North Queensland Thunder
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| Full name | Northern Fury Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Fury |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Ground | Townsville Sports Reserve |
| Capacity | 4,000 (seated) 6,500 (total) |
| CEO | Consortium of Local Figures |
| Director | Rabieh Krayem |
| Coach | Paul Roncato |
| League | NPL Queensland |
| 2016 | 12th |
| Website | Club home page |
Northern Fury Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from the league due to financial instability. On 3 October 2012, the club officially re-formed after it was granted a licence to participate in the National Premier League Queensland. Northern Fury play their home fixtures at Townsville Sports Reserve.
A bid known as Northern Thunder FC (or North Queensland Thunder FC) was considered for admission for the 2008–09 season along with Gold Coast Galaxy. The bid was publicly well progressed, with the team's badge and colours (red, white and black) released. The training facilities were to be located at the North Queensland Institute of Sport and the home ground was to play at Dairy Farmers Stadium.
The bid was tentatively accepted to join in the 2008–09 season expanding the league to ten teams. Needing to meet certain financial criteria to be granted entry into the league, the club's major financial backer pulled out of the franchise on 5 March 2008, effectively collapsing the bid. Football Federation Australia determined on 11 March 2008 that neither Thunder or Galaxy would be granted entry "in the best interests of the league," given that a nine team format was generally unfavoured and delayed expansion of the league until the 2009–10 season.
With expansion put off until the following season, by June 2008 the FFA had received ten bids for new A–League teams, two of which came from Townsville – one headed by Melbourne businesswoman Milissa Fischer and one by local businessman Don Matheson. Matheson's bid, which "rose from the ashes of the Northern Thunder bid", was granted a provisional licence by Football Federation Australia on 24 July. On 27 August 2008 the franchise was accepted into the A–League by CEO Ben Buckley with the only matter outstanding the finalisation of all legal requirements.
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