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The 2017 Country vs City match – the final time the fixture will be held –has been confirmed for Mudgee’s Glen Willow Regional Sports Stadium for Sunday, May 7.
It will be the second time the venue has hosted the match.
Mid-Western Regional Council mayor, Des Kennedy, said that the fixture is the ideal way to showcase the region as well as providing a significant economic boost.
“We’re very excited about it all. We hosted it back in 2012 and there was just on 9000 people here and we’re hoping for the same result next year,” he said.
“It’s a great boost to the economics of our town. We say the facilities here are world class – they’re the best in country NSW anyway – and we’re very pleased that the NRL brings games to these smaller regions.
“There’s 25,000 people in our region so we’re really excited to bring 8000-10,000 visitors here for a game of footy in May is a fantastic boost.
“Probably the biggest thing is that it’s a televised game that showcases the region, Channel 9 set their cameras up in the grandstand and they show all of those beautiful hills.”
Following the 2012 match the Parramatta Eels brought one of their home games to Glen Willow in 2013.
In 2014 the Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets A-League pre-season fixture was held there and it’s twice hosted the Trans-Tasman Touch Football Test Series.
In February it will host a trial Super Rugby game between the NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies.
Cr Kennedy said that such events were what Council had in mind when the decision was made to build the complex and that plans are in the works to keep them coming.
“Back in 2008 when we decided to build this ground, I remember saying ‘it’s no good us doing it if we don’t promote it, get out on the front foot and really drive it’, and we’re doing that.
“We’ve got the Waratahs and Brumbies rugby trial game.
“And we’ve got our hat in the ring to get a permanent scheduled NRL game from 2018 onwards: Whether we do a deal with a club in Sydney that’ll bring a home game here is on our agenda at the moment.
“We’ve got to keep the ball rolling instead of having one and hunting around for another couple of years to get another one.”
As part of the announcement on Monday morning NRL Head of Football Brian Canavan said that their plans for regional areas after Country vs City include taking more NRL club matches to centres such as Mudgee, as well as expansion of the NSW Cup.