About

The Friends of the Fire is the fundraising arm of the JCU Townsville Fire. Established in 2001/02, the JCU Townsville Fire is one of the nation’s pre-eminent and most successful women’s sporting clubs. Having secured the 2014/15, 2015/16 and the 2017/18 WNBL championship, the Fire boasts a star-studded playing roster that features 10 players with international experience including three Olympians. Driven by a passionate, dynamic and highly respected skills-based Board, the Fire is the only professional women’s sporting team in Northern Australia and represents positive, healthy, female role models. During the 2021/22 WNBL, the Fire ranked number one if the following categories:

• TV Audiences – 11% higher than the league average.
• Attendances – 400% higher than the league average.

In 2019 the JCU Townsville Fire were named team of the decade.

As a not-for-profit organisation, the Fire is committed to providing inspiring, positive role models to the Northern Australia community and beyond through our mentoring and school-based programs. Over the course of each season, the Fire is involved in more than 80 community engagement activities including an ongoing Youth Engagement Program that provides direct mentoring to disengaged youth with the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services.

Despite our on-court success, the costs involved with servicing the North Queensland community – on and off the court – continue to grow. The Friends of the Fire has been registered with the Australian Sports Foundation to assist the club in the following areas:

• Community and grassroots development
• High performance
• Facilities

Donations are fully tax deductible and each donation will play a vital role in ensuring the development of these critical areas. Donors can select a specific project to donate to or alternatively, donations can be made to the overarching fundraising Friends of the Fire campaign. By contributing to the Friends of the Fire, you are helping the JCU Townsville Fire deliver on its strategic objectives and ensuring that they continue to provide an essential role to the North Queensland community.

Community and grassroots development

As a not-for-profit organisation, the Fire is committed to providing inspiring, positive role models to the North Queensland community and beyond through our mentoring and school-based programs. Over the course of each season, the Fire is involved in more than 80 community engagement activities. In addition to these, the Fire runs three junior participating programs aimed at ensuring more North Queenslanders are active and participating in basketball. They are:

• Girls can ball clinics, held across - Mackay, Cairns and Townsville
• Fire Academy - 35 athletes are selected in the Fire academy each year, aged between 13-18
• Free basketball clinics - held in Townsville, Burdekin,Ingham, Sharters Towers

All sessions are run and managed by the members of the JCU Townsville Fire.

High Performance

The JCU Townsville Fire is one of the nation’s pre-eminent and most successful women’s sporting clubs. Providing a world-class program for our athletes - inclusive of the right, training facilities, equipment and high performance staff - is paramount to our future success.

In addition to this, the Fire also runs an Academy program that is aimed at developing North Queensland players into future WNBL representatives.

Facilities

Established in 2001/02, the Fire has spent the past 21 seasons engraining ourselves in the North Queensland community and striving for ongoing success both on and off the court. As part of this process, the club requires significant investment in infrastructure - including training tools - to allow us to compete in the WNBL and to improve the at-match experience for our members and fans.

Donations will also ensure that the Fire' Academy program - geared towards developing North Queensland players into future WNBL representatives – can be implemented in satellite locations and not just situated in Townsville.