McGrath has followed Fury since day one, writing a club blog for us at au.fourfourtwo.com and he says there are signs the club's fan base is growing - perhaps not at the turnstiles but certainly online.

However, entrenched attitude towards the sport up north is one of the biggest challenges for the first year A-League club.  

Living locally, he says Townsville and North Queensland face unique problems building an A-League culture in the area - including entrenched support for the NRL.

"People from outside of this region really do not understand the task at hand," he told au.fourfourtwo.com. "Unlike Brisbane and the Gold Coast, the market is both much smaller, less cosmopolitan and a rugby league heartland like no other.

"Old prejudices continue to hinder the club and the sport. Despite their efforts, the club still faces many hurdles with these age-old prejudices. Soccer in many quarters is still a fifthly word and a game played by foreigners and or softies - 'real men play rugby league' moronic attitudes.

"The word 'football' simply is not accepted, using the term football for soccer up here eight times out of ten meets with an instant rebuttal of 'Soccer is not football'".

However, interest is growing online, he says, but it's not yet being reflected in bigger overall numbers at Dairy Farmers Stadium - but hardcore fans in the region have jumped on board.

"F-Troop has several expat Brits who had absolutely zero interest in the A-League before North Queensland had a team, and are now massive supporters," McGrath said.

Further encouraging news is the opening of a new Fury club shop at the Willows Shopping Centre (also backers of the club).

McGrath added: "Everybody shops at the Willows and several people have commented that on a busy Saturday morning, the amount of people, especially kids getting about in Fury gear is really encouraging and highly visible.

"The store itself also is a great advertisement for the club and can only help with community awareness."

This season, Fury's home crowds have been solid with six home games averaging just under 7000 and despite pre-season speculation, the club has proved to be the most stable in Queensland so far.  

Compared to fellow new club Gold Coast United, those crowd figures are comparatively good given the distances in the region and, as McGrath says, some entrenched attitudes to the world game.   

More fans are out there and McGrath also feels areas outside Townsville, in particular Cairns - roughly 280km from Townsville- is one yet to fully connect with Fury.

"There have been some concerns raised by fans over the lack of promotion outside of Townsville. Local media in places like Cairns and others are yet to really jump on board," he said.

Some Cairns-based fans have aired alienation concerns and taken things into their own hands with a busload of Cairns supporters reportedly making the journey to the next home game against Central Coast.

"Yet thousands travel to Townsville for Cowboys home games," said McGrath.

However, the club has been making an effort to connect with the public in and around Townsville - perhaps more so than Gold Coast.

Examples include 'grab a flyer' promotion, coaching clinics called Greenzone, a junior club Big Brother program, family fun days and hospital visits.

It's the start of a long process of converting Townsville and northern Queensland into A-League fans in summer while still being rugby league fans in winter.

And this Fury fan is even dreaming of a finals game at Dairy Farmers sooner rather than later.

McGrath added: "There has been good debate recently on Fury internet forums that the attendance figure will soon break 8,000 but many believe a home finals match would be needed to get over the 10,000 mark."

For more on Fury, head to Matt McGrath's blog on this website or log onto http://www.nqfury.com.au