Following ongoing discussions with the club, Football Queensland has today confirmed that with the conclusion of the current five-year licence period, the Mackay & Whitsundays Magpies Crusaders United Football Club (MCU) will not continue to participate in the South East Queensland conference of the Football Queensland Premier League 1 (FQPL 1) beyond 2022.
With the relegation of MCU in 2021 from the National Premier Leagues Queensland and the expiry of all advanced participation licences, it concludes nearly $1,000,000 in direct investment by Football Queensland into MCU, with Football Queensland’s investment focus now on all clubs, players and their development across the entire Whitsunday Coast region.
Football Queensland continued to honour the terms of the licence agreement with MCU until its expiry, despite earlier completing the state-wide competition reforms that brought the Whitsunday Coast region’s competition structures in line with the rest of the state with Queensland partitioned into three competition conferences, Northern, Central Coast, and South East Queensland.
Increased investment in player development, talent identification and pathways will be directed through the expansion of the FQ Academy Boys and Girls and national pathway system, and towards building capacity in each of the three conferences’ Football Queensland Premier Leagues and the Conference Champions League across the entire state.
Following 24 months of consultation throughout the Future of Football 2020+ reform process, public and private advice was provided to MCU in September 2021 when FQ officials met with the club to discuss the new investment into the FQ Academy, the new connected football pyramid and the conference system. A 12-month transition period was agreed to with Magpies Crusaders United to allow an opportunity to plan and make necessary arrangements with players and to meet sponsor obligations.
The FQ Academy program is delivered and managed by Football Queensland across the state as part of Football Australia’s nationally recognised and accredited development pathway for Queensland footballers, from community football to Australia’s national teams and professional leagues. This will bring the pathway for boys and girls in the Whitsunday Coast region in line with the opportunities experienced in other regions to ensure consistency and equality of opportunity across the state.
In the last 12 months, Football Queensland has invested an additional $150,000 into player technical development in the region and is committed to further long-term investment in the Whitsunday Coast region in the form of more qualified staff, sustainable football programs and competitions, and a three-year infrastructure improvement program to deliver upgrades to Mackay Football Park.
In 2023, the top teams and players from the FQPL Whitsunday Coast, FQPL Far North & Gulf and FQPL Northern competitions will play off against each other in a Champions League-style competition throughout the season to determine the Northern Conference winner. The winners of each Conference will then meet at the end of the 2023 season to determine the FQPL Champions of Queensland.
