Football Matters with Cyclops

Seniors

The 2026 season wound up last week when the Burdekin Colts travelled to Cairns to contest the Crad Evans Trophy against Edge Hill Utd. The Colts, already minor premiers and Grand Final winners, won 2-1, a fitting way to wind up a very goodseason.  

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The Burdekin Panthers Presentation Night will be held on Saturday 24^th October.

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Colts – Astute Finance

The Burdekin Colts capped off an extraordinary season in style, defeating Edge Hill United 2-1 in the Crad Evans Trophy Final on Sunday 27 September. The victory completed a remarkable treble for the Colts, who finished the year as Minor Premiers, Grand Final Champions, and Crad Evans Champions, while also earning the title of Invincibles after going undefeated throughout the entire season. The final was a dominant display from the Colts. Edge Hill started brightly, pressing hard and fast, but Burdekin maintained their composure and controlled much of the possession throughout the match. Midway through the first half, a long throw from Caleb Formalin found Jhett Jones, who quickly slipped a pass through to Cooper Kross. Kross made no mistake, forcing the ball home to give Burdekin a deserved 1-0 lead. The Colts carried that advantage into the halftime break.  

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The second half began much the same way, with Burdekin continuing to dominate proceedings. The midfield controlled the game and consistently created opportunities. Following some strong defensive work, the ball fell to Charlie Predabon, who delivered a superb pass through to Ryley Siandri. The league's Golden Boot winner remained calm under pressure and slotted home his 16th goal of the season to extend the lead to 2-0. Edge Hill managed a late consolation goal, but the result was never seriously in doubt as the Colts saw out the match to secure the championship. This triumph crowns Burdekin as the undisputed Under 18 Champions of North Queensland and is a testament to the hard work, commitment, and team spirit shown by the players and coaching staff throughout an unforgettable season.

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Night Soccer – Delta Cleaners

Night Soccer’s 2nd week of competition saw the sixteen games produce sixty-three goals. There were four forfeits, probably mostly due to school holidays. Top scorers were Willy Wackers with eleven goals and ladies’ team Rocky Pond Wonderswith eight goals. There were three draws, and just three games were won by one goal. This year there are twenty-four Man’s teams initially split up into three group of eight teams. The Ladies have sixteen teams in two groups of eight.

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National and International

The Socceroos did rather well in their two-match series against Brazil. After drawing 1-1 in Townsville, they then lost 2-4 in Brisbane, after leading 2-1. The Socceroos next fixtures are in the AFC Asian Cup in January next year. They play Singapore, Iraq and Tajikistan in their group games.

The Matildas have three “friendly” games coming up. They are away to Germany on 9^th October and then on 13^th October meet Haiti in France. On 28^th November they are at home to Colombia in Canberra.

Meanwhile in the rest of the world, it is an international couple of weeks. In Europe fifty-four teams are competing in the Nations League! Groups A, B and C each have four groups of four teams and group D has two lots of three teams. After three, or four games, depending on the Draw, in League A only Spain and Portugal have maximum points. In League B only Switzerland has maximum points and in League C, Montenegro has three wins.

Notable results this week include England winning 7-0 away to Croatia, Iceland beating Bulgaria 3-0, Portugal, without Ronaldo, winning 4-2 away to Denmark and Poland thumping Romania 6-0.

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Quote the of the Week is from Brian Clough “There are more hooligans in the House of Commons than at a football match”.

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