WALLABIES TEST PROOF CODE RIGHT OUT OF STEP

WHAT a poorly executed “event”. More like a nonevent.

I refer to the Wallabies international last weekend on the Coast. This sport could absolutely lay claim to one thing – it is possibly the worst-run sport in Australia today. It’s not that long ago that the organisation now known as Rugby Australia and the National Rugby League were fighting it out as to which might be the stronger sport in Australia.

No contest now. Being very kind, rugby union in Australia is a very, very distant fourth football code, well behind AFL, NRL and soccer. Light years adrift to be more accurate. If we needed any proof, we got it in spades last weekend. That was embarrassing.

Stop calling it “the game they play in heaven” – you are killing Christianity.

But my major concern here is how it was executed on the Gold Coast. And we all have a right to question this because good taxpayer funds – lots of them, in part, supported this dismal flop.

The Gold Coast needs events – but we need them to be well planned and tick all the boxes.

The only excitement came at the end of the game when a few players finally showed some passion when a fan caused a commotion. That at least got the game some media coverage, not that I’m advocating this.

It was reported the “official” crowd was in excess of 16,000. What method was used to reach this number? From the TV pictures it was very clear to anyone, half the stands were empty. Rumour has it, just over 11,000 tickets were sold and late last week on the GC free tickets were being given away in what we can only assume was desperation to fill the venue. It is called “papering”.

So TEQ put good money into obtaining the rights to this game on the GC and secured it for Cbus Stadium. Well, if I was on that board I would be demanding my money back.

Now I know nothing about rugby but here’s some basic 101 stuff you always get right if you have a supposed major sporting event coming.

Don’t appoint a Sydney PR agency. Go local, they know what’s happening in their back yard.

Don’t play a game of international rugby, which is struggling anyway from its collapsing audience in Oz, when the biggest rugby school on the GC is playing its big grudge game against historic Brisbane opposition the same late afternoon in Brisbane. That, a simpleton will tell you, is your core audience, so work together.

Don’t play a game of international rugby when the local competition on the GC has its grand final that afternoon. The mere fact you would even run it on the same weekend shows the Rugby Australia contempt for the grassroots efforts of the sport locally.

Don’t keep it a tight secret until a week or so out and then start a lame lastminute campaign.

None of that is rocket science but who asked these simple questions months back?

I promise you that will not be the case with firstclass cricket coming to the Coast this November.

And as for attracting interstate or overseas visitors, where were they?

If we are going to have major events on the GC – and I personally believe that is essential in a tourist city – then it’s time to have a relook into where the money is being directed. We have some wonderful successes – the GC Marathon is a shining example. But maybe it’s time to restock, have a look at our event calendar and make sure the dollars are being well invested in every single event. Further, make sure organisations taking the dollars are delivering on their promises.

Various bodies talk up the Gold Coast as the events capital, including this paper from time to time. Well, that is a massive over reach of course. Melbourne, with the worst weather in Australia, is easily the events capital of this country.

Let’s ensure we are being smart and strategic with our planning and our process behind events on the GC. That is just smart. Say what you like – last weekend was just not smart. I hear they even turned off in heaven.