Almost 2000 temporary seats swapped from blue to grey

With almost 2000 temporary seats headed to Townsville for next week’s State or Origin opener, here’s how the stadium narrowly avoided crisis of colour.

IT’S one way to ensure Townsville isn’t left feeling the blues.

Almost 2000 temporary seats required to swell Queensland Country Bank Stadium’s capacity for the historic State of Origin match will be transported from Sydney after the seats originally earmarked for the job were found to be a little off-colour – literally.

Plastic seats which had been in storage at Clifton Productions on the Gold Coast bear an unfortunate resemblance to the NSW Blues’ colour scheme.

Rather than forcing passionate Maroons fans to sit on blue seats, the company has sourced grey seats from their Sydney operations.

It is just one of the logistic challenges confronting organisers in the race to transform Townsville into an Origin cauldron for next Wednesday’s Origin series opener.

Mock ups of what the Queensland Country Bank Stadium will look like with additional seating. Picture: Queensland Government.

Several truckloads of equipment on Monday headed from the Clifton Productions base at Ormeau bound for Townsville.

Workers will assemble temporary grandstands over the coming days to take the stadium’s capacity above 27,000.

Sports Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the stadium’s horseshoe design allowed for temporary capacity increases, but with just a week before game day, 2000 was the maximum number that could be safely installed in such a short time period.

“You could get extra seating if there was a longer time frame in the lead-up,” he said.

The Gold Coast’s Metricon Stadium’s capacity ballooned from 25,000 to 40,000 during the Commonwealth Games, while the city’s aquatic centre was also transformed into an 8000-seat arena, but there was a much longer preparation time on that occasion.

Mock ups of what the Queensland Country Bank Stadium will look like with additional seating. Picture: Queensland Government.

Queensland Country Bank Stadium already features some permanent blue seats, but they mirror the Cowboys’ navy strip, which looks almost charcoal in colour.

Clifton Productions’ state manager Adrian Potts said the irony of the blue seats originally slated for the temporary grandstands was not lost on them.

“We realised it probably wasn’t the best thing to send blue seats to Townsville for a State of Origin match,” he said.

Live sites and entertainment precincts will also be set up in the Townsville CBD and out in the suburbs to help the city celebrate the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to host an Origin match.

Flinders Street, the main hub of bars and restaurants in the heart of Townsville, will become the Caxton Street of the north, with big screens to be set up throughout the city for footy fans unable to jag a ticket to the big match.