The Toowong Football Club committee has decided to discontinue our participation in the FQPL Men’s competition, and will not be nominating a team for entry into the FQPL Metro men’s competition in 2023.

The Club’s strategic focus for 2023 and beyond will remain on delivering community football for all ages in a sustainable way while also diversifying into other offerings, e.g. potentially walking football. This decision offers our Club and its members the opportunity for growth, while concentrating on what we do best – providing players and their families an inclusive and affordable venue to play and enjoy football.

The Committee would like to thank current and past FQPL/BPL/Capital players and team officials for their hard work and achievements over the last ten years, particularly to Stephen Lindsay and Stephen Matheson, who helmed the squad this year, and to Claude Capelli and Laurie Di Felice for their contributions in previous seasons.

The Club’s commitment to the FQPL3 Metro Women’s program remains unchanged.

Details about Toowong FC men’s teams for 2023 are here.

FAQs regarding our decision for 2023

What is FQPL?

FQPL stands for Football Queensland Premier League, and it is described by Football Queensland (FQ) as the “top-flight competition in Metro North & South, connected to the rest of the state via the FQPL framework”, which provides a pathway for clubs to eventually achieve promotion up through the higher divisions to the National Premier League. This advanced competition structure in SEQ was previously represented by the Capital and Brisbane Premier Leagues prior to 2022.

FQPL participation is conditional on clubs agreeing to the conditions of, and signing, licence agreements with FQ, which outline a large number of obligations and criteria that must be met, including standards surrounding facilities, qualifications of coaches and squad compositions.

What does being sustainable mean?

As a community club, we operate with limited resources – field space, volunteer capacity and funding being the critical three. This means we need to make choices about how these resources are allocated. If we get overstretched on one, or more, of these we can’t deliver the experience and opportunities our members deserve. We will continue to annually review our offerings against our strategic aims and changes in the football ecosystem. 

Why is the club continuing with the FQPL Women’s program?

Toowong FC’s girls program is growing consistently year on year. In 2022, the club fielded girls’ teams from U8 to U16, with several teams having to turn away interested players due to reaching capacity. This steady pipeline of players, as well as solid connections to the wider senior women’s cohort, places the women’s FQPL in a strong and sustainable position.

Demand for our boys program is more volatile year to year, with team nominations regularly added or withdrawn close to finalisation of the competition draw as we scramble to firm up numbers. There’s nothing to suggest that this pattern will change. As a large number of clubs in our area have established advanced pathways for boys, we will continue to focus on offering opportunities for community league teams, with the option of transitioning to our senior men’s Metro teams.

Other points of note:

• There are far fewer clubs engaged in FQPL/NPL women’s competitions as compared to men’s competitions (less than 40 vs over 80 in 2022), so while ample opportunity exists across SEQ for advanced competition for men’s players, it’s still developing in the women’s space
• Many of the licence requirements, and funding expectations, are more demanding for the same level of competition for men’s FQPL in comparison to women’s

What does this mean for Toowong FC members? How will this impact my team?

This decision does not impact the viability or makeup of any teams outside of the FQPL Men’s squad. We intend to field teams in a very similar mix and number of competitions as in 2022 (subject to promotions, relegations, player movements etc.). In addition, we will be exploring the feasibility of adding one or two Masters teams in 2023.