GoldCoast.com.au

Pat McLeod

April 29th, 2009

GOLD Coast Turf Club chief executive John Cameron last night declared the NRL had missed out on a golden opportunity to promote this weekend as a sporting feast for the city.

The famed Prime Minister's Cup meeting and the Gold Coast Titans NRL clash with South Sydney are both poised to suffer reduced crowds because they are being forced into a scheduling clash.

The Titans take on the Rabbitohs at 3pm on Saturday at Skilled Park, while the PM's Cup meeting is up and racing around noon and goes through until about 5pm.

Cameron, who was at the helm of Moonee Valley race club which worked alongside some of the nation's biggest sports events in Melbourne, said there was no doubt crowds would be affected.

"We certainly see it as a negative," he said.

"I'm a sports fanatic and I'm an advocate of racing being on one day and other major sporting events being on another.

"If you can find a way to make them both work together then it's a great outcome for both parties."

Cameron said had the Titans game been held on another day or later Saturday night, it would have been a smorgasbord for the city.

Instead the Gold Coast will once again be forced to choose between two major sporting events.

It is another shameful collision course, which mirrors the debacle on June 28 last year which saw the Titans playing on the same day as an AFL clash between North Melbourne and St Kilda.

Cameron said it was disappointing the NRL did not take into account the race day when scheduling the Titans clash against Souths.

Titans managing director Michael Searle said although the clash was regrettable, there was no other option.

"I am the first bloke who would have loved to have been at the track on Saturday," he said.

"The challenge came about when, because of the Test match on Friday week, there could be no Monday night football (when the Titans were to have played).

"So Fox Sports came to us to help them out with scheduling. We were given a couple of options but the only one that was remotely palatable was Saturday afternoon.

"Unfortunately in the congested sporting market we are about to enter, these clashes will happen more often."

Queensland Racing unveiled the Prime Minister's Cup race day more than 12 months ago. Cameron said the Gold Coast Turf Club has a strong relationship with the Titans.

"We also acknowledge the Titans would say the same thing, that they ideally would not clash with our major race day," said Cameron.

"Possibly the NRL may not be aware of some of the idiosyncrasies of the Gold Coast.

"The best benefit that we believe we can have for the Gold Coast as a whole is to try and manage our feature days in conjunction with other sporting events.

"It will have an impact on our crowd but we've had a good response so far and the Titans are also going well."