At the Masters’ presentation dinner at the 2011 Carnival on the Sunshine Coast, AFL Masters National President, Peter Coffey announced that the 30th AFL Masters’ National Carnival will be held in Townsville 6th – 13th October 2012. Townsville were in the hot seat to host the 2013 carnival but due to some operational issues with the 2012 carnival the opportunity arose to host the event next year. Local masters delegate Luke Chapman jumped at the chance to bring Townsville’s bid forward a year and after some intense lobbying the local organisers heard the news they hoping to hear when Townsville was named as the next destination. The 1200 strong crowd at the dinner voiced their approval of the choice of Townsville for the next carnival and it appears the carnival will be as well attended as this year’s carnival. The carnival will bring around 1000 players plus support staff and families into the region for a minimum of 8 days injecting about 4.5 million dollars into the local economy. Masters football in the region will benefit from the exposure as will the AFL brand in general. The games will be split between Tony Ireland Stadium and the Murray Sporting complex.

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