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Would make a lot of sence. City centre stadium, not too far for the majority of fans, a smaller stadium (yet still sufficiently big) and a great night out!

And a Championship Club heading for Division 1, "Why aye man"! - What do they say, "you shall have a fishy"

7 RL games on the St James' pitch at the business end of the football season?

I think the term "non starter" is appropriate here.

is it realy in newcasle

i think a lot of fans whoud go a lot of kr fans anyway

If they get relegated, i cannot see newcastle happening, on the ground of that newcastle might need it for the play offs and wouldnt want the pitch to get messed up.

Saw you yesterday Homer J.

We have just booked our rooms for next year in Edinburgh. Our first choice was full, but we managed to get our second. I have just checked again, and this hotel is now full as well, so I am pleased we booked.

That's a big problem with Edinburgh Emma, there aren't that many hotels, and the owners bumped the prices when they heard about the event taking place.

The one we are staying at has bumped its prices, but we reckon it will still possibly be cheaper this year as we had to pay for at least two taxis every day as we were staying outside Edinburgh and there were 7 of us.

There are hundreds of hotels in Edinburgh



If you want a tip try the Holiday Inn Express at Leith, free parking and the bus stops right outside the door - its £1.10 straight into Princess St and there's a bus every ten minutes - or £2 for the all night (half hourly) service

TBH, I heard a lot of rumours that it was going to Dublin from 2011 ... However given the Times article, they seem to think it is Newcastle.

It would be easier to get to, you could reasonably do there and back in the day.

The pitch problem could easily be sorted by moving it to the Spring Bank Holiday weekend at the end of May too, it would be the end of the soccer season then.

You'd have the combination of raising Gateshead's profile (why not make their game an 8th match ?) in a city where the soccer team 'could' be on the wain and given the capacity of the ground, it being almost full for most of the games, given a better impression to the viewing public.

Remember Croke Park has a capacity of over 80K, coupled with the additional travel costs that would mean the fans would HAVE to spend the weekend over there (with associated travel costs, hotels etc). One of the things that killed the Cardiff experience was greedy hoteliers charging £200 for a room that they would have otherwise sold for £50. Fans will not stand being repeatedly ripped off.

Croke Park could be a PR nightmare (the Irish Rahs Rahs can fill it for a one-off game, given the costs of travel etc, we'd struggle to get it half full).
We were talking about venues this weekend and Newcastle came up. Great idea, near enough for those on a limited budget to drive for the day, plenty to keep the beer fraternity happy and a chance to spread the word where we have a team.

edinburgh was spot on for me although it needs to be a 50k stadium to have a better atmosphere

The only other alternative city in Scotland with the capacity to hold such an event would be Glasgow :

Parkhead - Celtic

Ibrox - Rangers

Hampden Park - Queens Park

However, none of those grounds are in easy walking distance of what could be termed 'the city centre'.

stands too far away from pitch IMO

The only other option for 2011 in Ireland would be the re-vamped Landsdowne Road (assuming it is open by then)

I'd tend to agree, although the last time I was in there, the crowd was less that you'd get for a Magic Weekend



I was merely talking about grounds with decent capacity in Scotland.

well done Admiral, I think you have covered that well

newcastle sounds good to me,get the order in for extra newcastle brown

They have Nooassle Broon in 1860 Munich?

I'd avoid either to be honest. We need a venue that can be reached by road. Edinburgh was a superb choice but I can see the merits of Newcastle. The one thing we lack in RL is consistency. We come up with an idea, try it and drop it just as quickly. The 5/6 Nations is a perfect example of finding a successful format and sticking to it. We need the same.
I know it is asking too much, but couldn't the RL try and sell the concept as an introduction to our game? Maybe do promotions with schools etc. Invite 1000s of kids, they'd make plenty of noise. Get schools to adopt a team, learn some of the history, have a couple of players visit etc.
Not expensive and hardly f***ing rocket science.

And here was I thinking we could have Ochilview Magic at the home of Stenhousemuir FC ....

[i"Aye laddie, if there's too much excitement watching the games, you could always go have a lie down on the wee cricket pitch .... Then, if yer feeling a bit peckish, there's the Highland Toffee factory (*) just next to the ground"[/i

[size=59(*) NB - They also make 'Wham' bars there too[/size

The only think that Croke Park has going for it is that it is a slightly lesser walk from the centre of town, when compared to Waverley - Murrayfield.

The other thing is getting the MW concept past the GAA, an organisation so full of its own self-importance, it makes the RFU look liberal.

Landsdown Road is a short train (dart) ride away and if Leeds fan in particular remember the 1995 jaunt to the Royal Dublin Showgrounds ....