Marlin Coast Rangers F.C.

Marlin Coast Rangers FC

Full name	Marlin Coast Rangers Football Club
Nickname(s)	Coast
Founded	1946; 79 years ago (1946)
Ground	Pennell Field, Trinity Beach, Far North Queensland
Head Coach	Crios O'Hare
League	FQ Far North & Gulf
Website	https://marlincoastrangersfc.com.au/
Home colours Away colours

Marlin Coast Rangers Football Club is an amateur soccer club founded in 1946.[1] and based in Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The club play in the regional Football Queensland FQ Far North & Gulf competition, the fifth tier of the Australian soccer league system. Its home ground was officially named Pennell Field in 2010,[2] in honour of Gary Pennell – a respected member of Marlin Coast Rangers Football Club.

The club has won the Football Queensland FQ Far North & Gulf Treble (League, Premiership, Crad Evans Shield) four times in its history (2007, 2010,[3] 2013 and 2024), and also won the League Cup in 1954 and 2022.[4] [5]

The club's Pennell Field grounds regularly play host to the Queensland Schools Football Championships, with the most recent event being the 10-12 years Girls and Boys Football State Championships in 2023.[6]

Current Matildas international player Winonah Heatley played junior football at the Club.[7]

Formation of club and early history

The Club was originally formed in 1946 as Northern Australia Brewery (NAB) – and nicknamed Brewery – as one of eight teams in the newly-reformed Cairns Soccer Association League following an 8-year break of football competition in Cairns due to World War 2. The Club's first competitive fixture was a game against Latrobe on 20 April 1947.[8] The Club had a very successful 1954 season, winning the League title.[9] and Diggers' Cup.[10]

In 1973, the Club rebranded itself as Carlton United Brewery (CUB) after a corporate takeover of NAB by the Melbourne-based CUB. CUB Football Club was the first club to be based at Endeavour Park in Cairns, the current Football Queensland headquarters in Cairns.

In 1983, the Club moved to its current Trinity Beach grounds in Nautilus Street and rebranded itself as Marlin Coast Rangers Football Club.

Recent history

On 6 October 2023, former Coast player Cristoir O'Hare – who won the Treble with the club in 2010 and 2013 – was confirmed as the club's new player-coach for the 2024 season.[11]

In O'Hare's first season back at Marlin Coast, the club again won the Treble, after being crowned league champions for the first time in 11 years, and winning their FQPL Grand Final 4-0 against Mareeba,[12] and the Crad Evans Shield with a 5-3 win over MA Olympic in Townsville.[13] Striker Cooper Kennedy also won the Golden Boot with 17 goals.[14]

In February 2025, O'Hare scored the fastest goal ever in Australian soccer when he scored from the kick-off after just 3.68 seconds in a 5-0 Australia Cup win over Stratford Dolphins.[15] [16]

Notable former players

• Winonah Heatley – MCR Junior

Current squad

As of 10 February 2025

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 GK  AUS Kev Ward 2 DF  AUS Kal Kumar 3 DF  IRL Jordan O'Brien 4 DF  AUS Charlie Beverley 5 DF  AUS Oliver Berry 6 MF  ENG Lewis Hayden 7 MF  JPN Nori Norifuma 8 MF  IRL Ciaran Murray 9 MF  AUS Josh De Nittis 10 FW  AUS Crios O'Hare 11 MF  AUS Josh Taylor 12 DF  WAL James Corrigan

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 DF  RSA Jordan Boshoff 15 MF  CIV Fabrice Kouby 16 MF  AUS Anthony Goweid 17 FW  AUS Josh Pin 18 FW  AUS Cooper Kennedy 19 MF  CHI Gerardo Balart 20 MF  AUS Brent Powell 21 MF  AUS Jake Broomhead 22 DF  ENG Calum Smith 25 DF  AUS Sam Humphries 26 FW  AUS Henri Mackenzie 27 MF  AUS Jimmy Breeze

Honours

Football Queensland

• FQPL Far North & Gulf
  • League Champions
    • Winners (8): 1952, 1954, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2024
  • Grand Final
    • Winners (6): 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2024
  • League Cup
    • Winners (2): 1954, 2022
• Crad Evans Shield
  • • Winners (4): 2007, 2010, 2013, 2024

See also

• List of soccer clubs in Australia

References

1. "About Us". Marlin Coast Rangers FC.
2. "RENAMING OF PART OF A PARK – (LOT: 2 RP: 902180) – TRINITY BEACH SPORTING PRECINCT, TRINITY BEACH" (PDF). Cairns Regional Council). Retrieved 21 October 2024.
3. "Crad Evans 2010 Marlin Coast 4 Brothers Tsv 1". YouTube. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
4. "Marlin Coast, Southside Comets in cup final". Cairns Post. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
5. "Marlin Coast Rangers triumph over Southside Comets". 7 News Cairns (Facebook). Retrieved 16 May 2024.
6. "Community groups share in over $170,000 of funding". Mirage News. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
7. "Wini Heatley on Matildas, football, life in Denmark and leading FC Nordsjælland". Cairns Post. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
8. "Soccer fixtures commence on Sunday (16 April 1947)". Trove. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
9. "N.A.B 1954 Premiers (12 July 1954)". Trove. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
10. "N.A.B take Diggers' Cup (4 May 1954)". Trove. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
11. "Marlin Coast lands huge FQPL coaching coup". Cairns Post. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
12. "FQPL Far North Men Grand Final - Marlin Coast Rangers vs. Mareeba United". Football Queensland (YouTube). 14 September 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
13. "A hat trick of trophies in 2024 for one of Cairns biggest football clubs after claiming the Crad Evans trophy". Cairns Post. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
14. "We reveal Football Queensland's award and golden boot winners". The Chronicle. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
15. "Marlin Coast Rangers playing-coach breaks 30-year Australian soccer record". The Cairns Post. 10 February 2025.
16. "3.68 seconds – Fastest goal ever scored in Australian football!". YouTube. Marlin Coast Rangers FC.

External links

• Official website