Rockhampton makes history with NRL success
Published on 30 August 2021
The Round 24 National Rugby League (NRL) Telstra Premiership between the St George Illawarra Dragons and the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys held in Rockhampton on Saturday 28 August 2021 was a huge victory and one for the history books.
Rockhampton Region Mayor Tony Williams said the Dragons and Cowboys game was a huge success, and following the Sharks and Tigers game on Saturday 21 August provided another incredible opportunity for the local community to embrace NRL in our own backyard.
“With home-grown NRL heroes such as the Cowboy’s Jake Granville playing in Rockhampton, it has been a great opportunity for the local community to watch high-profile players in their home town,” Mayor Williams said.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to have been given the opportunity to host not one but two back to back NRL premiership matches in Rockhampton at our region’s premier rugby league ground.”
Queensland Rugby League Central’s Regional Manager Rob Crow said it’s been great to see a real buzz around Browne Park.
“It’s been fantastic to see people enjoying a great day out at the footy over the past two weekends with Browne Park really coming to life,” Mr Crow said.
Advance Rockhampton Executive Manager Greg Bowden said Rockhampton is now on the radar as a viable region to host future NRL premiership games.
“As we have now played host to two successful NRL games right here in Rockhampton, we have put the city on the map as a destination to host future games,” Mr Bowden said.
“Thousands of Queenslanders secured tickets to both the Sharks vs Tigers game and the Dragons vs Cowboys game, with 11% of ticket holders across the two games coming from out of region.
“Of those 11% of ticket holders, we expect over half of those people spent a minimum of one night’s stay in our region’s accommodation and would have purchased food and drinks during their stay.
“We estimate the total economic impact to the Rockhampton region from these two games was over $1.2Million, with visitors and our local community spending money in region as part of their attendance at the game.
“Again we have proved that Rockhampton can host high-profile sporting matches, and that events similar to these bring great economic benefit to the region overall.”