The crowd this year was ( allegedly) twice that of last year though .

i would rather an on the road game. leeds v bradford at leicester, saints v wigan in bristol for instance

Agree with a lot of points in this. Murrayfield is out of the way and once there you were there and there was no escape - although I bet Sainsbury's did a roaring trade! Yes there were things to do and see but how much time did that occupy??

Food and beverage prices had been hiked up from last year (Tea/Coffee by 33%) Beer was, I heard, but would stand to be corrected £4 a bottle. How does that compare?

An idea might be a Super League Sevens competition. Keep 26 rounds of Super League and have a Sevens tournament. Either at the start of the season or over the Bank Holiday Weekend at the END of May when there are no other conflicts. Or alternatively give the players a weekend off!

I did hear the idea of it moving to Dublin next year.

BTW - thought Thayler bottled it when he should have at least shown O'Loughlin a yellow card. Has anyone ever been sin-binned at a Magic event??

I lik the concept, but please, never again at Murrayfield! As much as I love the weekend on the lash in Edinburgh, the stadium appears to exist in it's own seperate eco-system which is about 10 degrees colder than it should be. It's a real endurance test sitting through all the matches in that temperature. At least in Cardifff, they can close the roof.

Just got back from the weekend and it was cracking in my opinion. Excellent atmosphere outside of the ground but a lack of it within. I think it's paramount that which ever venue holds it next time has sufficient outdoor space to fit in all the 'fan zone' stuff.

I agree. Absolutely freezing to the point of painful.

They should scrap it or take in to Barcelona of somewhere nice and warm where you can enjoy the history and culture of the surrounding areas.

Nice but impractical. A logistical nightmare IMO.

Where have you seen or heard that?

It was all those Hull KR fans that made the difference - dont they count treble on away days??

Eddie mentioned it during the Saints game... don't believe it myself, I’ll put it down some convoluted obscure formula that the RFL are using to calculate ‘overall’ attendance figures.

Ne'er cast a clout till May be out

The double the attendance the Sky commentators mentioned a couple of times over the weekend was Saturday's attendance being double that which watched the Edinburgh 'Derby' football match on the same day or suchlike.

The comparison had nothing to do with last year's attendance at Murrayfield Magic.

Wow - the acid must have not been cut as much as usual

Eddie & Stevo at it again, Easter Road only holds 14,000 or there abouts and what with segregation etc i think it'll have had a reduced capacity of around 13,000.

Another stupid football comparison!

Wasnt it a weekend total of 59.000 last year? And 60.000+ the year before that? So 53.000 is a roaring success? someone at the RFL needs to stop using uncle Mo's calculator.

It does. They just dont open it for the magic weekend, meaning you have a walk on you if you want a pie, burger or in your case several pints.

Went for the weekend and enjoyed the experience yet again,having done all four MAGICs.
Economical accomodation can be found if you search sufficiently and in advance.But thats the same for any event.
Second year running that Murrayfield proved its colder than reasonabley acceptable to sit Four matches and be truly comfortable.SO i am afraid that although Edinburgh is a good palce to visit its not the palce to hold this event,certainly at this time of the year.To find the beer is more expensive than i recall Wembley to be last October is also not good.
I think the concept is great but needs tweaking again.
1/Fixtures--- either derby matches,though for some teams that will leave a tenous connection that wont leave some fans happy--Cru,quins,Catalans,Salford.
OR choose the fixtures once the season has started to find form guide.Some of this years games were woeful matchups on 2010 form as they were selected on 2009 placings i think.
2/Location-- i DONT like the play it in the M62 corridor as we do that for 26 other weekends thank you.It doesnt give it any KUDOS/buzz call it what you will.
3/Venue-- there is no way premier league wendyballers will have there turf trampted on for 2 days remotely near a season start or end.Already the PL is muttering about they must be dominant partners in shared stadium to control when its used and how.Ask wigan fans if that happens.Whether the turf is damaged or not its their perception it happens and thus they react adversely.
4/Tweak as is suggested the Challenge Cup for SL teams to enter a around later and theoretically have SL CC matches over a weekend.The win or go home aspect should surely encourage attendances,boost the status of the CC to what it once was AND reduce the sason length by a week.

PS-yes i realsie the tv contracts not Sky but i bet when tv sits round a table it could find an answer if encouraged.

That's exactly my point! I had to walk up and down several stairs to go fetch my beers last year. This meant that I was extra thirsty when I got back, and they didn't last as long!

They have "got your number" as it were then.

I don't understand the purpose of a magic weekend in Edinburgh.
Or Dublin, or anywhere that isn't at least a seed-bed for growing Rugby League.

Does it bring people to see games that otherwise wouldn't? I doubt it.
Does it stop some people from going, who otherwise would? Yes.

Nothing against places such as Edinburgh, it's a lovely weekend away ... but what is the RFL's actual purpose for the Magic Weekend?

To increase the media profile of the sport by creating another "event" to go alongside the Challenge Cup Final and Grand Final.

To spread the gospel to non-traditional areas and attract new fans to the game.

On the first point it fails spectacularly (Saturday didn't even get a mention on the BBC late evening news sports section). On the second part of the reason it was pulled from Cardiff is that targets for ticket sales to locals weren't being met. Not convinced they are much better in Edinburgh from anecdotal evidence.

If it's not achieving either of those goals then it has no need to exist.

Maybe it needs a bit of a rebranding to pull in the punters, how about "We all hate Leeds scum, we hate rharnos weekend?" its all we heard all weekend, so its already got a chance of spreading by word of mouth.

As said by a fair few, it is a good idea, but it does need to be looked at.

The location being the key, and I feel the midlands is the best choice Personally, I feel there is interest there from the people I know who are from the midland. The survey I did a while back actually showed that a fair few people in the midlands who follow rugby union also follow rugby league, and I feel hosting this at the City Ground in Nottingham will show the grounds full the majority of times. It is accessable to most supporters from the heartland where the sport is supported, and I feel it could be a success.


The RFL are known for being brave (but often claimed 'stupid' by some), and I feel something brave needs to happen for this concept to even be considered for next year imo.