Seats up for grabs

It’s not too late to be a part of sporting spectacular

MORE than 1000 additional tickets will go on sale on Tuesday for the State of Origin blockbuster with workers due to finish construction on temporary grandstands at Townsville’s Queensland Country Bank stadium early this week.

The sporting spectacular is expected to generate $7m for the North Queensland economy and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the event would support local jobs.

“These extra grandstand seats will lift capacity to around 28,000, ensuring State of Origin is the biggest sporting event Townsville has ever seen,” she said.

“If you’re desperate tickets, it’s not too late.”

Ten B-double trailers had hauled 100 tonnes of steel almost 1400km as part of the race to boost capacity at the 25,000-seat stadium, Tourism and Sport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said.

“Upsizing seating for Townsville’s historic State of Origin demonstrates the clever design built into Queensland Country Bank for

Stadium and Queensland’s ability to host major events anywhere in the state,” Mr Hinchliffe said.

“Getting the job done at short notice, without a hitch, is a great credit to the team at Clifton Productions.”

Clifton Productions national events manager Phil Harris described the process as a “colossal undertaking”.

“An event of this scale usually takes months to plan, however, we were first contacted about the extra seating a little over a week ago,” he said.

“We’ve had a team of 20 people working 10 hours a day for six days to get the seating right.

“All the right people have been involved to ensure the seating is safe, including architects, engineers, fire engineers, health and safety officers, compliance officers, truck drivers, build staff and administration officers.”

Member for Townsville Scott Stewart predicted a “fantastic atmosphere” across the city on Wednesday even for those who missed out on tickets, with part of Flinders St closed to vehicles to allow for dining and entertainment to spill out of venues on to the road.

Mayor Jenny Hill said she could not reveal how much money the Townsville City Council would spend on State of Origin-related community events.

Stadium gates will open to the general public at 6.30pm on Wednesday.

There will be live entertainment from 7.35pm with the historic game between Queensland and NSW set to kick off at 8.10pm.