Global Information2011 Northern Pride RLFC season information
| Club information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Northern Pride Rugby League Football Club | ||
| Nickname(s) | The Pride | ||
| Colours |  Teal, Gold | ||
| Founded | 2007 | ||
| Website | northernpride.com.au | ||
| Current details | |||
| Ground(s) |
| ||
| CEO | Chris Sheppard (2011-2013) | ||
| Coach | David Maiden (2010-2012) | ||
| Captain | Ty Williams (2011-2013) | ||
| Competition | Intrust Super Cup | ||
| 2011 | 2nd | ||
| |||
| Records | |||
| Premierships | 2 (2010/2014) | ||
| Runners-up | 1 (2009) | ||
| Minor premierships | 2 (2013/2014) | ||
2011 was the fourth competitive season for the Cairns based Skill360 Northern Pride Rugby League Football Club. They were one of 12 clubs that played in the sixteenth season of Queensland's top rugby league competition, QRL's Intrust Super Cup, with each team playing 11 home games and 11 away games over 25 weeks between March and September.
Pride Oval and Leagues Club on Irene Street, Mooroobool were costing the club about $19,000 a month to run, an unsustainable drain on their funds. Plans to build a multi-million dollar sports facility had been derailed by the GFC, so at the end of 2010 the club sold the facility to Cairns Regional Council for $2.5M.[1] Council agreed to maintain the facility as a sports field for the community and not allow residential development at the site. The Pride were given a six-month lease, and when it expired in May 2011, the club decided not to renew and moved their training sesions back to Jones Park, Westcourt.[2] Pride Oval was leased to CDRL Kangaroos, and became Vico Oval and Kangaroos Leagues Club once again. The Pride's continued to play home games at Barlow Park and the administration offices were at Mann Street.
Foundation captain Chris Sheppard retired after the Grand Final win last year, and was appointed as CEO, replacing John Moore.[3] The new captain was Ty Williams, who began playing rugby league in Innisfail, played for the Cairns Cyclones in QCup, played 151 games for the NRL's North Queensland Cowboys (2002-2010) as a wing, centre and five-eighth, scoring 85 tries, the third-most in club history. He represented Queensland in State of Origin and played for the Indigenous All Stars (2008, 2010).[4] As one of the Cowboy's player allocation, Williams had played six matches for the Pride in 2009 and twelve games in 2010, before retiring from the Cowboys at the end of 2010.[5]
The Pride gained a mascot for home games, 'Rambo the Razorback'.[6] The Round 20 away game against Souths Logan Magpies was relocated from the Magpies home ground in Brisbane to Yusia Ginau Oval, Bamaga on Cape York in an effort to raise money for the Magpies who were struggling to attract crowds at their home venue.[7] Both teams wore special Indigenous themed jerseys and the game attracted 2000 spectators, and was so successful that the following year, QRL introduced the 'Country Week' concept.
The Pride started the year strong, winning the first five rounds. This meant the Pride had not lost a game since Round 13 last year - 17 consecutive wins, a Queensland Cup record, previously held by the Burleigh Bears and North Queensland Young Guns with 16 consecutive wins. Their Round 5 win, 60-10 over the SC Sea Eagles was the biggest winning score in the Pride's history and the first time they had beaten the Sunny Coast. The victory set several club records, including the biggest winning margin in the club's history, the most tries by the Pride in a single game, and the most goals in a single Pride game (Chey Bird, 10).[8] After a draw in Round 6 and a win in Round 7, they were unbeaten after 19 matches. In Round 8 the Pride led the Cutters 12-0 at half-time, but were beater 22-18, their first defeat in eleven months.[9]
The Pride finished the 2011 season in second place, and had a decisive victory in their home Preliminary Final against the Ipswich Jets, but were eliminated after losing the semi-final 26–20 to Tweed Heads Seagulls. Although the Pride were entitled to host the semi-final, the match was scheduled to be televised, and ABC TV still did not have the ability for outside broadcast from FNQ, so the match was played at Dolphin Oval, Redcliffe.[10] This was the second time a Pride home finals game had been moved to Brisbane to accommodate the ABC's lack of flexibility, (the other time was in 2009), and the Pride lost substantial amount of game-day revenue playing in front of a small crowd at a neutral venue.[11]
- ^ Ryan, Brad (18 October 2010). "Council saves the day. Impending sale guarantees Pride Oval future". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ Piva, Andrew (6 October 2011). "Kangaroos take hold of 'spiritual home'". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ Greenwood, Emma (12 November 2010). "Sheppard is new Pride chief". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ Round 1 Queensland Intrust Super Cup Preview Archived 3 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine rleague.com, 18 March 2011
- ^ "Ty Williams announces NRL retirement". Archived from the original on 1 March 2012.
- ^ Petrinec, Melanie (10 August 2011). "Pride's mascot left with head ache". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ Piva, Andrew (1 August 2011). "Pride score extra home game at Cape York". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ Piva, Andrew (18 April 2011). "Pride focus on next win". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ Piva, Andrew (16 May 2011). "Pride cut down by first loss in 19 games". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ Piva, Andrew (15 September 2011). "Venue tussle will not change result: Pride chief". Cairns Post. Cairns.
- ^ "New TV deal for Cup". Cairns Post. Cairns. 22 February 2012.