Ewen Jones (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on something that I am very passionate about, and on which I will also declare an interest: Football Federation Australia has pulled the licence for the North Queensland Fury FC.

My son is a nine-year-old natural left-footer and goal-scoring machine for the Saints Sandcrabs. He fully intended to spend his winters playing for the North Queensland Cowboys and his summers playing for the North Queensland Fury. That dream has been dashed by the callous actions of Football Federation Australia.

This team has only been in existence for two years and was launched with much fanfare by Football Federation Australia. But they did not come to the launch in North Queensland, they were too busy going across and sucking up to those Kiwis in Wellington. They came up and said, ‘There you go—away you go,’ and that is where the support stopped.

We had Robbie Fowler in our first season, and I was lucky enough to meet a lot of these guys, but since that very first season our playing ranks have been absolutely pillaged and raped because the Football Federation will not support football in North Queensland. Every Saturday at Murray Sports Complex and at sporting fields all around North Queensland you see people running around. My son’s favourite player in the world is David Williams from the North Queensland Fury. That says that we should be in North Queensland and it is a shame on FFA for doing this. No wonder they only got one vote for the World Cup. (Time expired)