Before Michael Wrublewski was the owner of the Sydney Kings Basketball team he was the Boss of Australia’s leading futsal club The Sydney Tornadoes. During his reign as boss they won the national league for men and women in 3 consecutive years. 1986, 1987 and 1988.

He was very passionate about Futsal and he thought it was a great game but felt he needed to be completely in charge for the game to go forward.

Before his passing, his manager of that time Benny Pinchas promised him that an annual Futsal tournament in his name will be held. Having heard the promise, I felt I needed to get involved and ensure such an event will take place.

As Michael has been heavily involved with Maccabi on all levels. I thought it was appropriate that the Tournament will be held Between Maccabi and one of Australia’s leading Futsal clubs the Vipers. The format will be that a Cup will be given to every winner of an age group and a Cup to the overall winning club on the day.

I first met Michael during the 1981 Maccabi Carnival in Brisbane playing Basketball for Queensland as a 16 year old and all I can tell you is that he was very competitve. I have stayed in touch with him over the years and always admired his charisma and leadership qualities and I am proud to organise this tournament which will get bigger and better in years to come.

Regards

Zvi Ben David

In what is considered a ground breaking development for football in Australia, Football NSW’s proposed multimillion dollar state-of-the-art sporting complex in Riverstone; located in Sydney’s North West, has received significant financial support from the Federal Government in the lead up to this Saturday’s federal election.

The Hon. Anthony Albanese, Leader of the House; Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government alongside the Federal Labor candidates for Greenway, Michelle Rowland, Chifley, Ed Husic, and Macquarie, Susan Templeman was at Valentine Sports Park to make this historic announcement.

“This is a major infrastructure project with regional significance,” Anthony Albanese said.

“The new Football Academy will support a pathway for youngsters here in Western Sydney and beyond.

“Sydney is the heartland of football in Australia.

“Six of our biggest Socceroo stars – Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill, Lucas Neill, Brett Emerton, Mark Schwarzer and Jason Culina – grew up playing on fields in Sydney. We hope our investment can continue that production line,” Albanese ended.

The Riverstone project is due for completion in 2012 and will offer a number of modern facilities:

• 9 purpose built quality football pitches (with the ability to be developed to 15 football pitches in future years)
• A boutique stadium (approx 3,000 seats) designed to showcase major Football NSW events
• Indoor swimming pool complex
• Multi-purpose indoor sporting centre including two international sized Futsal courts
• Advanced gymnasium
• Official Football NSW offices
• Licensed club and function centre
• Hotel accommodation, and
• A private Football College (this will be the first private Football College in Australia)

Riverstone West is a release precinct being developed as employment lands by the Mastergroup.

Aside from the commercial considerations aimed at securing the organisation’s financial future via ongoing revenue streams, Football NSW is creating a facility that is perfect to develop football and its growing talent pool in NSW.

Football NSW President Jim Forrest was elated following confirmation of the Federal Government’s support for the Riverstone project.

“We will develop a state of the art, purpose built sporting complex to help develop the game of football in NSW from grass roots to the elite level. Along with the funding provided by the Government, all of our investment from our existing Parklea complex will be realised and invested in Riverstone West.”

Football NSW CEO Michael Quarmby was equally as delighted and is looking forward to the potential opportunities available at Riverstone West.

“We’re excited about the opportunities that this complex will provide Football NSW members and the general public. In developing a state of the art sporting facility it will, in future, be able to help fund and support our Associations and Clubs and provide a broad complex for Elite Development, Grassroots, Community, Education and facilities to host other sports and interest groups.”

Hawke’s Bay United soccer coach Matt Chandler has returned from Fiji with a shopping list for this summer.

Chandler, who returned from Suva at the weekend after coaching the New Zealand team at the OFC Futsal Championship last week, told SportToday two New Zealand futsal players, Marvin Eakins and Brazilian Lucas Silva, were on his list for the summer league.

“I’m also keen on two boys from the Solomons and a Fijian boy too,” said Chandler, who described the Suva tournament as fantastic and where he always intended to talent scout for the Bay franchise.

The players will undergo trials for a week before the franchise offers any contracts.

“Lucas has a good left-footed boot and Marvin is the captain of the futsal team,” he said, happy the Brazilian was a Kiwi and wouldn’t put any pressure on the overseas team quota of four signings.

Chandler said he was still in the recruiting process, having spoken to Napier City Rovers player and former All White striker Jarrod Smith, as well as a few Central League players from Auckland.

“We’ll still have a nucleus of players from last season who are fit and raring to go.”

It is understood New Zealand Football is restructuring the New Zealand Football Championship which will be renamed the National League and played under a new format.

Chandler said the Bay franchise had a quota for five academy players in the squad and two of them would always have to be on the team card for each game.

The National Youth league, he said, would enable some of them to keep match fit because, this season, two over-age players could also play.

“Someone like Shaun Peta, who is only a year older than the Youth League age, can play and that’s quite beneficial for the coach too.”

Chandler was aware of Central League side Wairarapa United’s run in with the Immigration Department regarding import players.

“We want to try to get our players to stay here,” he said, after Wairarapa coach Phil Keinzley discovered he could have a different import each year, not one for several amid claims of new rules.

“We don’t want them to be one-year wonders but become residents of Hawke’s Bay.”

Chandler said bar “a few small changes”, his staff for the summer would stay when he negotiates his contract by the end of this week.

It blew him away to find out at the weekend that the Solomon Islands Government had declared a two-day public holiday after the national futsal team won the championship in Suva undefeated.

Fiji finished runners-up and New Zealand was third on goal difference.

“”About 3000 people watched the tournament at the national gymnasium and Fiji were offered $10,000 to win,” Chandler said.

The head coach of Our Telekom Kurukuru Futsal team Dickson Kadau has hit back over the report of young futsal star Jack Whetney being drunk and misbehaving in Suva prior to the team’s departure from Fiji as not true.

Mr Kadau yesterday was responding to a report yesterday that Futsal star Jack Whetney was drunk on Sunday night turning up into a restaurant in Suva during a fundraising dinner by the Fulton College Pathfinders.

A local student who is also an eye witness said young Whetney was too drunk and acted disorderly inside the restaurant and outside.

The incident was said to have occurred after 8pm on Sunday night, Fiji local time before the team returned the next day to Honiara.

But Mr Kadau said the report was false because all the players were closely watched after the competition.

“It’s true that we did celebrate after our victory but we have rules that guide us during such events, most of all the consumption of alcohol was something that was discouraged by the team management,” he said.

“A family invited me that night so I don’t really quite know what went on that night but as far as I’m concern I never heard of anyone talking about my boys being misbehaving, if such allegations were true then I as the coach should have heard about it already,” he added.

Mr Kadau said the matter will be further investigated by the team management to find out how the story was formed and who it came from.

Another person who wish to have his name withheld told Star Sports yesterday that as a follower and fan of the Kurukuru team the report was somehow damaging to the Kurukuru team’s reputation as a whole.

“Someone is trying to discredit the Kurukuru team after they just won the Oceania Futsal Championship because of jealousy,” he said.

If the boys want to celebrate they have all the right to do so since they proved that they are the kings of futsal in the Pacific, it would be of jealousy that someone had to go to this extent to do form false reports like this.

He also said that he was a Solomon Islander living in Fiji and has never heard of such rumours about Whitney’s bad behavour.

However yesterday a local staff working at the Fulton College also confirmed what had happened on Sunday night in Suva around 8pm Fiji time.

The staff who did not want to be named said the students and pathfinders admitted to him that young Whetney was drunk and behaved disorderly.

“He went in fully drunk that he could not control himself. When the two USP students who brought him tried to control him, they could not.

“Even the New Caledonian players and coach tried but they could not. Eventually he was led outside and he left on a taxi,” the local staff told Star Sports via email yesterday.

However, young Whetney did not cause any harm during the incident.

“I need to mention here also that he did not cause any harm to those who were there.

“He only made fool of himself.

“To the Solomon -Fulton community it is somewhat embarrassing to see one of our soccer ambassadors behaving like that,” he said.

Gympie State High School has collected many achievements on the futsal court but has become a victim of its own success, leaving very little ground to break.

But a win to a Gympie High Year 8 futsal team in Brisbane a fortnight ago has ensured the school continues to reach new heights in the sport.

The representative team was invited to travel to Brisbane to compete in the 2010 Southern Queensland Champion of Champions Carnival, contested between August 2-6.

Against some extremely difficult opponents, the Gympie High Under-13 side claimed its age division with a grand final win over Toowoomba Grammar 3-2.

Coach Geoff Haig was thrilled with the result and level of dedication of the Gympie High boys.

“We have had other year levels go away and win at this event but this is the first time we have done with a Year 8 side,” he said.

“It was a long day against tough competition and some of the big schools but the boys played well.

“They showed plenty of staying power to play that many games and maintain their form.”

The road to the final was arduous for the Gympie High team, playing seven matches before taking to the court for glory.

From the seven games played, Gympie High had an enviable record of six wins and a draw. The draw (5-5) came in the third round against Helensvale State High School.

Gympie High enjoyed a winning start to its campaign in the first round against Xavier College, winning 5-3.

A commanding 5-1 victory followed against Toowoomba Grammar – Gympie High’s eventual final opponents.

Following the draw against Helensvale State High School, Gympie High marched on relentlessly to confront North Lakes College, winning 8-2.

The Gympie team created more carnage in the fifth round, showing plenty of endurance to punish Chancellor College 8-0.

Calvary College was then dismissed 6-0 while Aldridge State High School did well to manage two goals in a 6-2 whitewash to Gympie High.

The final itself against Toowoomba Grammar was a repeat of the second round clash and Gympie High found themselves under pressure to win by a single goal, 3-2.

Toowoomba revealed an ability to adapt its game and challenge the Gympie High team, throwing aside the lopsided 5-1 loss to Gympie in the second round.

Finalists from the Southern Queensland Champion of Champions Carnival are now invited to contest the Australasian Champion of Champions at Runaway Bay, on the Gold Coast, between November 19-21.

The Gympie High team will confront the top two teams from northern Queensland, northern New South Wales, southern New South Wales, Victoria, Northern Territory and New Zealand in a bid to be crowned Champion Futsal School in Australasia.

Futsal Toowoomba would like to welcome players, teams, coaches, referees and volunteers to register their interest for the upcoming Futsal season.

Sign-on times are available at :

• Downlands College between 10am and 2pm on Sunday 5th September 2010
• During the Grand Final Day at the Clive Berghofer Stadium on Saturday 11th September 2010
• At the Football Toowoomba Office on 143 Aztec Ave, Toowoomba between 4pm – 6pm on Wednesday 15th September 2010.

Competitions commence at the start of October, but you need to be quick as places in the competition are limited.

For any enquiries regarding registration or the competitions please contact:

Suzanne Turner on 07 4634 0711 or admin@footballtoowoomba.org.au

http://www.futsaltoowoomba.org.au/

Arana United Futsal Club would like to welcome players, teams, coaches, referees and volunteers to register their interest for the upcoming Futsal season.

Two sign-on times are available between 5pm and 7pm on Friday 10th September 2010 and between 8am and 11am on Sunday 12th September 2010.

Competitions commence at the start of October, but you need to be quick as places in the competition are limited.

For any enquiries regarding registration or the competitions please contact:

Barry McErlean on 0428 235 870 or btaj@bigpond.com

http://aranaunitedfutsal.sportzvault.com/

Aztec Sports would like to welcome players, teams, coaches, referees and volunteers to register their interest for the upcoming Futsal season.

Competitions commence at the start of October, but you need to be quick as places in the competition are limited (last seasons competition was at capacity)!

For any enquiries regarding registration or the competitions please contact:

Rob Morris on 07 3804 7300, 0408 182 906 (BH only) or rob@leisureworx.com.au

Aztec Sports utilises three venues for its Futsal Competitions. They are:

Beenleigh Arena – 2-32 Milne St, Beenleigh
Logan Metro Indoor Sports – 357 Browns Plains Rd, Crestmead
Runaway Bay Indoor Sports – Sports Avenue, Runaway Bay

A crowd of up to 150 people turned up at the Henderson Airport and the atmosphere was filled with excitement as the squad’s flight touched down and taxied towards the terminal.

Friends, families and supporters were among the welcome party, as well as staff from sponsors Our Telekom and a pair of beauty pageant winners – Miss Solomon Islands and the Our Telekom Queen.

On their arrival, the players were given Our Telekom t-shirts and caps and were garlanded with flowers by their relatives.

One of the players, Coleman Makau, was adorned with the traditional tafuliae (Malaitan shell money) by his family in appreciation of his achievement at the championship.

The local media were also out in force at the arrival, interviewing players and members of the team management as they emerged.

A 40-vehicle procession was led from the airport by the Kurukuru team members and proceeded westward towards White River, where they turned back and headed to the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) headquarters.

Members of the public waved and cheered as the parade rolled through town. Some people came out of their offices to cheer the Kurukuru team as they drove past.

Captain Elliot Ragomo says his team expected some sort of welcome but what they encountered was overwhelming.

“We knew there would be a welcome like we have usually had in the past but this is beyond what we could have imagined,” he says. “We wish to thank our parents, Our Telekom and SIFF for organising this.”

The best was yet to come for the futsal heroes. Our Telekom marketing manager Robertson Szetu later handed over 15 brand new 3G mobile phones to the Kurukuru team.

“We always knew you would come back as champions because you have worked hard and prepared well,” Szetu said to the appreciative Kurukuru team management and players.

The formal welcome ceremony for the team will be held this weekend.

Story and photo courtesy of SIFF Media.

For the latest SIFF news visit http://www.siff.com.sb/

Futsal Homebush – Indoor Soccer at Sydney Olympic Park

www.futsalhomebush.com

Age Groups : All Ages
Game Nights : Week nights from 5pm
Place : Sydney Olympic Park, Sports Centre & Sports Halls

To register email us on comps@futsalhomebush.com

For more info call or text Reg on 0408 427 748