‘History in our grasp’: NRL refunds forthcoming, future regional games expected

Advance Rockhampton executive manager Greg Bowden said the NRL cancellation was “so disappointing”, but they weren’t giving up on bringing a game to the city.

Advance Rockhampton is now processing refunds for Saturday’s cancelled NRL game at Browne Park as negotiations to secure another game continue.

Advance Rockhampton executive manager Greg Bowden said on Tuesday that the weekend’s game cancellation was “so disappointing”.

“We had history in our grasp with the Rabbitohs and the Dragons – the Rabbitohs had actually landed on the tarmac in Rockhampton, and the plane got turned around,” he said.

“I feel for all those people who were attending the event, whether they travelled or whether they were locals.

“History was in our grasp: we were there, we were ready. The city was geared up, Browne Park was ready – it was primed.”

He said the chances of another NRL game coming to Rockhampton were “very, very good”.

“It would appear with what’s happening in South-East Queensland right now, although unfortunate, could be an advantage for us because we don’t see the NRL leaving Queensland any time soon, so that means the regions will play a part in future games.

“I think it’s enlivened regional sport, to be really honest with you. I think that people got excited about it – they were disappointed, but excited.”

Advance Rockhampton is now processing refunds for those who bought tickets.

Mr Bowden said he hoped money would appear in people’s bank accounts by the end of the week.

“Those refunds don’t necessarily mean we won’t be getting another NRL game, let me be very clear on that,” he said.

“We are working, as is the Leagues Club and the Central Queensland Rugby League, to get another NRL game for Central Queensland and for Rockhampton.”

He said the council incurred some ticketing costs and “minor marketing costs”, but that most of the financial burden lay with the Leagues Club as host of the event.

About the ticket website crashing, Mr Bowden said Advance Rockhampton and the external ticketing partner “learned a few lessons” that would help them “gear up for next time”.

“We actually worked with the ticketing partner late in the week, and we did go on sale with about 700 more tickets which we found floating in the IT world, out there in the cloud somewhere,” he said.

“We actually had the ticketing partner buy a new system for that … which parks about 100 people at a time and only allows 100 people and the rest are in a queue.”