Fans ready to travel for potential Toowoomba NRL match according to online polling

Hundreds of readers from as far as Roma, Gatton and even Charleville voiced their support for the event, indicating they’d be willing to travel for it.

Happy St George Illawarra Dragons supporters after defeating Gold Coast Titans in NRL round 3 at Clive Berghofer Stadium, Sunday, March 25, 2018.

If the NRL brings an elite game of rugby league to Clive Berghofer Stadium, there is little doubt a portion of the thousands of roaring fans would be punters who had travelled from towns and regions surrounding Toowoomba.

Hundreds of readers from as far as Roma, Gatton and even Charleville voiced their support in online polling for the event going ahead.

Our sister publications in each of these towns put the callout with an overwhelming majority willing to travel the distance.

It further reinforces a united push this week by the Chronicle and the city’s political, sporting and business leaders to bring a match of top-grade rugby league to the Garden City while the competition had been relocated to Queensland due to the Covid-19 crisis in Sydney.

Mayor Paul Antonio said he had been in contact with NRL CEO Andrew Abdo about the matter.

Games for the next two weeks are currently slated for Brisbane as well as the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.

Those games will be at grounds the State Government owns, similarly to Toowoomba’s Clive Berghofer Stadium.

The venue hosted the match between the Gold Coast Titans and St George Illawarra Dragons in 2018 and has also held several NRL trial games.

Several readers expressed support for the bid, highlighting that it would be an economic windfall for the city.

“How could (anyone) say no — what an economic gain for the region,” Mark Ashley wrote.

But others felt the region needed to prioritise other matters,.

“No, we can’t travel to NSW to see our grandkids so why should they come here to play football,” Jenny Wolski added.