Football Queensland announced today a restructure of the Football Queensland Advanced Junior Leagues.
How does this affect competitions?
In summary, the NPL Juniors, FQPL Junior Development and SAP Leagues have been discontinued. In their place will be “FQ Academy Leagues” across ages Under 9 to Under 18, for both boys and girls. We understand Metro leagues will be unaffected.
Boys
The Advanced Junior Competition Leagues for boys in 2023 will be FQ Academy League 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively, comprised of 40 clubs, and clubs will be allocated into these Leagues by an FQ Club assessment score.
Taking into account that TGFC has had boys teams competing in the FQPL Junior Development League, the results of these teams across the board from Under 13 to Under 18, and the compliance material that we have submitted to FQ, we are confident that our first boys teams across these age groups will be allocated a place in one of these new FQ Academy Leagues. We intend to also seek inclusion of our advanced Under 9 to Under 12 teams.
Girls
In relation to Advanced Girls Football, from 2023 there will be Under 11, Under 13, Under 15 and Under 17 competitions, being part of FQ Academy Leagues 1 and 2, comprised of 16 clubs. For the same reasons as set out above in respect of the boys, we are confident that we will be within one of League 1 or 2 in respect of the Under 11, Under 13, Under 15 and Under 17 competitions.
What happens next?
We, and all other Clubs, have been informed by FQ that confirmation of Advanced Participation Licences for all Clubs will occur by 2 November 2022.
TGFC sees these changes introduced by Football Queensland as providing both challenges and opportunities for our Club. Given our player depth, coaching experience and resources available, we are confident that we will be able to field competitive teams in each of these Advanced competitions.
Trials
The trials for Under 13 to Under 16 boys high performance teams will proceed as planned in the week of 24th October 2022.
However, we do not propose to make offers until we have been informed (by early November) as to the League in which our Club has been placed.
Times for Under 8 to Under 12 boys’ high performance team trials will be announced shortly.
Trials for the high performance girls teams will also proceed over the week of 24th October, with details to be announced shortly.
Further information
As more detail of the new structure becomes available, we will keep you informed, and we intend to hold an information evening at the Club in the next few weeks.