to our season, THE REGIONALS.

WARWICK TRAINING CAMP
This weekend sees the open men, open women and 18 girls go to WARWICK for a training camp. It goes from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon and includes a mini tournament against local teams. If you wish to come and watch, you are most welcome and coaches and officials will be present to answer questions. The center is in PALMERIN STREET WARWICK.

VETINARY HOSPITAL REQUIRED
In January 2003, the daughter of a FUSTAL friend from Brazil will be visiting and staying with my family. She is presently studying vetinary science in Brazil and would like to do some voluntary work experience with a vet while she is here. If anybody in the Brisbane district is a vet or knows one who could help , please get in contact with me if you can help.

REFEREES COURSE IN ROCKHAMPTON
On the weekend I had the pleasure of running a referees course in Rockhampton. We had a total of nine people attend, and thanks to MITCH LESTER for the use of his back verandah to do the course. Talking to the people there, Futsal in Rockhampton is about to take off , with eighty kids attending a clinic at Yeppoon two weeks ago, and large numbers for the regionals expected. For those wanting more information on Futsal in Rockhampton or wanting to trial for the regional rep teams , contact regional development officer, GAIL JASPERSON on 0408780612.

WHATS COMING UP-DATES TO REMEMBER

14th/16th January
National Club Titles Sydney

8th/9th February
Logan City Cup Logan

10th/28th March
State Secondary School Titles Brisbane

24th/25th March
State Primary School Titles Brisbane

31st March
Special School Titles Acacia Ridge

19th/21st April
REGIONAL CLUB TITLES Brisbane South

22ND/24TH April
Northern University Titles Gold Coast

HUMOUR

A sports psychologist spent time with a well known English soccer team last week to assist with turning around their performances. He asked the group ? Who outside of football, has most presence in your life ? ?
One well known player put his hand up and answered ? SANTA CLAUS?.

AND OTHER ONE FROM KEVIN KEEGAN ( manager of City )

"We had to keep them down, as the Premiership is a dog eat dog world. We ate one of the dogs but we will have to make sure now that Sunderland don't eat us." ? Kevin Keegan in the Manchester Evening News.

(I think he is referring to defeating Manchester United four weeks ago).

THAT?S ALL FOLKS?..SEE YOU NEXT WEEK