One man has been taken to hospital and another two men have been injured after a section of a mini grandstand collapsed at a Brisbane Broncos fan day.
The mini grandstand wilted after several hundred people piled on to the temporary structure for a photo behind the senior team who were waiting in the change room.
As the excited crowd waited, a corner of the top tier of the platform gave way and several people fell as far as 2.5 metres.
The incident occurred just before 10am (AEST).
"It just gave away suddenly," an onlooker told AAP.
"One man walked away and was able to stand up."
Concerned Brisbane Broncos chief executive Paul White told AAP he spoke with the man, wearing a maroon Broncos jumper and shorts and believed to be in his 40s, who was taken away by ambulance.
"The guy was in reasonable spirits and he said, `Can you make sure you arrange a meeting for me with the players?'" Mr White said.
"I think that's the least we can do for you."
Mr White said the incident would be fully investigated and he would wait for reports from police and the company that erected the mini grandstand before discussing the cause of the collapse.
"The fans will be taken care of," he said.
Police arrived and took photographs of the scene and employees of the scaffolding company arrived to examine the stand.
A Department of Community Safety (DCS) spokeswoman told AAP one of the men refused to be taken to hospital.
Despite the drama the fan day continued.
The Broncos had just returned from Sydney where they opened the NRL season with a win over Parramatta.
Mr White said the grandstand was a temporary structure.
"We were setting up for some photos with the Broncos (players) and some fans in a temporarily erected grandstand and an incident has occurred where some people have obviously fallen from the rear of the grandstand," he said.
"They've been treated and now we're co-operating with the relevant government investigators and the private contractor who set up the grandstand.
"I spoke to the ambulance officers and to the fan as well and he has some pain in his lower back.
"Any injury is serious but hopefully it's not major.
"I've got his contact details and I will be in touch with his relatives to see how he is going."
Mr White said "five or six people" had fallen from the back top section of the stand when some of the scaffolding gave way.
"I'm not sure of the exact number.
"We're disappointed it's happened on our fan day but our priority is the welfare of those injured.
"We'll co-operate with all parties to make sure there is a full and complete investigation."
The players were initially unaware of the drama before they came out onto the field to have their photo taken with hundreds of fans.
They were told not to comment on the incident.
Share
