29-761: The Brisbane Lightning is a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Brisbane, Queensland . The team is a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The team was founded in 2022 as an expansion AIHL team and are the first team based in Queensland since the Blue Tongues last competed in 2012. The Lightning's home venue is Iceworld Boondall and the team formally entered the AIHL regular season in 2023 . The Brisbane Lightning
58-413: A considerably lower rate than a full-time professional athlete . As a result, semi-professional players frequently have (or seek) full-time employment elsewhere. A semi-pro player or team could also be one that represents a place of employment that only the employees are allowed to play on. In this case, it is considered semi-pro because their employer pays them, but for their regular job, not for playing on
87-562: A further two games in overtime. Following the conclusion of the exhibition season, the Lightning awarded Eamon McKay with the coaches award and Steve Harris as the players player award. On 9 September 2022, the AIHL announced that the Brisbane Lightning had been successful in obtaining a full AIHL licence and would join the league for season 2023 . Following this announcement, the Lightning organisation secured an agreement with
116-528: A total of one captain in the team's history. References: Brisbane have had a total of one head coach in the team's history. References: The Lightning have had two general managers in the team's history. References: Current: Former: Semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at
145-447: Is prohibitive, semi-pro football is common at the adult levels, in the outdoor or indoor variety , providing an outlet for players who have used up their NCAA eligibility and have no further use for maintaining amateur status. As a sport that normally plays only one game per week, American football is especially suited for semi-pro play and commonly known as "working man's" football; meaning the players have regular jobs and play football on
174-706: The 2022 AIHL season exhibition series. The very first Lightning roster ever assembled. Defencemen Coaches Legend (C) Captain (A) Alternate Captain (I) Import player Statistics Average age: TBD Average height: TBD Average weight: TBD Locals: TBD Imports: TBD Team roster for the 2023 AIHL season , Lighting's maiden full season. Defencemen Coaches Legend (C) Captain (A) Alternate Captain (I) Import player Statistics Average age: 26.6 Average height: 184.4 Average weight: 84.7 Locals: 24 Imports: 6 Current as of 2024 AIHL season . The Lightning have had
203-633: The Amateur Athletic Union ruled that the Olympics' practice was not actually professionalism but only a "semi" form of it, inventing the term "semi-pro". Although the Amateur Athletic Union did not like the idea very much, it decided that clubs could indeed offer employment without losing their amateur status or compromising the athlete. In North America, semi-professional athletes and teams were far more common in
232-541: The Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL) team Brisbane Goannas in early October 2022 to acquire the founding AWIHL team and re-brand them as the Lightning. At the beginning of 2024, in January, Ice Hockey Queensland announced the sale of the Brisbane Lightning men’s team to Jemsec Investments. Jemsec is headed by Lightning supporters Julie and Michael Sugden. The sale ended IHQ’s direct involvement with
261-591: The Scottish Premiership , with most teams below the second-level Scottish Championship being semi-professional. Historically, English rugby league and rugby union have had one full-time professional division, with semi-professional divisions at the next level down. The second tier of union, the RFU Championship , became fully professional beginning with the 2009–10 season. CBR Brave Too Many Requests If you report this error to
290-641: The Lightning men’s program, however IHQ would continue to own and run the Lightning women’s program. Following the sale of the team, the general manager’s position changed with Peter Holmes replaced by Ivan Rapchuk. In addition to the general manager’s position, Rapchuk was also appointed governor of the Lightning organisation. Team roster for the 2024 AIHL season . Defencemen Coaches Legend (C) Captain (A) Alternate Captain (I) Import player Statistics Average age: 24.8 Average height: 183.9 Average weight: 85.6 Locals: 27 Imports: 6 Team roster for
319-663: The Rampage for 2022 and Matthew Johnson was the only selected player to have played for the previous AIHL Queensland team Gold Coast Blue Tongues . On 9 April 2022, the AIHL released its updated season schedule and the Lightning confirmed it would participate in 15 exhibition games in 2022. Beginning late April and running through to late August, Brisbane would face-off home and away against six teams, including: Northstars, Ice Dogs , Bears , Mustangs, Rhinos and Brave . The Lightning announced its inaugural on-ice leadership team on 23 April 2022. Experienced AIHL defenceman, Damian Bright,
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#1732782959893348-464: The United States, where college ice hockey dominates at that age group; the junior leagues in the United States generally operate as fully amateur teams to maintain the players' eligibility to play in college. Lower-end minor leagues and more obscure sports often operate at a semi-professional level due to cost concerns. Because the cost of running a fully professional American football team
377-603: The attendant scholarships , in maintaining amateur status (unlike the Amateur Athletic Union, the NCAA forbade any sort of compensation outside of scholarships, including job offers tied to their playing, until 2020). Eligibility for participation in the Olympics in some sports is still dependent upon maintaining a purely amateur status (although far less so than was previously the case), and such athletes may be supported by government money, business sponsorships, and other systems. At
406-466: The company's team. The semi-professional status is not universal throughout the world and depends on each country's labour code and each sports organization's specific regulations. The San Francisco Olympic Club fielded an American football team in 1890. That year, the Olympic Club was accused by a rival club of enticing athletes to jump to its ranks with offers of jobs. An investigation by
435-489: The early and mid-20th century than they are today. Large blue-collar employers such as factories and shipyards often fielded baseball and basketball teams, with players receiving full-time salaries comparable to other employees. In theory, such players split their work week between athletic training and the normal duties of the company's employees, though highly competitive teams often evolved into "sponsored" squads which trained for sports full-time and only nominally worked in
464-410: The factory. The National Industrial Basketball League evolved out of these company-branded basketball teams. By the 1940s, baseball split off into separate truly amateur softball teams, sometimes sponsored by employers, and an expanded system of fully professionalized minor leagues whose lower ranks included many former industrial players. There are many benefits, such as collegiate eligibility and
493-527: The first ever Brisbane Lightning goal. In the second period Brisbane added to their tally with another goal to lead 4-0. The third period proved a closer encounter with the Mustangs registering a goal but the Lightning did not let up and posted two goals themselves to win the game 6-1. On 24 July 2022, the exhibition game between the Brisbane Lightning and Sydney Bears held at Iceworld Boondall in Brisbane
522-474: The league in the 2023 season . In 2022, Brisbane would set up the organisation, hire back and front office staff, form a playing roster and play a number of exhibition games against AIHL teams. After securing their AIHL licence in February 2022, Brisbane announced the appointment of their inaugural head coach on 9 March 2022. Terry Kiliwnik was named along with his assistant coach Ivan Rapchuk. Kiliwnik joined
551-533: The new team with a wealth of junior coaching experience with Queensland and had most recently been the head coach of the Brisbane Goannas in the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL). Rapchuk also joined with a wealth of Queensland junior hockey coaching experience. The following day the yet unnamed team officially launched their new name, Brisbane Lightning and confirmed exhibition matches would be held in 2022 with AIHL opposition. On 14 March 2022,
580-525: The penalty is served in 2023. Additionally, the Sydney Bears organisation was fined $ 3,500 for intentionally forfeiting the game. Brisbane ended up playing 14 exhibition games in total in 2022, one short of the originally planned 15, after the game in late August verse the CBR Brave was cancelled. The Lightning's exhibition record in 2022 saw the Brisbane team win seven games, lose six games and lose
609-407: The same time, professional sports have become such a massive and remunerative business that even many low-level feeder teams can afford to have fully professional athletes. In Canada, semi-professionalism is prevalent in junior ice hockey , in which the top level players (most of whom are teenagers still in, or just out of, high school) are paid at a semi-professional level. This is not the case in
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#1732782959893638-594: The short summer seasons and low salaries require players to hold jobs in the offseason to make ends meet. There are several hundred semi-professional football teams at non-League level. The bottom division of the English Football League (the fourth tier of the English football league system ) has traditionally been the cut-off point between professional ("full-time") and semi-professional ("part-time") in English football . However, many teams in
667-727: The team unveiled its logo and colours that had been designed by P27 Motion Design. The logo features the team name Brisbane Lightning and a stylised Story Bridge in front of a background of the Brisbane CBD and a bolt of lightning. The team's colours would be black, grey and white, similar to the Los Angeles Kings . In April 2022, the Lightning announced their maiden playing roster. The roster included two players, Damian Bright and Thomas Kiliwnik, moving from rival AIHL teams, Melbourne Mustangs and Newcastle Northstars respectively. Five players named had already been announced for
696-422: The top levels, as finances depend on promotion and relegation both of parent male teams and of the female teams themselves. Full professionalism for women is still in the planning stages; top female players often depend on other sources of income (such as coaching and physical training), and many attend university or college while playing. In Scottish football , semi-professional teams compete at all levels below
725-538: The top non-League competition, the National League , have become "full-time" professional clubs in an effort to achieve League status. Many former League clubs also remain as fully professional teams following relegation to the lower leagues at least for as long as they retain a large enough average attendance to generate the income needed to pay the players. Women's football in England is semi-professional at
754-538: The weekends. In the 20th century the term "semi-pro football league" refer to higher level amateur leagues, though the players do not get paid, the leagues and the games are run in a somewhat professional manner. The National Lacrosse League , whose teams also typically play only one game per week, pays a salary that is enough to be considered fully professional, but players also are able to pursue outside employment to supplement their income. The lowest levels of organized baseball are also effectively semi-professional, as
783-514: Was abandoned near the end of the second period following an ugly high sticking incident. Subsequently, the AIHL Player Safety Committee conducted an investigation into the incident. The committee concluded its investigation on 6 August 2022 and announced its ruling. It decided to suspend the Brisbane Lightning player involved for seven AIHL games. It also suspended the player from all Ice Hockey Australia national events until
812-582: Was founded on 13 February 2022. The Lightning was born out of a joint venture between Ice Hockey Queensland (IHQ) and the Brisbane Buccaneers and Southern Stars , following IHQ pulling support from the Brisbane Rampage . The joint venture's goal was to establish a top-level ice hockey team in Brisbane and obtain an Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) licence. On 28 February 2022, the Lightning secured an AIHL licence, and would enter
841-399: Was named lightning's first captain with Dylan Kendrick and Eric Speedie serving as alternate captains. Boondall was the setting for the Lightning's first ever game on 23 April 2022. Brisbane played the visiting Melbourne Mustangs in front of a sell out crowd. The home team controlled the game and led at every interval. In the first period the Lightning finished 3-0 ahead. Eric Speedie scored
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