FRIDAY 7TH JANUARY 2005

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF QUEENSLAND FUTSAL ASSOCIATION AND VIKINGS
FUTSAL ASSOCIATION

WEBSITE www.qldfutsal.com.au

ON LINE FUTSAL SHOP www.dalponte.org.au

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

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WELCOME TO THE FIRST NEWSLETTER FOR 2005

STOP PRESS !!!!!! THE VIKINGS LONGBOAT WILL BE AT THE NATIONALS !!

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

WORLD CUP NEWS
I haven't written a newsletter since the World Cup in Taipei, so it's probably opportune to make some comments as I was there. Unfortunately we lost all three games, but I don't think anyone could complain about the preparation Australian Soccer provided. The simple fact to me is that we cannot expect to compete at that level when we do not have a national league, we don't have any players overseas (we now do) and we are putting amateurs up against semi or full professionals.
I have argued for years these cases and they are possible. My local soccer (football now) club pays win bonuses of $50 to $200 week to week, but the Australian Futsal team players get paid nothing for the sport.
We were lucky enough to be staying in the same hotel as the Brazilian team so we all got to meet many of the stars. The only real disappointment for the tournament was the crowds or lack of them, but it is accepted that FIFA ran the tournament in Taipei to help develop the sport there.
By the way, if anybody reading this is interested in putting a team in a proposed National League please email me. Expressions of interest could convince Football Australia of the value.

FALCAO FUTSAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Along with the normal annual awards for football teams and players of the year, FIFA this year decided to have a FUTSAL Player of the year. At the awards ceremony in December Falcao of Brazil was named the inaugural winner. Falcao in our group at the World Cup was brilliant and to me was a deserved winner of the award. I was also lucky enough to have my photo taken with him.
In what was a bit of a shock however, it was announced last week that Falcao has signed with soccer/football club SAO PAULO for the next National League season and is leaving Futsal.

LUKE HAYDON SIGNS FOR CARLOS BARBOSA
As reported on our own websites, Viking Luke Haydon has signed for Carlos Barbosa in Brazil and leaves next Thursday to start pre season training.
Carlos Barbosa is a city in the south of Brazil and is only 50 kilometres from Veranopolis where the Dal Ponte factory is based. They are the current Brazilian champions and Brazil captain Fininho is on the team.
Mr Dal Ponte himself was very excited at the news as he sponsors both Barbosa and the Vikings and as Luke is based nearly he will keep an eye on him.
Luke will be attending the nationals but won't be playing and will fly out of Canberra on Thursday.

VISIT OF LI JING
For the next two weeks Queensland Futsal have a special guest from Chengdu in China, Mr Li Jing. He will be attending the national titles to observe and will also be watching many of the teams train this weekend.
While here he will be negotiating an exchange between Chengdu City Futsal and Vikings Futsal that hopefully will become an annual event.

TOUR TO CHILE/SOUTHERN BRAZIL
We have already had trials for the 12 and 15 boy's trip to Chile in July but due to some great news we will be have a second trial in February. This year rather than go to Ecuador as well we are going to visit the south of Brazil. Here we will stay in Veranopolis, the home of Dal Ponte and play games against local cities including Porto Alegre, Caxias and Juventude. We will also be guests of Mr Dal Ponte and have a tour of the factory and visit the factory outlet onsite.
As an added bonus the teams will also visit Carlos Barbosa Futsal nearby to meet up with Luke Haydon over there, watch him train, meet the players, play games against their junior teams and generally see what life as a professional player is like.
For enquiries on the trial or trip contact Andre Servatius at 38752600 or email andreas@qldfutsal.com.au.

OVERSEAS FUTSAL TOURS COMING UP
- New Zealand (youth) 28th January to 12th February 2005
- Brazil Centre of Excellence 6th to 25th May 2005
- New Zealand 13 's 13th to 26th May 2005
- New Zealand Youth 24th June to 6th July 2005
- Chile/Southern Brazil July 8th to 24th
- United Kingdom October 18th to November 5th
- Brazil 25th November to 14th December
- New Zealand 25th November to 9th December

NATIONAL NEWS

DAL PONTE VIKINGS SHOP AT THE NATIONAL TITLES
We will be taking the Vikings Longboat to the national titles this year. Well not actually the longboat, as we don't think the caravan will last the trip but a Hertz rental truck full of Futsal apparel, in particular shoes.
The shop will be set up around the various centres and will also be open at night at room one of the Canberra Carotel, the first room on your left when you enter the Carotel. It will also be open at the Carotel 3.00 pm to 9.00 pm on Monday and 8.00 am to 10.00 am on the Friday.
For a schedule of where the shop will be during the nationals go to www.qldfutsal.com.au . The phone contact for the shop during the week will be 0414396211.

NATIONAL TITLES
The opening ceremony for the national titles is 5.00 pm on Monday at the AIS Palace Stadium in Canberra. The opening game will be Queensland v Victoria in the open women followed by NSW v ACT in the open men.
Queensland has a total of 32 teams attending so we are hoping for a big performance from all sides. For everybody's information the buses leave on Sunday night from various locations and will be back Saturday morning. The draw for the tournament can be found on ACT's website www.actfutsal.asn.au

TOUR TO TASMANIA
This July school holidays we are running a tour combined with a tournament to Tasmania for 15/16 boys. As it is winter in Tassy then there will be plenty of snow around .The trip will be for nine nights and will take in games at Launceston and Hobart. If any players or teams are interested in attending please give Andrew Crutcher a call on 38752600 or email a.crutcher@qldfutsal.com.au.

FOOTBALL FEDERATION OF AUSTRALIA
As of the 1st January the Australian Soccer Association has changed its name to the Football Federation of Australia. There are only a few countries in the world that call football 'soccer' and we have been one of them for many years.
Although we do have three other major football codes in Australia I think the move is good in that it brings us into line with the rest of the world.
Over the next year we will also move our marketing towards 'futsal five a side football' but the change will not affect our name directly.

STATE NEWS

NEW STOCK OF SHOES ARRIVED
Just in time for the National Titles we have a couple of new Futsal shoes arrived. These will be for sale at the nationals. Unfortunately we had ordered some of the new 'footglove' Futsal shoes, a new slip-on shoe, but instead we received Dal Ponte 'footglove' outdoor boots and some other outdoor boots. We therefore will be trying to sell these at a discount. If you go to the shop website www.dalponte.org.au you will see photos and prices of these or ring Margaret on 0414396211.

'INSIDE FUTSAL' NOW ON DVD
We have now put the coaching book INSIDE FUTSAL onto DVD and have also added some extras including rules of the games, a collection of goals and some other Futsal items. These DVD'S will be for sale at the national titles or you can purchase from www.dalponte.org.au

REGIONALS ORGANISATION UNDERWAY
By now your local region will be underway organizing regional teams. This year we have Far North, North, Central, Coral Coast, Fraser Coast, Sunshine Coast North, Sunshine Coast South, South West, Gold Coast, Brisbane North, West Moreton, Brisbane South, Greenbank , Logan City and Brisbane East competing, a total of 15 regions. On top of that we have guest entries from New Zealand and Tasmania. Overall we are expecting around 230 teams up form last years 183. The tournament is played at Easter on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday at various centres around Brisbane South.
If you have any queries re the regionals please give April Mann in the office a ring on 38752600.

SENIOR REGIONALS
A reminder that the senior regional titles are on the weekend of the 12th and 13th February in Brisbane. We have shifted the seniors to February for a number of reasons. Not to clash with outdoor soccer, the tournament as a whole was getting to large for the number of courts available and with so many adults coaching, managing or refereeing game clashes were becoming a problem.

SOUTH QUEENSLAND STATE SCHOOL TITLES
Entry booklets for the 2005 state school titles are now available. The tournament is a couple of weeks earlier this year due to the short school term, however we sent out booklets before christmas.
There are 14 age groups from 10 year primary boys up to open girls and open boys and includes a special school component. Last year the tournament, held in Brisbane, attracted over 600 teams and this year we are expecting even more. Regional school tournaments are run in many parts of Queensland throughout the year with it all culminating in the Champions of Champions play off in October. If you want more information about school tournaments go to MAJOR EVENTS at www.qldfutsal.com.au . If you wish to download an entry booklet to the school titles you can do so also at the same site.

DISCOUNT BALLS FOR SCHOOLS
As usual we are selling discounted balls to those schools entering the school titles. We have now brought in a better quality ball called EVOLUTION and will be selling that at $16.50 for every team a school enters. Any further purchases after that are $33, ONLY WHILE THE SCHOOL TITLES ARE ON. We will also be using this ball for all the school tournaments.

SOUTH WEST TITLES AND LOGAN CITY CUP
A reminder of two more club tournaments coming up leading into the regional titles. The South West Cup in Toowoomba is on the weekend of 29th/30th January and the Logan City Cup is on the weekend of the 5th /6th February. I know a number of regions are using these as practise for the regional titles. If you want any information re these contact April on 38752600.

WHATS COMING UP-DATES TO REMEMBER
- NATIONAL TITLES 10TH/13TH January Canberra
- NATIONAL TEAM TITLES 22ND/23RD January Newcastle
- SOUTH WEST TITLES 29TH/30TH January Toowoomba
- LOGAN CITY CUP 5TH/6TH February Logan City
- SENIOR REGIONAL TITLES 11TH/13TH February Acacia Ridge
- STATE SCHOOL TITLES 21ST Feb/ 11th March Brisbane South
- NORTH SCHOOL TITLES 21ST Feb/ 24th Feb Townsville
- PRIMARY SCHOOL TITLES 14TH/16TH March Brisbane South
- SCHOOLS GRAND FINAL DAY 18TH March Logan City
- SPECIAL SCHOOL TITLES 23RD March Acacia Ridge
- JUNIOR REGIONAL TITLES 26TH / 28TH March Brisbane South

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
A FEW SPECIALS FROM FOOTBALL REPORTERS IN THE UK
'The new West Stand casts a giant shadow over the pitch, even on a sunny day.' - CHRIS JONES (Evening Standard)
'With news of Scotland's 0-0 victory over Holland...' - SCOTTISH TV
'...and France and Romania drew 1-0.' - MOIRA STEWART
'Winning's about playing football and scoring goals...' - BBC Radio 4
'Celtic were at one time 9 points ahead, but somewhere along the line their ship went off the rails.' - RICHARD PARK
'Jim McLean, one of the few managers who can physically lift a side.' - ARTHUR MONTFORD
'... and so they have not been able to improve their 100% record.' - reporter
'He [Ben Thatcher] is only 20 but he's already played for the England Under-21 Side.' - Anglia TV presenter
'Liverpool's best chance ended when Beardsley shot himself.' - Daily Express match report
'There's an unmentionable 4-letter word in Northern Ireland's World Cup vocabulary at the moment - defeat.' - Daily Mirror
'IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY BY GERMANS : Aston Villa 1 Southampton 0' - Guardian
'A minute's silence for the deceased Honorary President of FIFA, Sir Stanley Rous. Shot against the post by Maradona.' - FIFA News
'Brentford Reserves were involved in a nine-goal thriller when they beat Orient 4-3.' - Ealing Gazette
'In most associations half of the committee does all the work while the other half does nothing. I am pleased to report that in this football club it is the reverse.' - Liverpool Echo
'If you don't want to know the results, close your ears.' - London Tonight
'At half time England are drawing 2-0...' - Talk Radio newsreader
'Their presence is expected to help an anaemic attack that scored only twice in a 1-0 loss in Guatemala on July 16 and a controversial 2-1 defeat in Costa Rica a week later.' - MICHAEL LEWIS (cnnsi.com)
JON CHAMPION : 'The question everyone is asking is why you didn't win by a greater margin?'
ARSENE WENGER : 'It was because we didn't get a second goal.'
'It could be bad news for Andy Sinton - his knee is locked up inside the dressing room' - GEORGE GAVIN
'Chelsea last won away on April Fools' Day - now it's Boxing Day, another great religious holiday' - DOMINIC JOHNSON
'Their away record is instantly forgettable. The 5-1 defeat and 7-nil defeat spring to mind.' - Radio 5 Live
'It's now 4-3 to Oldham, the goals are going in like dominoes' - Piccadilly Radio reporter
'You'll be hoping that this run of injuries will stop earlier than it started.' - ANDREW GIDLEY
'Clearly, Graeme, it all went according to plan. What was the plan exactly?' - ELTON WELSBY
'So that's 1-0, sounds like the score at Boundary Park where of course it's 2-2' - JACK WAINWRIGHT
'And the word is that Stern John may or may not play' - COLIN FRAY
'Celtic have extended their lead at the top to a remarkable 15 points. Now to soccer...' - TREVOR WELCH
'Bristol City will be attacking their fans in the second half' - GEORGE GAVIN
'We'll have more football later. Meanwhile, here are the highlights from the Scottish cup final.' - GARY NEWBON
'Leeds hope to tie up a deal for the speedy frontman before this week's Premiership opener at home to Leeds' - planetfootball.com
'Wayne Rooney became the longest player to score in the Premier League' - BBC1
'Colin Cameron will miss both legs due to injury in Scotland's Euro 2004 play off against Holland' - DAVID CROFT
( more next week......)

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