Caloundra FC abandons second FQPL3 match after light-pole failure

A Caloundra amateur football boss says the opening two rounds have been ‘upsetting’ after his senior men’s side were forced to abandon games in winning positions.

Caloundra FC light failures.

Dodgy lighting has cast a shadow over the opening rounds of local football on the Sunshine Coast with replays being sought by a home club after its two ‘wins’.

The opening rounds of the Sunshine Coast FQPL3 season were labelled as “upsetting” for the Caloundra Football Club with the senior men’s side having to abandon its first two matches.

Games played at Caloundra’s home ground at the Meridan Sports Complex on March 11 against the Buderim Wanderers and March 18 against the Woombye Snakes were deserted prematurely after two separate failures with the main field lights.

Caloundra president Nic Basile said it had been a tough start to the season.

“I don’t want to make a big deal because it’s quite upsetting from a club’s perspective,” he said.

“Because we’re using a council-owned facility we have to make sure we use electricians that comply with council’s approval, so in the off-season, we needed to upgrade our lights and we hired a company that travels from Brisbane.

“The system that we have is one where you can turn it on and off with phone service as it’s got a microchip within the poles.”

Basile said Friday night games went off without a hitch two weeks ago before a storm struck late Friday.

“We came in on Saturday and the lights were flashing so obviously one of the microchips had failed,” he said.

Basile said the company in Brisbane tried to reset the system but couldn’t do so.

The senior men’s match that night was abandoned at halftime with Caloundra leading 1-0 and Basile said the club was forced to cancel training on Monday night.

An image showing the faulty light at Caloundra's home match on March 18. Picture: Alex Newcome, Facebook.

He said the company came to fix the lights on Monday and the system was repaired.

“The lights were back up and running for training during the week so we played our Friday night games again and on Saturday we came in and turned them on around 4pm to make sure they were working but we noticed one of the poles didn’t go on,” he said.

“We rang the company again and they said to reset the pole manually via the switchboard but when we opened it up the cabling on the inside had fried.”

Images of Caloundra FC's burnt out cables.

The senior men’s match was played until around the 70th-minute mark with Caloundra again leading 1-0 but was abounded for the second week in a row due to the faulty lighting.

“I know social media is going crazy but the last thing I’m going to be doing is trying to burn another club,” Basile said.

“It’s been two separate issues with the lights and now they’re having to replace the whole thing which is unfortunate. We don’t want any dramas at all and we’ve already approached Football Queensland on both occasions to replay the games.

“We had dinner set up after the game for both teams but to finish on a low when it should’ve been a really good day is disheartening and embarrassing.”

Basile said the club had already spent upwards of $20,000 towards light upgrades in the off-season and they were now having to fork out a further $5000.

A council spokesperson said the council and Football Queensland were aware of the recent problems with field lighting.

“Council has contacted the club seeking further information about the field lighting issues and other matters relating to their tenure and a meeting with the club’s committee and Football Queensland is currently being arranged,” they said.

They said under the current tenure agreement the Caloundra Football Club was responsible for above ground repair works to its field lighting infrastructure.

Any below ground problems are the council’s responsibility.

The council also advised the club of support options such as assistance with repair works and emergency grant opportunities.