Police praise NRL Grand Final, not Parklife festival

Police praised fans at the NRL Grand Final on Sunday, but declined to do the same for patrons at the Parklife music festival.

Parklife’s arrests were almost exclusively for drug possession, while the Grand Final’s were mainly for intoxication.

Police arrested 79 people for drug possession at the festival.

Among those arrested were a 19-year-old Leumeah woman allegedly in possession of 210 ecstasy tablets, and a 27-year-old Greystanes man allegedly in possession of 18 ecstasy tablets.

Police conducted a drug detection operation at and around the venue throughout the day.

Officers also seized methylamphetamine, ketamine, cocaine and cannabis.

Eleven people were arrested and issued cannabis cautions.

A 33-year-old Narellan man was charged with two counts of assault police.

The all-day festival was sold out with 35,000 patrons.

The Grand Final saw an assault in the stands and an unrelated domestic incident.

Police ejected 17 people from the game, including 14 for intoxication, two for invading the playing field and one for malicious damage.

Stadium staff ejected a further 20.

Banning notices will be sought for those who attempted to re-enter the premises.

Chief Superintendent Peter Lennon said the low number of incidents was a great result given the amount of people.

The stadium was at capacity with more than 83,000 patrons.

Police operations continued into the night with post-game celebrations.

by Lawrence Bull