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Australia: A beer brawl, which threatened to derail the switch of Saturday's all-Queensland semi-final from Aussie Stadium to Townsville was finally resolved last night (September 13). The deal struck between Carlton and United and Lion Nathan ensures that the historic match between North Queensland and Brisbane will be played at Dairy Farmers Stadium. It is understood negotiations took place throughout yesterday and at one point the Townsville move was to be cancelled.

The drama started with Lion Nathan's Fourex having signage and pourage rights at Dairy Farmers Stadium. Fourex is also a major sponsor of the Cowboys, Broncos and QRL. The NRL's official beer is VB, owned by Carlton and United. VB wanted to sell its product at the ground. Carlton and United and Lion Nathan held lengthy talks on September 13 through independent third parties in an attempt to resolve the dilemma. Eventually, VB – for the good of rugby league – relented and allowed Fourex to sell its beer at Dairy Farmers.

VB will have some signage rights at Dairy Farmers because the NRL – and not North Queensland – are the ground hirers in finals football. VB will also sell wine and spirits at the ground and still holds some hope of obtaining shared pourage rights. With the beer issue settled, NRL chief executive David Gallop announced last night the match would kick off at 7.45pm.


It is expected that the ground's 25,000 seats will be sold out today to see if the Cowboys can beat Brisbane, despite having never won in the two teams' 16-match history. Excited fans began lining up for tickets at Dairy Farmers Stadium early yesterday morning, only to be turned away because the switch had not been confirmed. They returned last night and were sleeping outside the ground in order to secure the hottest tickets in town.

"When this was first suggested, and at various times in the last 48 hours, it appeared to be mission impossible," Gallop said. "It has been an enormously complex matter and it simply could not have happened without the assistance of Aussie Stadium, our clubs and a range of individual com- panies and corporate partners including one of our key sponsors VB. "While it is a decision that will please a great number of fans, it will also cause commercial partners and some other fans a deal of inconvenience, despite our many efforts to minimise that inconvenience."

The NRL is investigating a function for Sydney-based Cowboys and Broncos fans and for fans who committed to being in Sydney for two games of football this weekend.


15 September, 2004