REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Saturday, March 18, 2007

AFTER five years of blood, sweat and tears, the talk was over and the day of reckoning arrived for the Gold Coast Titans.

The historic opening NRL game against St George Illawarra at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane was expected to be a sellout, with at least 45,000 tickets pre-sold.

Twenty thousand Gold Coasters were expected to travel to the game by train, with Titans officials suggesting another 10,000 would go by car, taking advantage of shuttle services from the CBD, Eight Mile Plains, Garden City and Carindale.

For the people who convinced the NRL to place their faith in the Gold Coast, it was an emotional day.

That close-knit bid team comprised chairman Paul Broughton, managing director Michael Searle, operations boss Ian Buchanan, Federal Liberal MP Margaret May, Cr Rob Molhoek, lawyer Geoff Smith and developer Jim Raptis.

Mrs May and Cr Molhoek admitted they expected to shed a tear at the game, in which bookies had Titans slight favourites to beat the Dragons.

From 2001-05, Mrs May said the bid team met religiously each week, overcoming “incredible hurdles” to finally win the NRL green light for the 16th team’s franchise.

‘‘We had to open doors and that’s where I came in, at federal, state and local level. ‘‘We used to sit down and talk about the dream, getting the licence, and now we are here and ready to go.

“I remember when we got knocked back in 2004 for the first time and just how disappointed we all were.”