QUEENSLAND FUTSAL ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

WEBSITE
www.qldfutsal.com.au

A FOUNDER MEMBER OF SOCCER AUSTRALIA’S FUTSAL COMMISSION AND OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF AFFILIATE AND MEMBER OF QUEENSLAND SOCCER FEDERATION.
AND PROUDLY FUNDED BY QUEENSLAND STATE GOVERNMENT OFFICE OF SPORT.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

LIVE FROM BRAZIL
My apologies for once again being late with the newsletter, but I’m presently in Brazil preparing for our incoming tour here next week and doing some Futsal business. If you go to the homepage www.qldfutsal.com.au you will see the latest news on negotiations with DAL PONTE and CRUZEIRO FUTEBOL CLUBE, but suffice to say it is all good news. The agreement with DAL PONTE to sponsor the Vikings and give us agency rights in Oceania has taken nearly a year of negotiation, and we have to thank Mauricio and Gui from CBF for all the help on this.
Even though he left Queensland two years ago, Mauricio particularly must be thanked as he approached me re both CRUZEIRO and DAL PONTE, and even I was unsure how to put it together.
On another note, I had the pleasure of watching Falcao play against Internacionale last Monday night in Porto Alegre for Malwee in the Futsal national league, and let me say it was worth the trip. The end result was 6-5 to Malwee , but the joy of the game was to watch him weave his magic on the court. I also got to meet the coach of Malwee, Ferretti, who is also the national coach taking Brazil to the KL Fives.

ANDREW KENDALL APPOINTED NEW ZEALAND MEN’S COACH
St Laurence’s College schoolteacher and well known Queensland state coach, Andrew Kendall, has been appointed New Zealand national men’s coach for the upcoming Oceania World Cup playoffs. The playoffs are scheduled for September in Australia.
Andrew has been coaching Futsal for nearly ten years in Queensland, and has toured overseas on a number of occasions. He is presently also coaching the Queensland Youth men’s side as well as assisting with the National League team.
We wish Andrew well (although obviously not against Australia).

SARS VIRUS AFFECTS KL 5’S
The Kuala Lumpur Fives, set down for June 3rd to June 8th, looks like it could suffer from the SARS virus. Reports in the last 24 hours suggest Spain and Italy will not be attending, removing two of the biggest drawcards to the tournament. Brazil, as late as two hours ago, are still pressing ahead with plans to attend.
The twelve team competition carries one of the largest amounts of prize money in the world, and Brazil would now be very short odds favourites to win the tournament. Our ex state Director of Coaching, Mauricio Marques, looks like going as Brazil team supervisor, as other CBF staff are committed to the Soccer Confederations Cup in France.
Australia competed in the predecessor tournament, the Singapore Fives, last year but for some reason were not invited this year.

PLAYAS WIN UEFA CUP
Playas De Castellon of Spain are the new EUFA cup champions. They beat Charleroi of Belgium 6-4 after drawing the first game 1-1. This tournament is the Futsal version of the Soccer Champions League we see on TV in Australia. For more details on the tournament go to www.futsalplanet.com
Hopefully one day, we may have a similar tournament here encompassing South East Asia and Australia.
One of the teams from Spain who competed is called INTERVUI BOOMERANG and I’m interested to know how the word Boomerang came into the name. If anybody out there knows please drop me a line.

OVERSEAS FUTSAL TOURS COMING UP
Brazil - 16th May to 3rd June - 2003
Canada - 6TH May to 25th May - 2003
Japan - 13TH May to 31st May - 2003
Italy (Australian open women) - 22nd June to 6th July - 2003
Austria/Germany - 6th to 25th October - 2003
New Zealand Masters - 5th to 13th September - 2003
United Kingdom - 6th to 25th October - 2003
Brazil - 21st Nov to 10th Dec - 2003
Canada - 23rd Nov to 9th Dec - 2003
New Zealand - 28th Nov to 10th Dec - 2003
Brazil (14 years development) - 2nd to 21st January - 2004
Brazil (Dal Ponte Academy) - 10th to 30th January - 2004

NATIONAL NEWS

FIRST NATIONAL LEAGUE ROUND FOR 2003 GOES WELL
The first weekend of the Futsal National League was held in Sydney on the Anzac Day long weekend. Without going into all the results, the Queensland Vikings went extremely well, with the men’s team losing the final to Sydney Falcons 4-1 (even though they beat the Falcons 3-1 in the preliminary rounds) and the women’s team beating NSW Waratahs in a penalty shootout in the final, after being drawn at fulltime. Women’s national team coach Richard Littler coached both Vikings sides, assisted by Andrew Kendall , Brian Keightley and sports trainer Dusan Gacesa , and this was a great result for the work they had put in training in preparation for the competition.

The next round of the national league is planned for October.

NATIONAL FUTSAL COMMISSION MEETS
The next meeting of the National Futsal Commission is scheduled for Saturday 10th May. Any news from the meeting I will put in the next newsletter.

NATIONAL SCHOOL TITLES 2003
Just to clarify a few points on the national school titles this year. The tournament is now in South Brisbane. The interstate series is Monday 29th September to Wednesday 1st October, and the individual school series is Thursday 2nd October to Friday 3rd October. Phone enquires can be directed to Nicola on 617 38752600 or email n.zammit@qldfutsal.com.au
We are expecting strong entries from interstate for the individual school series. Already Wally Hoefel from Erindale College in Canberra has confirmed he is bringing four to five teams up, and other interstate teachers have made enquiries. Of course a large amount of Queensland teams are expected.

MENS TEAM PLAY JAPAN
During the regional titles the Australian men’s team played a three match series versus Japan. I didn’t get to see any of the games, but the results were two 1-1 all draws and a 3-1 win to Japan. Most important message to come out of the whole exercise was that Australia definitely needs more international exposure to improve. Reports on the games from coach Scott Gilligan can be found on www.futsalplanet.com

WOMEN’S SQUAD READY FOR ITALY
After a final training camp at the Queensland Regional titles, coach Richard Littler has to cut the squad from 12 to 10 players. The team leaves on the 22nd June and hopefully will be able to perform well in its scheduled overseas competitions. The final squad I will put in the next newsletter.

STATE NEWS

NEW QUEENSLAND DIRECTOR OF COACHING ARRIVES
The new Queensland Technical Director, Gui Costa, started just in time for the Regional Titles. Gui has moved from Brazil where he has been working in Belo Horizonte with Mauricio. Previous to that he spent three years in Achita City, Japan coaching Futsal and soccer and before that was an assistant coach with Cruzeiro Under 20 team in Brazil.
As a player he was a member of the Cruzeiro youth soccer team of ten years ago who won the national youth league, and also spent two years with the Arsenal Futsal National League Team.
Gui will be taking over coaching of the DAL PONTE VIKINGS National League Teams straight away, and over the next three months will be visiting the clubs running coaching clinics and displays.

DAL PONTE VIKINGS SQUADS
The technical director, Gui Costa, has decided to pick a squad of 25 players for both the men’s and the women’s teams. This squad will train for two months, and at the end of that period a final squad of 10 to 15 players will be picked.. Ability will not be the only prerequisite, but also attitude, behaviour and discipline to work in a team.
Players will receive letters of offer next week, and the full list of names will be placed on the website by next Friday.

REGIONIAL TITLES HUGE SUCCESS
One hundred and forty three teams, fifteen courts, three days and 865 games. A mammoth exhibition but this year’s regionals went off smoothly. Probably the only hiccup was running out of referees on the Sunday, but we overcame this and the tournament everywhere finished smoothly.
All results are listed on the website as a news release, however for the record in the Open Men, West Moreton defeated Brisbane South, and in the Open Women Brisbane South defeated West Moreton.
In one of the closest finishes, Brisbane South ended up being the champion region defeating Logan City by one point.
Next year we know the competition will grow even more and we are hoping to have some international junior teams attend.

REGIONAL SCHOOL TITLES COMING UP
We have a number of regional school titles coming up. Full details are listed below. The age groups of tournaments are all played in one day, making it easier for schools to travel. At these tournaments we will be finalising selections for North Queensland and Central Queensland teams. If you have any questions contact Nicola Zammit as per her contacts below.

STATE TEAM SELECTION LETTERS TO BE SENT MONDAY
The Club State Selected Teams are now listed as a ‘clickon’ on the homepage www.qldfutsal.com.au. Letters to players will go out Monday. Due to the large number of players who tried out for teams it is recommended you get your answers back as quick as possible. Players who have not answered by the closure date, will be automatically replaced by a shadow player.

SCHOOL REPRESENTATIVE TEAMS ON WEBSITE
The School State Selected Teams are now up on the website. Go to the library at left and click on school selected teams. This years selections were extremely hard as some of the age groups playing numbers near doubled on last year, and I’m sure there are a number of good players who have missed out.

WHATS COMING UP-DATES TO REMEMBER

12th/14th May - Far North School Titles - Cairns
12th/15th May - South West School Titles - Gatton
19th/20th May - Hervey Bay School Titles - Hervey Bay
26th/27th May - North West School Titles - Mt Isa
28th May - Special School Titles - Acacia Ridge
2nd/4th June - Central Qld School Titles - Rockhampton
2nd/3rd June - Far North NSW School Titles - Lismore
29th Sept/1st Oct - National School - Brisbane
2nd/3rd Oct - National Individual School Titles - Brisbane

HUMOUR
None this week as I left my joke book at home. However my quiz question for the week is:

WHO IS THE ENGLISH SOCCER MANAGER AND WHAT TEAM DOES HE COACH WHO STATED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE JUST FINISHED SEASON

“ We will go undefeated this year. “ ?

(I’ll also tell you next week how many games they lost this year.)

And before some of my friends write to me, yes I know Shrewsbury Town came last in the English Third division and yes I know they are automatically thrown out of the Football League but yes, I will still be supporting them.

THAT’S ALL FOLKS…..SEE YOU NEXT WEEK