Foundation A bid known as
Northern Thunder FC (or
North Queensland Thunder FC) was considered for admission for the
2008–09 season along with
Gold Coast Galaxy. The bid was publicly well progressed, with the team's badge and colours (red, white and black) released. The training facilities were to be located at the North Queensland Institute of Sport and the home ground was to play at
Dairy Farmers Stadium. The bid was tentatively accepted to join in the 2008–09 season expanding the league to ten teams. Needing to meet certain financial criteria to be granted entry into the league, the club's major financial backer pulled out of the franchise on 5 March 2008, effectively collapsing the bid.
Football Federation Australia determined on 11 March 2008 that neither Thunder or Galaxy would be granted entry "in the best interests of the league," given that a nine team format was generally unfavoured and delayed expansion of the league until the
2009–10 season. With expansion put off until the following season, by June 2008 the FFA had received ten bids for new A–League teams, two of which came from Townsville – one headed by
Melbourne businesswoman Milissa Fischer and one by local businessman Don Matheson. Matheson's bid, which "rose from the ashes of the Northern Thunder bid", was granted a provisional licence by
Football Federation Australia on 24 July. On 28 August 2008 the franchise was accepted into the A–League by CEO
Ben Buckley with the only matter outstanding the finalisation of all legal requirements. On 6 November 2008, the franchise named was officially revealed as North Queensland Fury FC. Their inaugural kit was revealed in April 2009, featuring dark green sleeves/socks, and a white/light green front. It was announced on 10 December 2008, that the Fury had signed
Rockhampton–born businessman Dean Hassall as their
CEO. Also the club signed Scottish club,
Celtic's strength and conditioning coach Alan McCall and was also joined by Football Operations Manager Nicholas Deluca.
Struggles and demise On 7 June 2010, former
Sparta Prague and one time Czech Republic national team coach
František Straka was announced as the club's coach for the coming 2010–11 A-League season after agreeing to a one-year deal. The club finished last in the 2010/11 A-League season, winning only 4 of their 30 matches. The crowd average of 4,245 was the 4th lowest in the history of the A-League behind the Gold Coast United crowd average of the same season and the two seasons of the New Zealand Knights. A community ownership model was launched, aimed at finding 1.5 million dollars (per year, for three years), of capital investment being sought to cover half the expected losses for the next three seasons. Ben Buckley, in an open letter to Fury supporters, made it clear that the FFA would not fund continual losses. On 1 March 2011, the club officially had its A-League licence revoked due to financial reasons. The FFA reported that the Fury had received only $300,000 of the investment required for the next season, and despite increased sponsorship revenue the club would still lose $2 to $3 million. FFA released a statement confirming earlier reports that a decision had been taken not to continue with the franchise as the financial position of the club for season 2011–2012 considered too big of a
financial risk for the
FFA to undertake.
Re-establishment and further demise On 3 October 2012, the club was officially re-established after it was announced that the club would participate in the 2013
NPL Queensland Conference, with
North Queensland Football forming the new board. The club made an announcement that they would keep the old North Queensland Fury logo. On 12 November 2012 the club announced former player
Gareth Edds would take up the head coach role as well as field his position at the club. On 13 September 2017, the club announced that it would be dropping the Northern Fury name and colours in favour of the name "North Queensland United" and the region's traditional football colours of blue, red and gold. At the end of the
2018 Football Queensland season, NQ United disbanded again. == Rivalries ==