Richmond Rovers and Lennox Head have started the Southern Cross Credit Union WPL in outstanding form winning both of the fixtures to date and setting up a tantalising clash when they meet each other this weekend.

With the chance to gain an early lead on the trailing field both sides will be desperate to win giving the match that extra edge. Lennox fresh from their Tursa Pre-Season success and a midweek win over Alstonville will go into the match full of confidence but slightly legweary.

Rovers had a confidence boosting mid-week win over Burringbar to consign the Bandits to their second straight loss and this should have the girls optomistic of there chances against the Sharks.

In other weekend WPL action Alstonville will play Stars aiming for a morale boosting win while Thistles will hope that Burringbar are not up for the contest and aim to capitalise and take another three points.

Oakes Oval will come alive with the sound of screaming fans and celebrations this Friday when the Tursa Pre-Season reaches it’s final stage for 2008.

Having slogged it out for the last two months the teams competing in FFNC’s traditional Anzac Day event will get the chance to compete for the seasons first silverware.

In late news Crozier Oval has been declared unplayable following construction vehicles damaging the playing surface. A new venue is currently being persued and we will advise shortly.

Fixtures are as follows;

Weston Park - Goonellabah

12 noon - Anzac Cup Grade 16

1.30pm - Callan McMillan Grade 16

3.00pm - Callan McMillan B Division

Oakes Oval

12 noon - Anzac Cup Open B

2.00pm - Callan McMillan A Division

4.15pm - Anzac Cup Open A

6.15pm - Anzac Cup Premier Division

All senior men’s and women’s draws are now available.

For divisions with 12 teams (i.e. Mens 4th, 5th & 6th Divisions), you will notice the draw is only listed until 5th July 2008.

Your competitions will play 1 full round (i.e. every team will play each other once=11 games) THEN the competition will be split into two groups - odds and evens. Teams ranked 1,3,5,7,9 & 11 will then play each other once and Teams ranked 2,4,6,8,10 & 12 will play each other once.

This will give each team a total of 16 games for the season. points earned from round 1 and from the split round 2 will be combined to determine the top five and semi-final qualification.

Clear as Mud - if so give us a call on 66 25 1444 and we will explain it again for you.

Good luck to all teams for the 2008 season.

Round 2 of the Tursa Anzac Cup proved to be a massive goal fest as Rovers, Thistles and Byron smashed in 15 goals between them in Premier Division.

Only the Lennox Head v Bangalow derby ended goal less as a total of 22 goals bulged the nets.

In Open A, Open B and Grade 16 the trend was similar with the biggest thrashing of the weekend going to Goonellabah as they put 14 into the big sack.

All up a total of over 104 goals were scored in just 27 games - thats a whopping 4 goals a game - who said football wasn’t entertaining!!!

The future of football in FFNC is small - SSG small.

What is SSG - it is small sided games or more importantly “FOOTBALL FOR KIDS”.

2008 will see the widespread introduction of this new concept of football with FFNC introducing SSG for all players in Grade 6, 7 & 8.

Last weekend FFNC with SSG Ambassador Craig Foster delivered a Roadshow across the region - educating parents, coaches and administrators on the benefits and function of SSG - even the kids got a chance to experience the new football first hand.

As part of the rollout of SSG we have been fortunate to gain access to Craig’s articles on the subject “The future of football is small”. Chaeck them out below they make facinating reading;

The future of football is small - part 1

The future of football is small - part 2

The future of football is small - part 3

FFNC acknowledge and thank Craig Foster and “The World Game” for providing access to these articles.

FFA publications on SSG are available as well and cover all aspects of the SSG concept.

FFA_SSG_Handbook.pdf

ssg_parents_flyer.pdf

or visit the FFA and check out all there is to know about SSG!!!

Can’t play Weekend Football? Have fun in a non-competitive, organised social atmosphere.

Six-a-Side Football  - Monday Nights 6pm - 9.30pm

Divisions for Men, Women, Mixed and Under 18 Male and Female

SEPARATE COMPETITIONS WILL BE HELD AT

• Riverview Park, South Lismore
• Saunders Oval, Ballina
• Qualified Referees will be provided.

DIVISIONS AND DAYS WILL BE DEPENDANT ON NOMINATIONS RECEIVED BY CLOSING DATE

(some divisions may be played on Tuesday or Wednesday)

• All registration fees must be paid prior to kick off of the first match.
• Participation will not be permitted UNTIL fees are paid in full.
• Matches to be two 20 minutes halves on half sized fields
• Each team MUST have a minimum of seven and maximum of 10 registered players.

REGISTRATION FEES:

• Senior players $136.60
• Junior players (18 & under) $63.35
• 2008 Pointscore registered Senior players $40.70
• 2008 Pointscore registered Junior players (18 & under) $28.80

A weekly match fee of $35 per team will apply (to cover ground and referee fees)
A numbered playing strip will be required

NOMINATIONS will close on 3rd March, 2008
(matches commence 17th March)

Enquiries, expressions of interest and nominations forms from FFNC Zone office on 66251444,
email compsjc@bigpond.net.au
or on www.footballfarnorthcoast.com.au

Downloads

• Download Six a Side Poster
• Download Six a Side Nomination Form

Richmond Rovers are the big improvers in the last month after recording a well deserved draw against joint league leaders Byron Bay last Saturday in Southern Cross Credit Union Women’s Premier League action.

Rovers showed great determination and resolve under pressure as they took the match to an understrength Byron Vixens outfit. Scoring first through a great finish from Jessica Pickford the home side surprised the high flying Vixens and continued to dominate for long periods.

The frustration of the visitors was realised when Lizbeth Vegsund was cautioned for unsporting behaviour and only through the efforts of Tanika Hand and Amy Baldwin in defence were Byron able to stay in touch before Johnstone finally secured a draw with a well taken near post finish.

In the only other WPL fixture played over the weekend Lennox Head continued it’s dominance of the league with an 11 - 0 thrashing of Burringbar. Goals to Sophie Towner, Martene Wallace with a hat trick, Amanda Brett, Chelsea Coleman and Abigail Allardyce with a quartet proved decisive as the sharks continue their march to the championship.

This weekend the top two will clash in what will be the championship decider as there should be little chance the Sharks will drop any more points on the run home while Tumbulgum will have an opportunity to cement a top five spot as they meet up with Rovers. Burringbar on the other hand will be up against it again when they host Workers FC.

While the Socceroos commence their attack on the Asian Cup in Thailand, all eyes locally will be on the three top leagues as top five clashes promise an exciting weekend of football.

In the FFNC Premiership, Friday nights clash between Goonellabah and Lennox Head at Weston Park, holds the most interest as does Saturday’ road trip for Byron Bay as they travel to Wherritt Park, Maclean trying to gather some consistency in their defence of the title.

In the Newton Denny Chapelle Championship the top of the table meeting of Pottsville and Tweed Heads at Seabreeze Oval could not just settle a local derby but also hand a distinct advantage to either of these title contenders.

Finally in the Southern Cross Credit Union Women’ Premier League Friday nights top three clash between the dominant Lennox Head and 3rd placed Workers FC holds the most promise and should contain plenty of spice with some strong personalities on the field for both sides.

South Lismore has returned from the road trip north brimming with confidence after a solid 1 - 0 win over Tweed Heads in round 9 of the Newton Denny Chapelle Championship.

The Celtics went into the match as underdogs having lost to Tweed three times already this season, but they stuck to a determined game plan and frustrated the home side into error.

A late goal to G Gough was enough to restore some green pride as recent results had cast them adrift of the top three and the much vaunted promotion spots.

Lismore Thistles also capped a great weekend taking advantage of the Tweed slip up with two solid wins over Woodburn and Uki. These results now give them a 4 point buffer over the leagues quiet achievers Pottsville Panthers.

Goals to Thistles veterans Darren Beardow and Steve Morrissey proved enough to overcome the inconsistent Woodburn who turned in one of their best performances to date.

The Panthers though are starting to show they are real contenders for the title with another emphatic win over Murwillumbah Saints, running in 5 unanswered goals.

In other top five action, Alstonville moved closer to the top with a hard fought 3 - 2 win over early pace setters Tumbulgum. In a spiteful clash, seeing 6 players booked, Villa prevailed over an at times desperate Rangers outfit.

At the foot of the table Casino proved too resilient against Uki in what has been termed a gentlemen’s match. Both sides played attractive and patient football in an atmosphere of goodwill and great sportsmanship.

In Round 10 action Tweed Heads will need to return to good form if they are to take anything from their meeting with Woodburn. The Wolves are shaping up as one of the danger teams of the Newton Denny Chapelle Championship, having already accounted for South’s.

South Lismore and Pottsville will feature in the Northern Districts match of the round when they take on second placed Pottsville at the Panthers den while in the Southern Districts feature match Thistles will have to be very careful against an improving Alstonville.

Bottom of the table Uki and Murwillumbah will meet up in a game that will most likely decide the wooden spoon, and Tumbulgum should be to strong for Casino at Breckenridge Field.

Lennox Head Sharks moved three points clear at the top of the Southern Cross Credit Union WPL after a solid 3 - 0 win over their closest championship rivals Byron Bay.

With both teams going into the match tied on 20 points and with a solid head to head record the outcome was expected to be close.

But the Sharks dominated the game with some high tempo defending and good use of possession. Lead by the quality of Martene Wallace and the attacking ability of Abigail Allardyce the Sharks controlled the game and ran out worthy winners.

Byron’s usually dominant trio of Argent, Johnstone and Hopley were kept quiet through great efforts of the Sharks Sophie Towner and Amanda Brett.

Tweed based sides Burringbar and Tumbulgum had a more forgettable weekend with the Bandits unable to field a team due to work commitments handing a forfeit to Workers FC and Rangers going down 5 - 0 to a fast improving Richmond Rovers.

Rangers had shown in earlier rounds that they could contain Rovers and most pundits were not expecting this type of lopsided outcome.

Rover’s advantage was well deserved through a brace to Baker Pearce with Whitney McNall capping a player of the match performance with a great goal as well. For Rangers Brook Brehaut was the best on field in an overall disappointing performance.

Looking ahead to the weekend Rovers will again face the formidable prospect of traveling to Lennox hoping to continue their good form while Workers FC will have a chance to make some ground up on Byron Bay, hoping that they have not recovered from their weekend loss.

The pick of the round though is at the bottom of the table with all eyes on the local Tweed derby between Tumbulgum and Burringbar. Rangers will have a great chance to distance themselves from the Bandits and maintain a top five position. For the Bandits they will be just hopeful of getting a full team of fit players on the park and establish some credibility in this league.