THERE has been plenty to like about Bathurst Regional Council’s long-term deal with the Penrith Panthers to play an NRL match each year at Carrington Park.
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Bathurst has led the way in taking NRL matches to the bush at a time when fans have been calling out for more of the same.
The Panthers last year extended the deal until 2028, and there’s no reason to think it won’t go on for many years after that.
After a few years of building momentum, the Bathurst experiment really hit a high point this year when more than 10,000 people turned out at Carrington Park to see the Panthers go down to a North Queensland Cowboys outfit led by Immortal-in-waiting Johnathan Thurston, one of the best players to ever lace on a boot.
That match was played on a Friday night in May when the NRL season was in full swing and there was nothing much else on in town to compete with the football.
It provided all the ingredients for a massive crowd and the Bathurst community responded in their thousands.
Now there’s concern that momentum will be lost next year.
While league fans will again have the chance to see a modern-day great in action – this time the Melbourne Storm skipper, Cameron Smith – everything else seems to conspiring against drawing a big crowd.
First, next year’s match will be a Round 3 clash played at the end of March when many fans are still making the mental transition from cricket season to football season.
Indeed, the 2019 clash will be played on the same weekend as local senior cricket finals, highlighting just that point.
But that won’t be the only clash.
As the Western Advocate reported on Monday, the NRL match is set down for the same date as the Gold Crown final and the match will be held on the same weekend as an over-55s state hockey tournament that is already filling hotel beds.
All this goes to illustrate just how little say council has in the planning of the annual NRL clash, even after handing over around $300,000 for the rights to host the event.
Council’s best chance of getting that money back is to get paying fans through the gates, and the timing of the match is crucial to maximising that crowd.
Council can make requests but the final decision around scheduling is out of its hands. With so much to like about the event, that lack of control remains the one great bugbear.
