Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Issue:

Mackay and Whitsunday Life

Football Matters with Cyclops 9 October

The Clash of Clubs at the weekend was a huge success with old Burdekin players travelling from all over the state to take part. The Masters Final was won by Easts who beat Home Hill Rangers and the Seniors Final was decided on penalties, Saints winning after tying 1-1 with Rangers at full time.

The next big occasion will be the Escriva Cup which will be played early in November.

The Burdekin FC Presentation Night will be held on Saturday 25 October. Get your tickets now.

Night Soccer

The second week of competition and with three forfeits (School holidays?) The seventeen games produced sixty three goals, and the three scratch games produced a few more! Top scorers were DL Lager with five goals and Plumb Dingers, Nutrien Ag, 6 TO UR 7 and Willy Wackers all with four. Top individual scorer was Oscar Licciardello with a hat trick for BA and quite a lot of players scored twice.

After two weeks, Nutrien Ag, UDS and Clare Cutters lead in Mens A Grade and Wires Down and DL Lager top the table in B1. Bennetts Old Grumpies are the only team with maximum points in B2. In the Women’s Groups, Red Carded and Scoregasms lead in AI, and 6 TO UR 7 leads in A2.

Juniors

Preparations are well underway for the start of the Junior Social Soccer season on Tuesday 14th October. Teams are in, players looking for teams sorted. Due to the huge numbers of teams, we have to mark out Field 2 at International Park. If you can lend a hand marking the fields on Saturday morning that would be much appreciated. The time will be confirmed.

Please check the Burdekin FC Facebook page and emails from the club for the draw each week and any information and updates on the season. Each week, the ages groups play at the following times: U5-7 - 4pm, U8-9 - 4.30pm, U10-12 - 5pm, U13-16 - 5.30pm.

The name of the game is the kids to have fun playing with their friends and also forming new friendships.

National and International

The 2025-6 A League season kicks off on Friday 17 October. It is a twelve team competition and Brisbane Roar’s first match is at home to Macarthur on that date. The Women’s A league starts on Friday 31st October with eleven clubs.

The Matildas next match is a friendly against Wales, in Cardiff on 25 October, followed by another friendly against England on 29 October. They then have a rest before the AFC Women’s Asia Cup. Their first match is against the Philippines on 1 March, they then play Iran on 5 March, and their final group match is against South Korea on 8 March. In the FIFA World Rankings, Australia is ranked at 15.

The Socceroos have two friendlies coming up. They are away to Canada on Saturday and then play USA next Wednesday. In the FIFA World Rankings, the Socceroos are currently ranked 25th, the US 16th and Canada 26th.

The Young Socceroos have defeated Cuba 3-1 in their final group stage game of the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2025.The result means that the Young Socceroos finished third in Group D. The team will await results in Group E and F tomorrow to determine if they will advance to the Round of 16 as one of four best third-placed teams.

The 2026 World Cup starts on 11 June with the Final on 19 July. Forty eight teams will compete in twelve groups of four teams, with the top two teams from the groups plus the best eight third placed teams qualifying for the Round of 32. The Group Draw will be made in Washington DC on 5th December. And yes, Australia has qualified!

In the EPL, Liverpool lost again and has now dropped to second place one point behind Arsenal. Spurs and Bournemouth are a further point behind, and Manchester City has moved up to fifth place. Oh, and Ange’s Notts Forest lost again, and it is not looking good. And at the foot of the table, none of the bottom seven teams won. Wolverhampton managed another draw and now has two points from seven games.

In Germany’s Bundesliga, after six games, Bayern is the only club with maximum points. They lead Dortmund by four points with Leipzig a point behind in third place. At the foot of the table two of the bottom seven teams won but Heidenheim was not one of them. Monchengladbach managed a draw but with Mainz still look to be in trouble

In Italy only three of the top six teams won and Napoli and Roma stay at the top of Serie A with fifteen points. AC Milan stays in third place two points behind and Juventus, still unbeaten stay in fifth place. At the bottom of the league all four teams lost. Pisa and Genoa are now equal on two points from six games.

In Spain, only three of the top six teams won and Barcelona got thumped 4-1 by Seville. Real Madrid won and now top the table two points ahead of Barca with third placed Villarreal three points further adrift. Real Betis are fourth and Atletico fifth. Of the bottom six clubs only Girona won and are now a point clear of Mallorca and Real Sociedad.

Meanwhile in France, PSG were held to a draw by Lille and are now only one point clear of Marsellie, Strasbourg and Lyon. Monaco and Lens are a further two points away. None of the bottom nine teams managed a win and Metz with just two points from seven games are in trouble.

Quote of the Week is from Frank Lampard former Chelsea and England star and now Coventry City manager - "Goals never come easy. No one gives you goals."

The Seniors Final was decided on penalties, Saints winning after tying 1-1 with Rangers at full time.
The Masters Final was won by Easts who beat Home Hill Rangers.
Ladies Teams

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