Queensland Roar FC

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Queensland Roar FC

Full name

Queensland Roar
FC Pty Ltd

Nickname(s)

The Roar

Founded

2005 as QLD Roar, 1957 as Hollandia

Ground

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Capacity

52,000

Chairman

John Ribot

Manager

Frank Farina

League

A-League

A-League 2005-06

6th





Home colours





Away colours

Queensland Roar FC is an Australian football (soccer) club from Brisbane, Australia competing in the A-League competition, playing their home games at Suncorp Stadium.It was announced on November 15, 2006 that Frank Farina would replace Miron Bleiberg as coach.

1 History
2 Colours and badge
3 Stadium
4 Supporters
5 Current squad
6 Noted players
7 Managers
8 Honours
9 Records
10 References
11 External links
- 11.1 Official
- 11.2 Unofficial
12 See also

[edit] History

The Queensland Roar are a successor to Brisbane Hollandia (later Brisbane Lions) as a representative of the Queensland Lions Soccer Club in Australian national competitions. Brisbane Hollandia/Lions competed in the National Soccer League from 1977 until 1988.

At the time of conception of the A-League, teams from several capital cities were preferred to form the foundation clubs. By June 2004 two of the twenty submissions for joining the league were sought by partnerships formed in Brisbane, the captial of Queensland. ^[1]. On 1 November 2004 the group headed by Queensland Lions Soccer Club^[2] were chosen as operators of the Brisbane team. The only foundation team to represent a state, it was one of three teams that represented a region with the remaining teams each representing a city and the only successful bid by an ethnic-based club.

On 2 March 2005 the Roar was officially launched as a club. ^[3] The board consists of chairman John Ribot, a former CEO of both National Rugby League clubs Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm, deputy chairman Gary Wilkins, former Queensland and Australian soccer player, and CEO Lawrence Oudendyk (who is also Queensland Lions CEO) among others.

The team in its first season spent much of the season in the bottom half of the table after a poor beginning to the season. With home attendance the second highest in the opening season (average 14,860 a game), the Roar had the second highest attendance to a single game against New Zealand Knights in its first game (23,142). The team was the first to have 100,000 spectators pass through the gates and overall had the second highest attendance for the season (148,609) despite failing to qualify for the finals. The Roar ended up with seven wins, seven draws and seven losses in its first season, finishing a disappointing sixth.

At the beginning of the 2006/2007 A-League season the Roar enjoyed a undefeated start to their opening 5 games and took 11 points and second place on the ladder. Since then however, in their next 7 games the Roar only managed 5 points which included just one victory. This slump has saw them fall to 4th on the ladder as of Round 12, on equal points with Perth Glory. It was in this string of disappointing performances that saw, then manager, Miron Bleiberg tender his resignation after a sloppy 1-1 draw at home to the Central Coast Mariners. This was rejected by the Board, who showed faith in Bleiberg. However, following the draw to the Mariners, the Roar suffered two straight losses which included a shocking 1-0 own goal loss to bottom-placed New Zealand and a loss at home to Adelaide). Following the loss at home to Adelaide United, it was announced that Miron Bleiberg would step down as manager of QLD Roar FC. It was later revealed that he again tendered his resignation before the Adelaide game, citing he would step down in the event the Roar did not return a "positive result".

The search for an appropriate successor began immediately with QLD Roar FC announcing they had recieved 25 applicants, hoth home and abroad, for the top job at the Roar within 24 hours of Bleiberg's resignation. Bleiberg's successor, Frank Farina, has been named at a press conference on 16 November 2006. Farina is a household name in Australian football; he has 86 caps for the Socceroos and played in the now defunct NSL, winning the title with Brisbane Strikers in 1996/97. Farina also coached the Socceroos from 1999 until a disastrous 2005 Confederations Cup campaign that yielded no wins saw him walk away from the job citing a lack of confidence from Football Federation of Australia chairman Frank Lowy.

[edit] Colours and badge

The Roar play in a predominantly orange home strip. Although Queensland sporting teams traditionally play in maroon this strip is in keeping with the colour used by the team in its earlier incarnations as Hollandia, Brisbane Lions and Queensland Lions.

On 31 July 2005 the club announced that it had ordered a strip that was half orange and half maroon, but that the current colours were manufactured for prominence on television.

[edit] Stadium

Main article: Suncorp Stadium

The Roar play their home matches at the 52,000-capacity Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

As of the end of Round 19, the average home crowd for the Roar was 14,899. This is the second highest average crowd in the A-League and the fourth highest average crowd in Brisbane for 2005 (behind the Brisbane Lions on 33,101, Brisbane Broncos on 30,300 and Queensland Reds on 18,155). On 29 October 2005, Queensland Roar were the first A-League club to reach 100,000 home spectators.

[edit] Supporters

The Queensland Roar have three main supporters groups: The Officials, The Roar Rejects and The Northern Element. Each group was formed to represent the diversity of fan base that exists with in the supporters:

The Officials are the club's "official" supporters group, and aim to help and assist the wider fan base, not just those who stand in the Northern terrace. The Officials were instrumental in the foundation of The Den. At meetings with Suncorp Stadium and the Queensland Roar, the Officials were able to broker a more relaxed environment for those supporters wanting to stand, sing and chant. Currently the Officials have a solid relationship with the other A-League supporters groups, notably The Cove (Sydney FC), The Marinators (Central Coast Mariners FC) and The Shed (Perth Glory FC).

The Rejects are predominantly lads who have played or been involved in the local football scene before the launch of the A-League. Initially formed as protest to the A-League licence being given to the former Brisbane Premier League club, Queensland Lions, they quickly became the club's largest and most vocal supporters groups.

The Northern Element aim to add some casuals culture to the Northern terrace. Created in 2005 and influenced by the British football scene, the supporters group represents those fans who have not bought into the glitz and glamour of the modern game. Instead the Northern Element stick closer to traditions first formed in the 70's and 80's such as designer labels instead of club colours, and an aversion to the global marketing and merchandise of the game. Recognisable, both home and away by their distinctive banner^[4], the Northern Element aim to create strong friendships with supporters groups in the A-League, and already have ties with Melbourne's Blue and White Brigade (The BWB).

All three groups are positioned in the Northern stand of the ground, in an area known to fans as 'The Den'.

A small but growing group of fans from all groups make up the travelling Den.

[edit] Current squad

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Tom Willis
2	MF	Andrew Packer
3	DF	Remo Buess
4	DF	Chad Gibson (captain)
5	DF	Josh McCloughan
6	DF	Stuart McLaren
7	MF	Marcus Wedau
8	MF	Massimo Murdocca
9	FW	Simon Lynch
10	FW	Ante Milicic
11	FW	Reinaldo Mineiro

No.	Position	Player
12	FW	Zhang Yuning
13	MF	Spase Dilevski
14	DF	Ben Griffin
15	MF	Matt McKay
16	MF	Hyuk-Su Seo
18	MF	Dario Vidosic
19	DF	Sasa Ognenovski
20	GK	Liam Reddy
21	MF	Steve Fitzsimmons
25	MF	Carl Recchia
26	FW	Robbie Kruse

[edit] Noted players

It has been suggested that List of Queensland Roar F.C. players be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

[edit] Managers

Miron Bleiberg (2 March 2005-12 November 2006)
Frank Farina (15 November 2006-Current)

[edit] Honours

Please expand this section.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at Requests for expansion.
Please remove this message once the section has been expanded.