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Commonwealth Games 2018: Band’s insulting offer, England’s shocking admin error

Lowther was denied the chance to represent her country.

Lowther was denied the chance to represent her country. Photo: Instagram

The star of indie pop band Sheppard has slammed Commonwealth Games organisers for an offer they made to the group to play at the opening ceremony.

Band co-founder George Sheppard said the group said no to playing at the ceremony because they were asked to “perform for peanuts” and would have lost money had they agreed.

“It would have cost us a lot more money to do it than they were going to pay us,” he told Brisbane radio station Hit 105.

The Brisbane group said they would have loved to play at the event – but not on those terms.

“We couldn’t, deep in our hearts, say yes … we knew that it would be setting a precedent … if Sheppard are going to be able to play for that fee, then everybody else is going to.”

In another radio interview, this time with 97.3 FM, Sheppard said the company producing the ceremony was paid “tens of millions”.

“Asking us to perform for peanuts – it didn’t sit right,” he said.

Sheppard’s public comments followed a previous claim from him that there was ill-feeling between the band and Katie Noonan, the musical director of the Games.

‘A tragic story’

Spare a thought for English cyclist Melissa Lowther who travelled to the Gold Coast to compete … only to be told she could not due to an administration error.

Once the error was discovered, England lodged a late appeal but was unsuccessful, leaving Lowther distraught.

“I can’t put into words how disappointed how I am,” she said afterwards.

“While Team England have apologised, I’m still gutted not to have the opportunity to represent my country after all the hard miles I’ve put in.”

Team England has launched a review into the bungle.

Ex-Olympic champion Chris Boardman said it was a “tragic story” and “highly embarrassing for all concerned”.

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Seven’s ratings thrill

It has been criticised at times but the Games are certainly producing the goods for the Seven Network.

Viewers are tuning in in their millions each night, with the network claiming to have reached an average of around seven million viewers per day.

The peaks in the television ratings are huge, too, with a top figure of 2.4 million people simultaneously watching the women’s 100m breaststroke final on Monday.

Seven is absolutely delighted with the numbers and a spokesperson told The New Daily that more than half the country has watched at least some of the Games.

“We’re thrilled Australian sporting fans are embracing the Commonwealth Games and what it means to have this level of competition in our own backyard,” the spokesperson said.

“More than half of Australia has tuned in to experience the atmosphere and excitement and we’re very proud to be bringing it to them.”

‘Much better than Melbourne or Glasgow’

Local business owners might still be complaining about a lack of business but ticket sales are surging on the Gold Coast.

More than 16,000 tickets were sold in a mad rush on Monday and Commonwealth Games Minister Kate Jones said that more than 95 per cent of all tickets have now been purchased.

“This is a much better result than what we saw in Melbourne or in Glasgow,” she said.

And the tickets selling like hot cakes? Weightlifting.

“We’re seeing weightlifting selling off the shelves … people want to be part of the action.”

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Fabrice Lapierre

Australia’s Fabrice Lapierre competes in the long jump. Photo: Getty

Wednesday’s action

With the swimming over, attention now turns to the athletics to provide the highlights each evening.

Star para athlete Isis ‘Lightning’ Holt will run for Australia in the women’s T35 100m final at 9.22pm AEST while the host nation also has three key medal hopes in the long jump.

See how Fabrice Lapierre, Henry Frayne and Chris Mitrevski get on in that decider at 8.32pm.

The younger brother of cricket star Mitchell Starc, Brandon, will compete in the high jump final (8.05pm) while there’s also the women’s 400m (9.45pm) and a blockbuster netball match between Australia and Jamaica (9.02pm).

In the hockey, the Kookaburras take on New Zealand (4.30pm) and our women’s beach volleyballers meet Vanuatu in a semi-final at 8.30pm.

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