Brisbane’s football community in chaos after ‘mixed messages’ from governing bodies cancels games
Football fixtures and training in Brisbane have been thrown into chaos by a managerial dispute between the Queensland and Brisbane governing bodies.
Key points:
- Football Brisbane said it had to suspend games because it was no longer covered by Football Queensland’s insurance
- Football Queensland assured players training and games could still proceed
- Many games were cancelled because of the “mixed messages”
There was major confusion among the local football community today after Football Brisbane announced all matches were suspended due to the conflict.
Football Brisbane is the governing body that sits under the umbrella of Football Queensland and includes hundreds of players from children to adults.
The statement said it was advised it was “no longer members of Football Queensland” and had to suspend all games immediately because they were not covered by insurance anymore.
“The legal advice is that it leaves Football Brisbane, the clubs and players at risk from an insurance perspective, as the existing policy is held by Football Queensland.”
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Football Brisbane said it was blindsided by the news, which “arose without warning or consultation”.
“This is certainly not a situation that we anticipated being in. We simply want everyone to be able to do what they enjoy, and that’s play football,” the statement read.
Football Queensland responded by reassuring players the insurance policy was still intact and that all players were covered by a national insurance scheme at trainings and games.
“All clubs are directly affiliated to Football Australia and all participants are registered to Football Australia through Football Queensland,” a statement from Football Queensland read.
“This has not changed despite the conflicting information provided by Brisbane today.”
Many players missed matches on Wednesday night, confused by the conflicting statements.
A player from the Springfield United Football Club told the ABC their Wednesday night match was cancelled “because of all the mixed messages”.
“The club wants 100 per cent confirmation that players would be insured and also because there was no guarantee that [referees] would show up,” the player said.
“At first we didn’t know if the rest of the season would be cancelled but it’s looking like it won’t be, which is good.”