Your go-to guide for all the footy final fanfare!
Your go-to guide for all the footy final fanfare!
No matter if you’re team AFL or NRL, for the footy fanatics among us, the pointy end of the season also means it’s time to prepare ourselves to bid a bittersweet adieu to our beloved code yet again.
Whether you’re an AFL fan chomping at the bit for the sound of that sweet siren at 2.30pm on Saturday 28 September, or a League fanatic counting down till Sunday 6 October, the GC has you sorted. Clear the calendar and gather the buds for double the fun, nail-biting action and… hangover, lbh.
Go ale out to say farewell (or good riddance, depending on your footy fanatic status) to another glorious footy szn in style. Here are 12 local haunts getting into the game day spirit, so you don’t have to worry about your crew drinking your fridge dry.
The Star Gold Coast
Our fave recreation destination does this stuff with their eyes closed. Catch every bounce, tackle, try and goal on the on the mega screens from the electric atmosphere of the Sports Bar, or for some unbeatable alfresco vibes, Live on The Lawn. Oh, and it would also be a #rookieerror to not tackle one of those delish footy burg specials while you’re at it.
Where: 1 Casino Drive, Broadbeach
The Club at Parkwood Village
Fun fact: The Sports Bar at The Club has over 40 (that’s 4-0) HD TVs, which this is bound to speak to any sports fan…and a particularly pertinent tidbit to bear in mind when GF weekend rolls around.
Where: 76-122 Napper Road, Parkwood
The Sporting Globe x 4 Pines
We’re not sure how we got so lucky with the calibre of mighty fine pubs, clubs and establishments us Gold Coasters get to frequent, but here’s another Grand Final worthy watering hole. Restoring the Glitter Strip’s favourite street corner to its former, brews and chews slinging glory, The Sporting Globe x 4 Pines venture is a state-of-the-art new venue complete with mixology from the city’s largest circular island bar, fancy pants wrap-around digital screens and an on-site microbrewery. Count us in!
Where: Cnr Cavill Avenue and Surfers Paradise Blvd, Surfers Paradise
Currumbin RSL
Southern folk flock to Currumbin RSL in droves for footy final weekends, and 2024 will be no exception. Grab your mates and get creekside to catch all the action of both finals clashes, live and loud on their colossal plasma screens.
Where: 165 Duringan Street, Currumbin
Burleigh Town Hotel
No doubt this sprawling spot will be a popular choice come game day, boasting a massive wrap-around TV and a multitude of screens to scream at. And of course more ice-cold bevvy’s on tap than you’d need to fuel a Mad Monday sesh.
Where: Tsipura Drive, Burleigh Heads
Southport Sharks
No matter your preferred code (and no shade if that’s AFL, we’re all allowed to be wrong sometimes), the beloved Southport Sharks is welcoming the whole fam to get in on the finals festivities. The big game(s) will be broadcast live on the Mackenzie’s Beer Garden goliath big screen, plus the slew of tactically placed big screens throughout the club.. so you couldn’t miss a minute even if you try. Enjoy food and drinks specials all afternoon including free half time footy food throughout the club.
Where: Corner of Musgrave and Olsen Avenue, Southport
Crafty’s Sports Bar
Footy finals, refreshments a-plenty, and darn good footy grub await at Harbour Town’s epic sports bar, Crafty’s. This place has become quite the icon on the northern GC, and is the perfect spot to perch up and catch all the edge of your seat AFL and NRL Grand Final action. If you happen to have the ankle biters in tow, no worries because kids and cool folk unite at this crowd fave.
Where: Harbour Town Premium Outlets, Brisbane Road, Biggera Waters
Burleigh Bears Leagues Club
If you can’t make it to the actual finals, don’t fret as Burleigh Bears Leagues Club is known as the ultimate destination for every sporting event #TrueStory. Whether you catch the games in the Lounge or Sports Bar, sit back, relax and pair the good times with a couple of cold ones. With friendly staff at every turn, you can see why this one is a finals venue of choice.
Where: 80 Pacific Avenue, Miami
The Coolangatta Hotel
Are you ready to watch the finals Cooly Hotel style (translation; with the trifecta of vibes, authentic footy eats and of course, booze)? Opting to cheer on our team at the Southern GC’s go-to entertainment HQ is akin to leaving a sideline conversion in JT’s hands aka, a sure thing.
Where: The Strand, Marine Parade, Coolangatta
The Cavill Hotel
What could be more fitting for a supersized GF weekend than a supersized screen? Look no further than The Cavill, sporting one of the biggest screens in Surfers, bc this is absolutely one of those occasions where #BiggerIsBetter! For the savviest of sports fans, book yourself a table to support your code in style.
Where: 46 Cavill Avenue, Surfers Paradise
The Sporting Globe Bar & Grill
Boasting over 50 screens, we challenge you to miss a moment of the action #MissionImpossible. Full menu is available including their signature wings, burgers, parmas, ribs & share platters!
Where: The Promenade, Robina Town Centre, Robina
Robina Pavilion
Avoid your digs undergoing a Mojo Dojo Casa House transformation this GF weekend, and divert the crew to an electric atmosphere made for tackling that fever pitch finale energy. The spruce-up Robina Pav was treated to a few years back make this destination and its myriad of pozzy’s at which to perch, a delight for begrudging tag-alongs and those set to have their eyes glued for every second of the action.
Where: 229 Ron Penhaligon Way, Robina
Words by Kellie Leader and Belinda Symons
It doesn’t get much better for sports buffs than the ultimate trifecta of brews, bites and ball sports (or any sports, but we’re not about to let semantics stand in the way of good alliteration). We’ve got a snookering suspicion that Surfers Paradise’s mammoth new $6.5 million super venue will be a revelation among sip fans and sports fanatics alike.
A collaboration between The Sporting Globe and 4 Pines Brewing, the much-anticipated venue has opened in the glowed-up corner site where Hard Rock Cafe once famously reigned supreme.
The two hospitality titans deliver the largest of The Sporting Globe’s in Australia, and a microbrewery, just a stone’s throw from the Surfers Paradise beachfront.
Somebody pitch us, we’ve died and gone to sports bar heaven!
Ever since Hard Rock Cafe blew full time on its 26-year innings on the Surfers strip in 2022, we knew it would take something extremely epic to fill the gaping, novelty-guitar sized hole left in its wake.
Delivering a multi-million dollar flagship facility for the iconic Surfers site, the bar-raising new sports destination fills the Shaq-sized shoes inherited from its predecessor and then some.
Restoring the Glitter Strip’s favourite street corner to its former, brews and chews slinging glory, The Sporting Globe x 4 Pines venture is breaking records right out of the gate.
The M.O. for the state-of-the-art new venue is ‘Where Beer Meets Sport’ – complete with mixology from the city’s largest circular island bar, fancy pants wrap-around digital screens and an on-site microbrewery.
She’s destined to be a crowd pleaser from the get-go.
Featuring over 60 HD screens at which sports fans can glue their eyeballs (slash, share a piece of their mind), the high-tech sports haven is also blessed with no less than 80 taps.
14 taps are dedicated to 4 Pines brews, fermented in-house in the fully operational, ground-floor brewery.
As is good and proper, the hefty new 1000 pax venue comes kitted out with all the mod-cons for impeccable spectating conditions, though, it’s no one-trick pony.
Positioning itself as a family-friendly sporting venue, Surfers’ new star player is set to become the go-to meeting place to watch, listen, eat, drink and be entertained.
Throw in late-night tunes entertainment and extended trade for those spritely souls who like to keep the par-tay going into the wee hours.
The Sporting Globe slider-s onto Surfers’ scene boasting a sizeable selection of the freshest brews going, high-def screens out the wazoo, crowd fave chews like Buffalo wings, Loaded nachos and more Parmy and Burger flavours than you can poke a hockey stick at.
Following in the footsteps of the concept’s debut at King Street Wharf in Sydney, the new Surfers Paradise venture is the second collaborative effort between and the award-winning 4 Pines brew crew… as if there was ever any doubt this perfect pairing would be welcomed with anything other than open arms and thirsty traps!
Pouring everything from crisp Japanese-style lagers through to some QLD-inspired limited release brews.
The team predicts some 500,000 schooners will be churned out per year.
How do you like them apple…ciders?
As you’d expect, Australia’s leading hospitality and sports entertainment franchise is holding up its end of this dream partnership.
Coming in clutch with all the game day bells and whistles, there’s also a dedicated private function room, booth seating fitted with top-of-the-line TVs (with individual channel selection, thank you very much!) and a beer garden vibing balcony should you wish to revel outside instead.
Yep, they’ve smashed it out of the park, here!
Game on, Gold Coasters.
Where: Cnr Cavill Avenue and Surfers Paradise Blvd, Surfers Paradise
When: 10am – 3am Friday – Saturday, 10am – 12am Sunday – Thursday
Words by Kellie Leader
Picture the scene: it’s your team’s game night, and you and your crew are more than keen to catch the action in a location with full coverage, the coldest of beers, and a sprinkling of outstanding food options. Anything less would be a colossal failure, right? Seeking down such establishments that are solely devoted to delivering these things is not always the most straightforward task. But at the same time, neither is it impossible! Luckily for you, we’ve done our homework and compiled a list of the best sports bars on the Gold Coast to enjoy the action while adequately showing your support for your team. Shouting at screens may or may not be included.
The Star Sports Bar
Many would say this place is in pole position as the Gold Coast’s premier sports bar venue, and we think that’s rightly deserved. If the 23 large screens, private (pre-bookable) booths and a gigantic 10.5-metre screen aren’t impressive enough, you should be swayed by the coldest beer around and a multitude of nearby food outlets for you to fuel up pre-game or celebrate your team’s victory.
Where: The Star Gold Coast, Main Gaming Floor, 1 Casino Drive, Broadbeach
Crafty’s Sports Bar
Aptly positioned at the northern Gold Coast’s prime shopping outlet Harbour Town, Crafty’s gives you the option of mixing shopping with seeing whatever sporting event you might be into. Or, if it’s better suited, the chance for you or your partner to do so whilst the other takes their time with over 200 stores. Make plans to grab some essentials and then settle in with some fantastic food and craft beers. Score!
Where: Harbour Town Eats – 147/189 Brisbane Road, Biggera Waters
The Sporting Globe Bar and Grill
Part of a sizeable chain of sporting bars across the country, these guys certainly know how to look after sporting fans. Apart from expansive coverage of all the action, there are food specials every day of the week, and if you’re seeing the Gold Coast Titans game at the Cbus Stadium, come in beforehand for a drink, and these guys will even take you there and back. How good is that?
Where: Robina Town Centre, 19 Robina Town Centre Drive, Robina
Burleigh Town Hotel
This one is a real showstopper, boasting a zhuzhed up modern bistro and the sports bar to end all sports bars. The newly renovated Burleigh Town Hotel is the ideal destination to catch all of the sports action. Featuring a state-of-the-art 11-metre mega screen… It’s the biggest pub screen in the southern hemisphere and if you think that’s impressive, have a go of the suspended cylinder screen promising perfect viewing from every vantage point #jawdrop.
Where: Tsipura Drive, Burleigh Heads
The Avenue
This hotspot is more renowned as the place you head to take the night up a gear with vibrant music, entertainment, and drinks specials. And that’s a fair comment. However, should you want a great place to catch the next big fight with eating options and the ever so easy decision of sticking around and partying till the small hours, it’s a slam dunk!
Where: 3-15 Orchid Avenue, Surfers Paradise
Coolangatta Hotel
On the southern end of the Coast, The Coolangatta Hotel is the prime location to catch any sporting activities and be assured of a buoyant and passionate atmosphere. Pair it with a splash and lounge on one of Coolangatta’s famous golden beaches, and then be sure to stick around for the post-game live music, and you are onto a hole in one.
Where: Marine Parade, Coolangatta
Fat Freddy’s
How does an American-style sports bar with a Gold Coast twist sound? Too good to be true, right? Wrong. Because you need to look no further than Fat Freddy’s on Broadbeach’s Surf Parade. Grab a highchair at the bar and enjoy unhampered views of seven screens overhead as bartenders look after you with libations galore and a polished bar snacks menu which should make getting up to leave your seat an arduous feat if you ask us!
Where: 50 Surf Parade, Broadbeach
Ashmore Tavern
If you’ve driven past the good ‘ole Ashmore Tavern recently, you’ll have noticed it’s looking anything but ‘ole these days. Undergoing an extreme makeover, we’re not just talking a lick of paint and a few trusty Kmart prints, but an epic $5 million reno sporting some serious a la mode flex. There are sleek new indoor and outdoor dining spaces and a large sports bar with an adjoining balcony. With big screens showing sports daily you’ll never miss a moment of the biggest sporting events at the Sports Bar.
Where: 161 Cotlew Street, Ashmore
Words by Alex Mitcheson & Belinda Symons.
