Cairns first competed in the State Championship held in Mt Isa. They didn’t compete again until 1988 when they competed as Far North Queensland.

In 1989, Far North Queensland got their first player, Nella Bertoncini, into the national team. During this time, she played for the Australian B team in the 1989 Oceania Cup held in Brisbane that year (her team is pictured on the right). Nella played against Papua New Guinea, the Australian A team (pictured on the right) and Taiwan. She appears to have scored one goal against Papua New Guinea during the Cup (source: Encyclopedia of Matildas). Many fans turned out to watch the final between Taiwan and New Zealand that year where Taiwan ended up taking out the cup (source: Women’s Soccer in Queensland.