Courtesy: Byron Shire Echo


Getting a Futsal in the door

Written by Eve Jeffery

Wednesday, 13 August 2008

A trio of talented local mates have just been selected to play in the Vikings 15 years boys Australian Futsal squad to tour the United Kingdom later this year.

Layton Barton of Bangalow, Tim Knight of Federal and Sean Spencer of Alstonville are no strangers to high level sports competition.

Each of the boys has also competed at either State or Australian level Athletics Championships, and for the last 3 years have also been travelling together all over NSW and Queensland playing Representative State League Football, however to be selected to play for Vikings Australia is a great honor and a crowning achievement.

Goalkeeper Layton loves the game. ‘Futsal really teaches you to react very quickly on the small court,’ he says. ‘The strikers come at you really fast and a shot on goal can come from anywhere.’

The boys local club team, the Wizards, won the minor premiership and the 3 boys were chosen to represent the Far North Coast NSW.

The Rep team had two other Byron Shire boys, Daniel Musgrave and Craig Barnham from the Ocean Shores Club and two boys from Grafton.

At Easter they competed at the Australian and Pacific Regional Championships where they won the Vikings Futsal Silver challenge against teams from New Zealand, Tasmania and all over the Australian mainland.

Futsal is very popular in the cities and larger population areas as it can be played indoors in summer and winter competitions irrespective of the weather.

Two other local Byron Shire players were selected into the U13 boys Australian team, Desan Conners-Hart and Toby Barton

The growth of Futsal has been amazing with player numbers doubling each year in all age groups up to men’s and women’s, as the word gets around how fun and exciting the game is.

A new centre opened in Ocean Shores last September and there are currently plans for another new Centre in Byron Bay in time for the summer season. Plans are also in the works for a new Premier League under 19 youth competition between clubs this summer.

It sounds like we’re all going to hear a lot more about Futsal in the future!





Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com