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

LET THE REGIONALS BEGIN !!!
This Saturday the Regional Titles begin. The end result is 180 teams across 14 courts for three days 9.00 am to 10.00 pm. The draw can be found on the main website www.qldfutsal.com.au. Final results including that of champion region will be posted next Wednesday.
Please note that at Acacia Ridge all weekend and particularly Monday afternoon we will be having a sale on a variety of futsal and soccer wear. The centre will be open 8.00 am to 9.30 pm each day.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

OFC QUALIFIERS
The Oceania qualifiers for the Men’s World Cup are now being held from the 17th July to the 22nd July in Canberra. At this stage those nations besides Australia are entering, I should know by the next newsletter. The winner of this tournament qualifies for the World Cup in Taipei this November.
The Australian men’s team has another training camp in May before heading to the qualifiers, including a week training camp beforehand.
The men’s team had a weeklong camp in Sydney three weeks ago, which included two international games against Japan. The results went each way, with Japan winning the first 9-1 and Australia the second 4-2. Thank god the TAB doesn’t take bets on Futsal games!!
As added preparation for the team it is hoped they will also be attending the Pyramids Cup in Egypt.
Young Queenslander Danny Nguluafe made his international debut at 16 and also scored a goal. At present there are 6 Queenslanders in the training squad, which is a big improvement on the none that have been at the 1992,1996 and 2000 World Cups.

NATIONAL WOMEN’S TEAM NEWS
The Australian Women’s team will be having a training camp this weekend in Brisbane under national coach Richard Littler. They will be training all day Friday at Acacia Ridge including a trial game at 7.00 pm. Training will continue Saturday and Sunday with more trial games interspersed.
At the moment it is proposed the women will be touring Europe at the end of the year, but Australian Soccer Association will be giving out more information later.

WORLD CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP
The final day of the 2004 Intercontinental Cup was played 22nd February in Spain. In the final Carlos Barbosa of Brazil defeated Playas de Castellon of Spain.

Results:
Final 5/6 place
3rd Group A - 3rd Group B
Ajax De Tanger - World United FC 7-5
Final 1/2 place
1st Group A - 1st Group B
Carlos Barbosa - Playas de Castellon 6-3

Final 3/4 place
2nd Group A - 2nd Group B
Action 21 Charleroi - PSTC Londrina 7-3

Intercontinental Cup 2004 Winner:
Carlos Barbosa

Hopefully, Oceania or Australia will be invited to send a team next year.

THIRD ROUND OF CHINESE LEAGUE
(Thanks to reporter Li Jing)
Chengdu Laimei Futsal club team finished the third round of the China Futsal league on Feb.29 in Beijing with 23 points ranking the second place on the league table.
The Chengdu team, coached by Brazilian Farinhna, had a good start after beating Dalian Shide club team 6:2 and Shanghai 7:4. Chengdu Laimei was surprised by the man-on-man tactics of Hubei Dilong Futsal club team and lost 2:5 and then lost to the league leader Guangzhou Guowang 4:6. Finally, Chengdu team drew with Beijing Feiya 3:3 to finish second in the round.
There are 6 rounds in the first China Futsal league in six different cities. Each club team has 30 league games to play.
Chengdu Laimei Futsal club will host the 4th round on Mar.17 2004 and the first national Futsal team camp on about Mar.27th. Chengdu coach Farinhna has been appointed the head coach of the first Chinese Futsal Team and will take the team to Macao to participate in the Futsal Asian Cup in April, which is also the Asian qualifier for the FIFA world Championship in Taipei 2004.

DANGERS OF HEADING A SOCCER BALL
Soccer players who incorrectly head the ball could be causing long-term damage to their necks, according to a report in the NEW SCIENTIST magazine.
A study at the Middle East Technical University in Turkey has looked at the flexibility, strength and X Ray of the necks of 30 players.
When compared to non-players, they had less flexible necks, more damage to the cervical discs and greater compression of the spinal cord.
Another reason to play Futsal?

CONCACAF UNVEILS CARIBBEAN ZONE FUTSAL PRELIMINARY QUALIFICATION FIXTURES
On the 26th March CONCACAF unveiled the complete fixtures for the 2004 Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Preliminary Futsal Qualification Tournament from 19-23 April at the University of the West Indies in St.Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago.
The CFU Futsal Preliminary event, which is sponsored by the Hindu Credit Union Group of Companies, will advance three nations to the 2004 CONCACAF Final Round Qualification scheduled for July in Costa Rica.
Eight nations have been divided into two groups of four at the first-ever CFU Futsal Tournament. Group A is composed of Grenada, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico and the host, while Group B has Guyana, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Surinam and Turks & Caicos Islands. The top team from each group will advance to the
CONCACAF Futsal Final Round and will also play for the Caribbean title on 23 April. The two runners-up from group play will meet for a third-place play-off game to claim the final CFU berth in the tournament in Costa Rica.
The Caribbean representatives will join three qualifiers from the North/Central Preliminary Series, along with Cuba, and the host, Costa Rica in the eight-team CONCACAF Final Round. This event will qualify two CONCACAF nations to the 2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship to be held in Chinese Taipei from 22 November - 12 December. (I think this date has now changed).

QUEENSLAND FUTSAL INVITED TO SEND TEAMS TO JAPAN AND ECUADOR
On top of its other overseas tours, Queensland Futsal has been invited to send a 12-year boys team to Ecuador and a 15-year boys team to Saityama, Japan. The 12’s tour is to play at a weeklong tournament in Quito and will also include a week in Chile on the way home.
The 15 year boys have been invited by the Saityama state government, to play the Saityama State Futsal team of the same age to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Queensland/Saityama ‘sister state’ agreement.
The teams to represent Queensland will be selected at this weekend’s regional titles.

RESULTS OF CHINESE NATIONAL LEAGUE
Below is the report send to me by Li Jing from Chengdu Futsal. I had the pleasure of attending this round of the league as a guest of Chengdu Football, and met many people and made many contacts. The best news of all is that Chengdu Futsal have asked the Vikings men and women to come over pre next national league season and compete in a 4 team contact. They are also keen to come to Australia to play us in Brisbane.
The 4th round of the China Futsal league finished on Sunday, 21 of March. in Chengdu. Chengdu Lummy Futsal club had a 4:4 draw with league leaders Guangzhou Guowang in the last game ending with total league points of 31 and second place on the league table.
Guangzhou Futsal is in the first place with 46 points. Hubei Dilong Futsal club is placed in third with 29 points on the league table. Dalian Shide Futsal is still on the bottom of the table with 15 points although it has got 2 wins this round. Beijing Futsal and Shanghai Futsal are the fourth and fifth on the table with 24 and 23 points respectively.
Chengdu Lummy Futsal club, coached by the Brazilian coach Farinha, played very well in the last game with Guangzhou. It was 1:1 for the first half and Chengdu took the lead with one minute left to lead 4:3 in the second half, with both sides ‘fouled out’. However, unfortunately, the ref rewarded Guangzhou a controversial penalty for the foul by one of the Chengdu players in their own D area.
Chengdu also drew 3:3 with Hubei and defeated Shanghai 4:3 and Shide 3:2. They lost to Beijing 2:4.
There are still two rounds to play in Guangzhou and Shanghai in April and May for the rest of the national Futsal league. 6 Futsal clubs from 6 cities participate in the first national Futsal league with each city hosting a round of the league, with each team having 30 games to play in the whole league.
(Thanks again to reporter Li Jing and we wish him well in his recovery. Unfortunately last weekend Li Jing broke his leg playing in local club Futsal)

OVERSEAS FUTSAL TOURS COMING UP

Brazil - 7th May to 19th May - 2004
Ecuador/Chile - 12th July to 30th July - 2004
Japan - 25th July to 4th August - 2004
England - 4th October to 23rd October - 2004
Taiwan - 10th November to 24th November - 2004
Brazil - 19th November to 8th December - 2004
New Zealand - 26th November to 8th December - 2004

NATIONAL NEWS

NATIONAL SCHOOL TITLES
Just a reminder to everybody that this year’s national schools are in Brisbane. The interstate series is 27th September to 29th September and the individual school series is 30th September and 1st October. We will be emailing out initial entry booklets to everybody before the end of the month.

JUNIOR DAL PONTE VIKINGS TO VISIT VICTORIAN ACADEMY
The new junior Dal Ponte Vikings academy teams, 16 year boys and 16 year girls will be going to Melbourne on the weekend of the 29th May to compete against the newly formed Victorian Dal Ponte Academy.
The Victorians will then be coming up to visit us in July, and this hoped to be the start of regular exchanges between us.
The teams to attend the weekend will be selected at the Regional Titles.

FAIRY TALES DO COME TRUE
In May 2003, only 10 months ago, I led the Centre of Excellence tour to Brazil. On the tour was a quite 15 year old, in Grade 11 at Cleveland High, who had just represented the Gold Coast in the under 16 boys team at the Regional Titles. While on tour one of the other Queensland boys approached me to tell me that our player had not been selected for both the Queensland School 16 ‘s team and Queensland 16’s club team. Knowing this boy’s ability for his age I rang back to Brisbane and asked he be put in both teams as for his age he certainly had the ability to be a state representative.
At the end of the tour Mauricio rang me from Brazil and told me to let him try out for the Dal Ponte Vikings team, as he thought he had the makings of a good Futsal player.
Our player eventually made the team…..one of the last picked….and at 16 was the youngest Viking to attend the nationals in January. Four weeks ago, representing Australia in an international against Japan, he scored on debut at 16 years old.
Hard work, dedication and a love of Futsal paid off. Not bad for a player who 11 months ago couldn’t make the state Queensland South under 16 boys team.
Congratulations DANNY NGULUAFE from all at Queensland Futsal and the Vikings.

STATE NEWS

CENTRE ADMINISTRATORS REQUIRED
With the new season starting in September, we will again me looking for more centre administrators. The position is part-time paid with a number of incentives, and you will be required to attend a two-day training session. These positions are in a number of places across Queensland.
For further enquiries contact j.hammond@qldfutsal.com.au or ring Jodie on 617 38752600.

MOTEL ROOMS AVAILABLE FOR REGIONAL TITLES
We have two rooms at Coopers Colonial Motel, near Acacia Ridge, available if anybody attending the regionals is still looking for accommodation. They are double rooms, but folding beds are available.
If interested contact a.mann@qldfutsal.com.au or ring April on 617 38752600.

SETS OF TEAM SHIRTS FOR SALE
We have sets of team jerseys for sale at $12 a shirt. The jerseys come in a variety of overseas club designs and are all senior size. You can purchase singly or in sets.
For further information contact m.burley@qldfutsal.com.au or ring Margaret at 617 38752600.

NEW SUPPORTERS WEBSITE FOR FUTSAL SET UP
Eugene Orwell from Cairns has set up a new Futsal supporter’s site for the Far North Futsal Community.
To have a look go to http://fnqsfpfa.net/

SOUTH QUEENSLAND SCHOOL TITLES FINALS
The last Grand Final of the South Queensland School Titles was played on Wednesday 31st March. In total we had over 500 teams attend, an increase of last year of around 40 teams. State city and country squads have been selected from the titles and selections are on the website.
For details of selections and results go to www.qldfutsal.com.au

With a number of country tournaments still to come we are hoping to get to 900 to 1000 teams take part in this year’s Queensland Futsal Titles.

CAR FOR SALE
Paul Wadsworth, our regional development manager, has a car for sale. It can be bought outright or you can take over payments.

DESCRIPTION
2002 PT Cruiser Classic Manual
43000km
Balance of New Car Warranty
Log Books
Air Conditioned
6 Speaker CD Stereo
Tinted Windows
Contact Paul on p.wadsworth@qldfutsal.com.au
or 61738752600

SOCCER GOALKEEPER REQUIRED FOR MT GRAVATT WOMEN’S TEAM
This is one of our first paid classifieds (only joking). Mt Gravatt Soccer Club, a big supporter of Futsal, is looking for a woman goalkeeper for its premier league /reserves soccer team. Mounties are undefeated so far, so don’t worry you won’t be dropped in the deep end. If you are interested, email n.zammit@qldfutsal.com.au or ring Nic in the Futsal office on 617 38752600.
before people write in, yes I’m still a supporter and life member of Souths.

WHATS COMING UP-DATES TO REMEMBER
10th/14th April - Regional club Titles - South Brisbane/Gold Coast
10th/13th May - FNQ School Titles - Cairns
24th/26th May - South West School Titles - Gatton
24th/26th May - Gladstone School Titles - Gladstone
2nd/4th June - Fraser Coast School Titles - Hervey Bay

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
Sorry, only one this week. However with Arsenal having the ‘week they didn’t wish happened’ being knocked out of the FA Cup and the Champions League, I’ll dig out all my old Arsenal jokes for the next issue.

GORDAN STRACHAN OF SOUTHHAMPTON ON REFEREES
“I tried to talk to the ref but it would have been easier to meet the pope. If I’m in London again and I happen to get mugged, I hope the same number of people turn up to protect me. There were six police, four stewards and even a UN peace observer out there. “
(More next week…………..)

THAT’S ALL FOLKS…..SEE YOU NEXT WEEK