Members of the St Albans Futsal Club junior side. 68689 Picture: Contributed
By Liam Twomey
THE St Albans Futsal Club has had a busy few months conquering all before them in both its Melbourne Futsal League and the newly formed Australian Futsal League.
The F-League, held in Sydney, commenced this year and involved teams from Australia and New Zealand.
St Albans Futsal Club president Robert Lakovski said it was great to be involved in the F-League.
“It was a competition organised by Football New South Wales in the hope of getting a national futsal league started,”Lakovski said.
“This was the first branch of that starting.”
The Strikers travelled to Sydney three times during the year to take part in the tournament. The highlight of the championships was a semi-final clash against Melbourne-based rival Inner City.
“We managed to knock them off in an real thriller 5-4,” Lakovski said.
“Inner City are one of our main rivals and they are very strong.”
Despite going on to lose the final against the current New Zealand champions Maccabi, Lakovski said the tournament was a great success.
“It was a really good series and a great initiative from the futsal community,” Lakovski said. “It looks like bigger and better things for the league next year.”
The F-League is hoping to have rounds in Melbourne and Canberra next year, which will make the travel requirements a lot easier for the Victorian representatives.
“There hasn’t been a national league since the late ’80s and the sport is really growing in popularity over the last few years. That has enabled something like this to eventuate,” Lakovski said.
“We are hoping for teams from South Australia and Queensland as well.”
Futsal continues to grow in popularity around Australia.
It’s a five-a-side, indoor competition that, according to Lakovski, requires even more skills than soccer, and explosive endurance.
“You rely on your first touch for skill. It’s a really good tool for youngsters to improve their skills on the soccer field by playing futsal as well,” Lakovski said.
“Within our club we have a lot of juniors playing in the Melbourne Futsal League and they are doing quite well. The under-11s and under-12s are leading the ladders and under-13s are second and third.”
“There is the social aspect that people enjoy. They play futsal, it’s great, it’s indoors, it’s a great environment and it’s fun to play.”
It’s not just in the F-League that St Albans have produced some outstanding results.
They currently sit in equal second on the Melbourne Futsal League ladder and are hungry to go all the way to a premiership.
“The first goal we set aside this year was making the semi-finals of the F-League. We went a step further and came runners up,” Lakovski said.
“The second goal was to win the Melbourne Futsal League.”
The club is always on the look out for new players and sponsors. Anyone wishing to become involved should contact St Albans Futsal Club or log on to its website.
