Italo Stars will go into the weekend with home ground advantage as they meet up with Byron Bay in the major semi final tomorrow at 2.00pm.

Stars on recent form should be considered favourites but with little between the two sides and the fact that Byron are still smarting from their failure to defend the title they won last year an upset could be on the cards.

Byron will be without suspended defender Chris Cranmer while Stars should be at full strength.

In the sudden death semi Goonellabah will have to contend with a road trip as well as a very tough match when they meet Maclean at Wherrit Park.

Both sides have been inconsistent over the year but with home ground advantage Maclean should have the edge. They will also be keen to finish the season on a huge high as they depart for North Coast Premier League in 2008.

Questions, questions, questions - who will be named as female and male players of the year? Who will be crowned the Golden Boot? Who scored the most goals across all the senior divisions? Who will be coach of the Year?

All these questions plus more will be announced Saturday night as the FFNC Annual Awards Dinner gets under way.

Commencing at 7.00pm at Lismore Workers Club 300 guest are expected to support their club mates and the 2007 award winners.

Tickets are still available and for $33 including a 3 course dinner is excellent value. Tickets are available at the door.

Workers FC edged past a determined South Lismore 3 - 1 on Tuesday night in stage 1 of the battle for the Holy Grail - a place in the 2008 Premiership.

Workers Todd Gordon bagged a double to help Workers take the advantage while defender Daune Hoare chimed in with the decisive strike. For South Lismore Leigh Simpson grabbed the all important equaliser just before half time but the celtics could not find any way past a resolute Workers rearguard during the second period.

Workers FC will now face off against Alstonville in the final next Tuesday night at Oakes Oval after the villa were gifted a forfeit by fellow contenders Tweed Heads.

Richmond Rovers have secured the FFNC Premiership with an outstanding 2nd round performance outrunning a determined pack of chasing clubs including last years champs Byron Bay.

All eyes will now focus on the Grand Final Series as Italo Stars take on Byron and Maclean play Goonellabah in the first stage of semi-finals.

But before a ball is kicked in the penultimate stage of the 07 season Rovers will celebrate along with Golden Boot and Player of the Year winners at the annual awrads dinner at Lismore Workers Club this Saturday at 7.00pm.

Trials for FFNC 2008 Representative and Development squads are coming up, so get in early with your nominations.

Here are the dates:

9th Sept 2007  

U10 Boys 9am

U11 Boys 11am

U12 Boys 1pm

U13 Boys 3pm

22nd Sept 2007

12/13 Girls 9am

14/15 Girls 10:45am

16/17 Girls 12:30pm

23rd Sept 2007

U14 Boys 9am

U15 Boys 10.45am

U16/17 Boys 12.30pm

Venue will be Lennox Head Football Grounds at Skennars Head.

Get your application form now Trial Nomination Form 2007.pdf

This file requires Adobe Acrobat to view download your free copy here

Lennox Head have secured the Southern Cross Credit Union Women’s Premier League title with two rounds to spare after again disposing of Burringbar 4 - 0. The win puts the Sharks 11 points clear of nearest rivals Byron Bay who over the last month have struggled for form.

The Byron Vixens secured the three points to maintain 2nd spot with an unconvicing 2- 1 win over the fast improving Richmond Rovers, while third placed Workers FC appear to be in cruise mode going down to Tumbulgum 2 - 1 on Friday before responding with a 6- 0 hiding on Sunday in a double header against the northern side.

The real battle left in the WPL is the race for fourth and fifth with only two points separating Burringbar in 4th and Tumbulgum in 6th. Burringbar and Rovers have reasonably tough runs home meeting each other this Sunday in what should most certainly be the decider. They will follow that up with games against Byron and Workers, and Workers and Tumbulgum respectively.

For last placed Tumbulgum only a major upset of league leaders Lennox Head and Byron will give them any hope of securing a semi final berth.

The 2007 Grand Final Series has been released with a full schedule now available click here or download your own copy GRAND FINAL SCHEDULE.pdf!

Please note that FFNC has endeavoured to accommodate the Lismore Masters Games within this format  as well as the scheduling for the NSW Football, Champion of Champions tournament.

This schedule is now final and further changes will not be considered.

Former Byron Bay and FFNC goalkeeper Rachel Cooper has gained selection in the Australian Women’s Football team overnight making her debut for the Matilda’s against Hong Kong.

For Cooper the outing was a relatively easy one as the Matilda’s put the home side to the sword in an 8 - 1 thrashing, but the thought of conceding a goal will way heavily on the young starlet.

This fixture was the penultimate match in the Matilda’s 2008 Olympic qualifying campaign, and the side was an extremely experimental one with the team primarily consisting of the “young matilda’s” squad. This action was taken as the senior team has essentially underperformed - missing out on qualification after two losses to the highly fancied Korea Republic.

For more match information click here