Still hurting from a bitter relegation rule that’s now been axed, Logan Lightning this week begins a bid to regain the place they feel is rightly theirs in the first place.
After finishing 10th, just ahead of normal relegation positions, Logan was last year delivered a bitter pill to swallow – a rule in the National Premier League which said the Brisbane Roar academy couldn’t be booted from the league, no matter how poorly they performed.
This Saturday from 7pm at Cornubia Park, a determined men’s squad starts the season in the Football Queensland Premier League, and must finish first or second in order to get back to where fans say they belong.
Club president Andrew Birkett said senior coaches for both the men’s and women’s teams had recruited well and were confident of a great season.
But on-field success – in the country’s third highest division – is just one of the club’s goals this year.
“Unfortunately our club has really suffered over the last couple of years with the impacts of Covid and the constant rain last year which lead to mass cancellations of games and culminated in the flooding of our Beenleigh clubhouse,” Mr Birkett said.
“This year we are desperately hoping to have a regular season without major interruption so we can restabilise ourselves financially which will help position the club for future growth.”
The Lightning name is well known in Queensland soccer circles, but Mr Birkett said this year was about community atmosphere.
On field success is more than just our teams doing well, but also includes player, coach and in-house referee development where we can provide a genuine pathway from beginner to semi-professional regardless of how our members are involved with the club … regardless of if you play in the advanced or community level programs, a family member or just one of our local community members,” he said.
This year’s relegation was made more difficult to grasp given a late-season rally by the team to move into 10th position.
“This unfair rule has now been removed for this season and the Roar Academy can now be relegated, but unfortunately it was too late to save us,” Mr Birkett said.
Last year in the nationwide knockout competition, the Australia Cup, Logan Lightning was one of the top performing Queensland teams and we went on a dream run which saw it ranked in the top 32 teams in the country. The team was beaten by Adelaide City in the round of 32.
“This season our FQPL Men’s team has been revitalised with a host of new players who will primarily be focused on achieving promotion back to the NPL where our club belongs,” Mr Birkett said.
“We will also be aiming to reach the round of 32 in the Australia Cup again, and with the new Kappa Pro Series we will be aiming to reach the final rounds.”
Photo courtesy: David Wilson Photography.
