$100,000 study into potential stadium in Cairns
Daniel Strudwick

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

© The Cairns Post

CAIRNS' push for a major rectangular stadium will get a boost from a council plan to invest $100,000 before August into assessing the city's need for the facility.

Far Northern sports chiefs have backed the study, insisting the need for a new stadium is proven every time Cairns is overlooked for visits by national teams and events.


Council Regional Council’s sports chairwoman Margaret Cochrane said the study was likely to find a “well and truly overdue” need for a stadium that can hold up to 20,000 people.


Cr Cochrane said inadequate lighting at Barlow Park nearly forced Super XV organisers to look elsewhere when deciding on a venue for Saturday’s trial match between the Queensland Reds and Canterbury Crusaders


She said Barlow Park only clinched the deal after organisers were persuaded by convincing “entrepreneurial talks”.


“If we don’t grow, we’re not going to get some of the bigger games and a lot of opportunities just won’t be there for us to take,” Cairns District Rugby League chairman Colin Moore said.


Mr Moore and representatives from 17 other Far Northern sporting associations have been enlisted in a stakeholders’ group that will discuss the development with council officers next month. Football FNQ general manager Chris Collins is among the chorus of voices from rectangular field codes that say Cairns is “screaming out” for new sports infrastructure.


Bosses from rugby league and rugby union groups said spectators felt too far from on-field action at Barlow Park because an athletics track separates the pitch from the grandstands.

http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2011/01/25/146145_local-news.html