Councillor James O’Shea pushes for city to bring annual NRL match to Toowoomba after Broncos trial success
Toowoomba’s campaign for an annual NRL match is back after a blockbuster rugby league weekend jolted our city’s leaders into action.
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Toowoomba’s leaders have united in a bid to ensure the weekend’s blockbuster NRL trial match becomes an annual event in the Garden City.
The Brisbane Broncos’ sold-out Pre-Season Challenge match against the Gold Coast Titans has sent a jolt through the city’s political establishment, with more than 7000 people packing the Toowoomba Sports Ground in a celebration of rugby league.
Now Toowoomba Regional Council endorsed a motion to start collaborating with the state government and NRL clubs to develop this one-off into an annual event, either as a trial or even a regular season game.
It has reawakened interest in The Chronicle’s long-running “Give Us A Game” campaign from 2021, which helped deliver a fixture between the St George Illawarra Dragons and the Sydney Roosters during Covid-19.
The motion at Tuesday’s ordinary meeting, which was endorsed unanimously, has been spearheaded by councillor James O’Shea who said Sunday’s turnout for a trial match stunned him into action.
“When you get 7500 paying customers and then have them lined up out the door trying to get tickets on the day and they couldn’t get in for a trial game, that is unbelievable,” he said.
“I turned up and I just went ‘holy moly’.
“You go back to 2024, when we had that Maroon fan day – we had 5000 turn up, it was the largest attended Origin fan day Queensland has ever had.
“The fans have voted with their feet so we need to look at other avenues to attract major events to the region.”
Mr O’Shea said he liked the idea of turning the annual trial into a festival of rugby league, which like the weekend’s action would span several days to maximise tourism impact.
“We call ourselves a rugby league community – we always have said we’re a rugby league town,” he said.
“We could have a couple of TRL teams playing, and some junior rugby league teams, you could bring in country teams from the western areas.”
While he wouldn’t reveal names, Mr O’Shea said he had a shortlist of NRL clubs he wanted the city to court.
Queensland Country Tourism chief executive Peter Homan hailed the initiative, arguing the NRL should focus more on regional centres than Las Vegas.
“There were 3000 people there on Saturday for the fan day, and it goes to show the level of support for the Broncos here — I don’t know why they don’t take a trial to Toowoomba every year,” he said.
“The NRL should bring a game to Toowoomba every year, they should — we’re the second-largest rugby league nursery in Australia.
“We’d help the council wherever we could, and given it’s the department of sport that owns the grounds, to see the crowds and to keep investing in that stadium, it would give us a chance to bring more statewide competitions to that oval.”
It comes just a day after Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce chief executive Todd Rohl backed the plan to bring a trial match to the region every year.
“From coffee shops to accommodation providers, everyone benefits from these events — it could be massive,” he said.
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Originally published as Councillor James O’Shea pushes for city to bring annual NRL match to Toowoomba after Broncos trial success
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