Yamanto based Scott Fenn, has continued the international rise of Vikings Futsal with an offer from a Chinese University, to take part in the Chinese Division One Futsal League.

Fenn will be competing in an 8 team League that commences this month and runs through until April 2009. In addition to this Scott will be eligible to contest in the Chinese FA Cup, bringing his total contribution to approximately 60 games for the season.

Chinese Futsal Association spokesman Li Jing, is adamant that Scott’s success is a direct result of Vikings on going efforts in China.

Scott’s university, The University of Electronic Science and Technology, (UESTC) is also working on registering him for the Chinese National University League which will be held from May to July next year. UESTC have offered Scott a nice salary for his stay in addition to arranging his accommodation.

UESTC is situated in the Region of Chengdu, which was at the forefront of world focus in May of this year when it was hit by China’s largest earthquake since 1976. The area has devastated with 1000’s killed and left homeless.

The pathway to China for Scott received a boost earlier in the year with selection in the Queensland Men’s team to play in the 2009 Vikings National Titles. This came on the back of training stints in Brazil with elite coaches & players.

Whilst at UESTC, Scott, a former Ipswich Grammar student, hopes to continue studying in Civil Engineering.

Source : Queensland Futsal
Published : 1/12/2008

Vikings Futsal New Zealand CEO met with officials from the IMG Football Academy in Sarasota Florida to discuss Futsal.

On a recent trip to the USA Vikings Futsal meet with IMG Football Acadamy to discuss building a Futsal relationship.

IMG Football Academy is based in Sarasota, Florida and is part of a huge IMG Sports Academy that caters for golf, baseball, basketball, tennis and football. At anytime there are 600 attending the academy which also has a school attatched and a sports science complex.

James Pendridge and Wil Smilth who are both members of the Vikings NZ 14 boys side to attend the Vikings National Titles in Sydney both attend the academy.

The academy is interested in incorporating Futsal into it’s program and has meet with Vikings Futsal to discuss how a program would work.

While in the area Wadsworth also met with officials from USA Futsal and discussed building a closer relationship that could see exchanges in the near future. Tampa has a strong Futsal population and looks foward to building a relationship with the extensive Vikings network which now has dealings in China, Philippines, Thailand, England, Wales, Scotland, Argintina, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, USA, Canada along with Australia and New Zealand.

Source : Vikings Futsal NZ
Published : 1/12/2008

HB Futsal 2008 U15 Schools Champions Havelock North Intermediate pictured after winning the recent final against Hastings Boys High at the Pettigrew Green Arena in Napier.

Despite being the youngest team at the tournament with an average age of 12, Havelock Nth ran out overall winners after a series of fantastic performances on Gameday 2.

After winning their last four games in the ten game group series, the boys overcame the ever-improving CHB side from Waipukurau 4-2 in a high quality semi final before finally accounting for tournament favourites Hastings Boys High 4-1 in an action-packed final.

Taradale High School Girls also ran out convincing winners in the Girls U15 Section.

Source : Hawkes Bay Futsal
Published : 1/12/2008

The Hawkesbury Commodores took on West City in South Windsor on Saturday night with the spoils shared in the top two grades of the Futsal competition.

The women’s match saw City come from behind twice to secure a dramatic 2-3 victory over their hosts. The locals had started the stronger and within four minutes they had secured a lead. A one two between Lauren Ralston and Toni Dempsey saw Ralston beat off the defence and smash the ball past the keeper and into the back of the net. Within two minutes there should have been a reply after Kristy Grbevski beat her marker down the right and crossed the ball to the far post where Amanda Lavric was unmarked. With an open goal Lavric managed to put the ball the wrong side of the post, but it sounded a warning of what was to come from her.

Hawkesbury failed to make the most of their opportunities from that point until the half time whistle with Kayleigh Koops doing a particularly good job of sweeping for West City. Right on the break Koops nearly capped off a great defensive half with a goal but she was denied through a great save from Michelle Dingwall in the Commodores goal.

Again the locals started strongly and a brisk passing interchange between Sam Muscat and Toni Dempsey saw Dempsey strike goalwards only for the ball to deflect off the post and away.

Koops then charged forward for West City and put in a great cross to Lavric who’s free header went into the goal for the equaliser. Two minutes later the home side was back in front when Kat Innes and Teigan Allen broke quickly and maximised their numbers over the goalkeeper effectively, with Innes putting the Commodores ahead 2-1.

Within a minute the score was level again after Laura Elliott managed to squeeze the ball past Dingwall and into the back of the net for West City. The game was then end to end but no really clear opportunities until the last minute. Allen lost the ball in a defensive mix up and Elliott pounced. She made the most of the chance by securing the winner with a great shot. The score ended 2-3 to West City.

The men’s game was full of drama even before the start with West City unable to field any of their normal goalkeepers due to incidents that had occurred in the youth game. They were left with just six players (only one substitute) and having to revolve the goal keeping duties amongst these players. For all that drama they held on strongly and actually came into the break at 0-0.

It was a poor half from the Commodores but credit must go to West City who defended well and also had opportunities to score on the break. In fact in the 12th minute Ahmeti Gedikoglu stole the ball from the locals defence and fired the ball past Lionel DeSouza in the goal area only to see the ball bounce off the post. Then in the 23rd minute he fired a powerful shot that was well parried by DeSouza. A minute later he set up Shahin Matanagh who back heeled the ball goalwards only for DeSouza to somehow get a hand to it and push it around the post on the ground.

Whatever was said at half time worked for the Commodores though. Within three minutes they had taken the lead when Geoff Turner played the ball to Scott Dingwall, proceeded to run around him and receive the return pass and then fire the ball home for a 1-0 lead.

In the 29th minute the game was over as a competition with a very controversial decision. The referee awarded a penalty against Andre Mendes for handling the ball in the area. It may have been a penalty, although how one can get out of that situation when the ball is coming at that speed is a mystery, but then to make matters worse for West City Mendes was given a straight red card. West City would now have no substitutes. The penalty was well taken Bill Tsioumas to give the side a 2-0 lead.

In the 30th minute Scott Dingwall set up brother Chris who scored at the far post before Daniel Murchison set up Turner for his second goal of the night.

From the 42nd minute it was a parade of goals for the Commodores with Murchison scoring in the 42nd, Scott Dingwall scoring in the 44th minute, and then Tsioumas scoring another three goals in three minutes to make his nights total four. At 10-0 down West City continued to fight and were well rewarded for their efforts with a late goal after Matanagh had held the ball up for Adam Woods (who had been goal keeper for the whole first half) who put the ball in the back of the net from the tightest of angles at the far post. It had been the catch-cry of the second half for the locals not to concede so this goal was fought hard over despite such a big scoreline.

Overall another top night of Futsal was played out, with plenty of goals and plenty of action. Two fightbacks in the women’s match and no goals in the first half before eleven goals were scored in the second period of the men’s match.

Source : Football NSW
Published : 1/12/2008

Things are heating up in the Football NSW State Leagues as the second round of the Premier Futsal League begins this weekend and just six rounds remaining before the finals of the Super Futsal League.

The Development panel referees have been pushing the top referees for places in the appointments stakes. The development panel comprises of promising referees under 23 years of age who are on the pathway, striving for bigger and better things.

Three such referees have been making regular appearances on senior fixtures and will be on court again this weekend controlling Super Futsal League senior matches.

Cameron Bruce will take charge of the vital top five Super League clash between Breakers FC and South Coast Taipans at the Sydney Academy of sport with Wayne Ranson teaming up in the combination that controlled the Men’s final at the Football NSW State Titles.

Darren Allatt will work with Khodr Yaghi at Emerton Leisure Centre as Greater Western Sydney Vikings host Sydney University while Nicholas Backo comes off the National Youth League lines at Sydney FC and joins Dougie Hendry at Marrickville PCYC for the clash between Sydney Benfica and Enfield Rovers.

Other development group referees have been learning their craft in the Premier Futsal League’s junior ranks.

This Saturday Alessandra Moussa and Matthew Allatt will control the top ranked junior fixtures this weekend between Campbelltown City and Sydney Magic.

Another promising young female referee, Kelly Jones will head to Hawkesbury where the Commodores meet promoted West City Crusaders, and Ashley Medway will be on hand at Bankstown Basketball Stadium for the always challenging fixtures between Sydney City and Inner West Allstars.

For referees wanting to be involved in the Football NSW State Leagues, get in contact with the Technical Sub-committee via the feedback form on the web site.

Source : NSW Futsal Referees Association
Published : 28/12/2008

An enthusiastic crowd of around 200 people gathered at the Michael Wenden Centre to see if the NSW Thunder could repeat the triumph of the previous night over the Russian touring team, FC Doctors.

From the outset it was easy to see that the visitors had learnt some of the lessons from the first game by setting up a very compact defensive zone around their “D” area. This tactic, coupled with some early turnovers from the locals, meant that it took NSW until the 13th minute to get on the scoreboard when Toby Seeto finished off a very slick move tapping in at the far post. FC Doctors showed some good touches on the ball but they were always put under pressure by the younger and more mobile Thunder boys. When World Cup referee Scott Kidson blew for half time the locals held a 2 – 0 advantage with Ross Fazzalaro having scored with a very good shot from a tight angle; the score line was kept at reasonable levels due to some very good saves by Karpov, the Russian goalkeeper and lacklustre shooting by the locals.

The second half gave us more of the same early on with the NSW team putting the pressure on the visitors but unable to make it count on the scoreboard. FC Doctors then began to work their way into the game and caused problems for the local defence forcing the Thunder keeper, Gavin O’Brian, into a very good save and hitting the post on another occasion. NSW weathered the storm and hit back with 2 good goals: classy Lachlan Wright scored the third one finishing off a good corner kick routine with a very powerful shot with the highlight a very nicely worked free kick resulting in an easy tap in by Ross Fazzalaro for the final score of the night.

All in all a very good start for the NSW Thunder team in a series of games that gave the coaching staff the opportunity to try out several different combinations against an outfit that showed some very good skills at times.

NSW Thunder

GK. Gavin O’Brien, 12. Tobias Seeto, 7. Rhys Giovenali, 10. Adrian Vizzari, 5. Simon Keith 8. Andre Gomez, 30. Lachlan Wright, 3. Chris Zabballos, 12. Danny Martinez, 23. Dean Lockhart, 9. Marino Musumeci, 25. Ross Fazzalaro, GK. Peter Spathis

FC Doctor

GK. Dimitri Karpov , 5. Michael Alexandrov, 3. Vitaly Samokhvalov, 10. Uri Predybaylov, 2. E Kutyrev , 6. I Volkov, 12. S Toms, 9. Dimitri Lupakov, 8. Serge Aladin , 11. Denis Afanasyev, 14. Konst Slobodin

Goals

NSW 4 (Ross Fazzalaro x2, Tobias Seeto, Lachlan Wright)

FC Doctor 0

Officials

Referee: Scott Kidson
2nd Referee: Nicholas Backo
Timekeeper: Ashley Medway
3rd Referee: Owen Ferguson

Source : Football NSW
Published : 28/11/2008

Ryan Catholic College’s dominance in the under-14 level at the recent Australasian futsal championships on the Gold Coast has two students poised for international honours.

The Townsville school blasted its way through the group stages with strong wins against Saint Andrews from Cairns (10-1), Robina (2-0) and Gympie (7-3) as well a hard fought battled with Albany Creek which ended 2-1 in Ryan’s favour.

They again dusted Gympie 7-3 in the semi-finals to set up another showdown with Albany Creek in the decider.

But instead of another tense encounter, Ryan demolished the southern Queenslanders with four goals in the opening five minutes to pave the way for a bruising 7-2 win.

A team of five were selected from all teams in the tournament to join the All-Star side, with Ryan’s twin attacking threats Maggie Dwyer and Bethaney Lawrence both making the cut.

Co-coach Mark Burgess was ecstatic to seal the result in such emphatic fashion after Albany Creek pushed them so hard in the group stages.

“After winning all the other games they were a bit worried they would come undone in the final
but they blew them away, they played brilliantly,” he said.

“It definitely is a big achievement, we really could have had all girls selected in the All-Star team.”

Dwyer and Lawrence will now get a chance to tour either New Zealand Brazil or China next year and Burgess is confident his three other starters will get the nod as well, with 10-strong touring parties to be selected for the tours.

Source : Townsville Bulletin
By : Josh Alston
Published : 26/11/2008

Well we’re half way through Tasmania’s premier futsal youth roster, being the Vikings Futsal twilight comp held on a Wed night at the Hockey Center and “The Stig” have made it seven from seven, scoring an impressive 81 goals while conceding just 6, one would expect them to perform well being the nucleus of the state team that won the National school titals in Dandenong and all bar one attend the Vikings Futsal Academy run by Corey Smith.

But its the way the boys play the game that impresses the most, the composure in possesion and the patiance and determination in defence really stands out regardless of the score. They are not definately not playing weak sides as most oponents contain State and Academy players and teams with over age players.

Most games will see teams from other age groups watching the boys play and hopfully learning from the way they get the job done. They still have to get over some very good teams in the second half of the roster but standing on the sideline I wonder who will be able to stop them with Trey Angus Josh D and Alex giving them so many options in attack and Cam Josh N Harry and Charlie (keeper) never giving an inch in defence its going to take a big effort for someone to knock them off.

Some of the passing moves are a joy to watch, stringing together fast accurate passes that almost always end in a shot on goal, text book stuff. Surely one of the best 12yo futsal teams in the Nation. But that is coming from their team manager.

Can anyone stop “The Stig”????

Source : Rob Norton
Published : 27/11/2008

In Game two of the International Futsal Friendly Series a crowd of around 300 turn out at Marrickville to watch NSW vs. FC Doctor (Russia).

It was NSW Thunder’s turn to take on the touring Russians. With seven current Futsalroos on display for the NSW Thunder it was always going to be hard for FC Doctor.

Both sides started the match slowly with neither side able to hold possession, NSW settled first and took the lead with a well worked goal. Some of the movement from the Thunder side was too much for the Russians to handle and NSW extended their lead five minutes later with a scramble inside the “D” which lead to a simple tap in. The Russians tried to continue to play their passing game but the mobile Thunder side was too much for FC Doctor to handle as they conceded three more goals to go into the break five-nil down.

The second half the Russians looked like a different team as they tried to play a counter attacking game which nearly worked for them when Michael Alexandrov found himself with only keeper Peter Spathis to beat, Spathis saved nicely for his only real work for the game. NSW continued to work on their combinations and NSW finished the game in style with Simon Keith grabbing a Hat-trick to finish FC Doctor off. The final result was nine-nil to NSW Thunder.

NSW Thunder

GK. Peter Spathis, 11. Tobias Seeto, 7. Rhys Giovenali, 30. Adrian Vizzari, 5. Simon Keith 8. Andre Gomez, 10. Lachlan Wright, 3. Chris Zabballos, 12. Danny Martinez, 23. Dean Lockhart, 9. Marino Musumeci, 24. Ross Fazzalaro, GK. Josh Da Palma

FC Doctor

GK. Dimitri Karpov , 5. Michael Alexandrov, 3. Vitaly Samokhvalov, 10. Uri Predybaylov, 2. E Kutyrev , 6. I Volkov, 12. S Toms, 9. Dimitri Lupakov, 8. Serge Aladin , 11. Denis Afanasyev, 14. Konst Slobodin

Goals

NSW 9 (Simon Keith 8″, 27″,35″, Lachlan Wright 17″, 33″, Ross Fazzalaro 13″, 14″, Adrian Vizzari 3″, Danny Martinez 30″)

FC Doctor 0

Officals

Referee: Sam McIntosh
2nd Referee: Andrew Best
Timekeeper: Alex Eroukhimovitch
3rd Referee: Darren Allatt

Source : Football NSW
Published : 27/11/2008

Eighth placed Sydney University gave a fighting and disciplined rear guard performance to defeat the more highly ranked Enfield Rovers 5-4 in an exciting and entertaining round 7 encounter.

The game started at a fast pace with both teams testing out goalkeepers Daniel Ingrati from Enfield and Cameron Nascon from Uni.

The first goal came in the 6th minute after an Enfield defender lost possession in the own half. This allowed Michael Watson to weave through the defence and guide a low wide shot past the keeper. The lead was consolidated in the 11th minute through an interception by Steve Vargas who dribbled down the left flank and crossed directly to the boot of Ben Hudson who eased the ball into the back of the net.

Enfield’s reply came in the 13th minute with a long distance shot from Nick Latsinos to beat the keeper. The equaliser from Enfield came a minute later when keeper Nascon came out of his area to clear a ball but was beaten to the task by a quickly arriving Scott Tonkin.

In the blink of an eye the momentum of the game seemed to be running with the Rovers. But to their credit Sydney University kept their cool and produced two stunning goals in the last 3 minutes of the half. In the 18th minute Steve Vargas took a shot from half way that smashed into the right post before hitting the back of the net. Watson then surprised everyone when he took a shot from close to the right corner which beat the defence, found the right post and crossed the line.

In the final moments of the half the score could have been greater if not for Ingrati saving two penalty shots. Sydney University went to half time with a 4-2 lead.

The second half started with an early goal from Enfield’s Anthony Dahdah to narrow the margin to 4-3.

A really exciting and tense game continued with end to end play as both sides hit the post on numerous occasions. The Uni team had conceded 5 fouls in the half after only eight minutes but showed excellent composure from this point.

The game was sealed in the last minute with Michael Watson slamming a free kick past the defence.

The excellent Cameron Nascon in goal and his defence was finally beaten as Enfield scored a deserved consolation goal from the last kick of the game after Uni finally conceded a foul. Enfield won the second half but Uni won the game.

The final score in what was a very exciting and entertaining game for the spectators was 5-4. Sydney University deserved their win while Enfield can lament on a game that should have been won but got away from them.

Source : Football NSW
Published : 27/11/2008