what was he saying?

- Barring a few notable exceptions, the game has stayed within a set vicinity since its conception

- Good work has been done to get Universities, and amateur teams into the game, but there is a world of difference between playing in a public park watched by friends and family and professional sport

- That Cardiff was miserably attended by those it really wished to attract - locals - and Murrayfield is hardly likely to be better. it will in truth by attended by true RL fans doing what they are famous for - socialising, enjoying each others company and getting behind their team

- Half empty stadiums look crap.

Really? The Welsh Tourist Board, Cardiff City and Millennium Stadium approached the RFL with a wad of money because they wished to attract locals to make up for the loss of cup finals (both RL and Association Football) with the reopening of Wembley? Are you sure?

Do you think all the players in SL took a paycut last time the fixtures were reduced from 28 to 27?

Ah OK, sounds like "it's difficult, we shouldn't bother".

This is a bad thing?

What about mexico magic they will need some tourist after this bug going round.

or forearm too cheekbone

roofs would avoid that one on principle too

we stoped playing midweek wednesday night panasonic knock out cup . not enough recovery time

Oh I will.

It is a question of quality over quantity. Currently a lot of games are unimportant due to the amount of games in the regular season and the ease that some can get into the playoffs. Leeds current form is a symptom of this. The NRL has a fewer number of games increasing the importance of each one.

In the USA major league baseball has the same problem. Each team has over a hundred games in a regular season making each one as an even pretty pointless. The NFL on the other hand has on 16/17 regular season games that make each game intense and very crucial.

The increase in quality is also an increase in intensity so players would still earn their money. Also I doubt they were all given pay increases when the fixture list expanded. With the introduction of the salary cap at a similar time some probably had to take cuts.

If the locals they attracted constitue people from Rugby league areas, then yes. The point here is that the game failed to generate significant interest from people within Wales, which is true.



No it sounds like a sensible distinction between 'difficult' and 'unrealistic,' the latter of which Magic Weekends clearly are when you take into account primary objectives such as bringing the game to a new audience - i.e getting them to attend; potraying a vibrant image of the game - forgive me in thinking that the echo of 5,000 diehards watching Harelquins against whoever at Cardiff does the opposite; and generating significant financial income which the event can hardly have said to have acheived.

Don't let that get in the way of those who have convinced themselves such grandiose, sorry daft schemes are worth it, though.

The NFL is looking to play 17-18 games in the near future and as for Baseball.....the number of games they play has never been a problems for them. In fact the MLB is making a surprising amount of money right now and are getting good crowds despite the number of games they are playing.


The mentality of the British game means that no one really cares enough to change thee current structure. So why should anyone spend their time worrying about the number of games SL clubs play when there are a hundred other much larger problems Poms couldn't give a stuff about.

And the next point is that the weekend hasn't even happened in Edinburgh yet. How about we give it 2 years there and see what the result is before we write it off as a daft scheme?

I'm sure our group is not alone in bringing a dozen or so non-RL fans to the weekend - would be difficult getting the same people along to Knowlsey Road.



How much income does the weekend generate? How much are Edinburgh paying ther RFL? What profit do the RFL make?

Out of interest - did you go to either of the weekends in Cardiff?

1But it's only you and him who've said that was a primary objective. Neither the RFL or those pumping money into it from Wales said it was.

It's like me saying that given that your primary objective was to win the Pulitzer Prize for this post, it's obviously a failure.

[i2[/iThey gave us half a million quid to come and play some games in their stadium. The Scots have apparently come up with an ever better offer. That's not "significant income"?

Keiron Cunningham has joined in the nonsense now..... www.sthelensstar.co.uk/sport/sai ... gic_event/ do the players not realise they are paid to entertain, not to whinge.

Keiron Cunningham has joined in the nonsense now..... www.sthelensstar.co.uk/sport/sai ... gic_event/ do the players not realise they are paid to entertain, not to whinge.

Quote ="saints35 bulls0"Keiron Cunningham has joined in the nonsense now..... www.sthelensstar.co.uk/sport/sai ... gic_event/ do the players not realise they are paid to entertain, not to whinge.'" FFS Tell you what Keiron - instead of focussing on the people who can't afford to go, how about sparing a thought for those who made sacrifices and booked accomodation and tickets months ago with their hard earned and are looking forward to cheering you on at this event that you and your pals obviously don't want to play in. Comare and contrast with the statements coming from Leuluai at Wigan and Morley at Warrington and Graham/Cunningham just sounds like whiney "I'm bigger than the sport" cry-babies. You need to travel for a few hours before playing rather than playing in your back yard at some hick town. Get over it. What's more, if Saints put in a CBA type of performance as a result of the negative attitude from our bigmouth stars, I'll be royally f*cked off.

Quote ="saints35 bulls0"Keiron Cunningham has joined in the nonsense now..... www.sthelensstar.co.uk/sport/sai ... gic_event/ do the players not realise they are paid to entertain, not to whinge.'" FFS Tell you what Keiron - instead of focussing on the people who can't afford to go, how about sparing a thought for those who made sacrifices and booked accomodation and tickets months ago with their hard earned and are looking forward to cheering you on at this event that you and your pals obviously don't want to play in. Comare and contrast with the statements coming from Leuluai at Wigan and Morley at Warrington and Graham/Cunningham just sounds like whiney "I'm bigger than the sport" cry-babies. You need to travel for a few hours before playing rather than playing in your back yard at some hick town. Get over it. What's more, if Saints put in a CBA type of performance as a result of the negative attitude from our bigmouth stars, I'll be royally f*cked off.

Well said.

It's attitudes like this that will continue to hold our sport back. The international scene is nowhere near as strong as it needs to be so the RFL have come up with a way of spreading the game to new areas. Given how quick these guys are to bleat to journalists you'd think they'd welcome the expansion of the sport and the increased opportunities to moan to the media it would bring.
Can you imagine Premier League clubs complaining about travelling to Portsmouth or having to play away in Europe a few times a season?

this is exactly the kind of attitude that appears to be building within the camp - and it is giving Wigan exactly the motivation they need to think they are in with a sniff.

its truly pathetic - and someone within the club should put a stop to these idiots shouting their mouths off, or leave the morons at home and give the shirt to someone who actually wants to play for the club.

Quote ="saints35 bulls0"Keiron Cunningham has joined in the nonsense now..... www.sthelensstar.co.uk/sport/sai ... gic_event/ do the players not realise they are paid to entertain, not to whinge.'" did someone forget to tell him about the deep fried mars bars? He's be up for it then...

Quote ="saints35 bulls0"Keiron Cunningham has joined in the nonsense now..... www.sthelensstar.co.uk/sport/sai ... gic_event/ do the players not realise they are paid to entertain, not to whinge.'" did someone forget to tell him about the deep fried mars bars? He's be up for it then...

It is interesting how you blindly want the players to roll over and play ball with this whole ill founded concept.

Have you ever thought why the players are against it?

The prospects of playing in a cavenous stadium in front of only a handful of people who are interested is bad enough.

Having trekked up to Scotland to prepare for a match the Scouts would balk at is all the worse.

Get over the fact that Magic week is a gimmick. It may be an enjoyable weekend for the hardy souls who have journied to Edinburgh and good luck to them. I really hope the enjoy it.

But the fact remains the event does not tick the right boxes and is a haphazard stab in the dark at creating ripples.

Wherever next? RL for Kings Lynn...

Why not? After all they play in Norwich and Bury St Edmunds

Not all players will like the magic weekend concept but they should at least try to be professional about it and put their feelings to one side in order to promote the event. Why should fans make an effort to attend the event if they think that they are going to be watching players who would rather be somewhere else?

Graham did not only mention Cumbria in his argument.

[url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_league/article6181929.eceMan of Steel wants to dump the Edinburgh weekend[/url


Given player burnout has been identified as a cause of England's failure in RLWC 2008, and detailed studies in both codes of Rugby have identified a player's workload (as measured in part by the number of games played per season and rest periods in blunt yet reasonable manner) as a major factor contributing to burnout, then it is reasonable to compare the workload of England's players to NRL based players. When it comes to these studies, NZ Warriors Doctor John Mayhew (who used to be the All Blacks Doctor) said that playing 30 games in a season was what was "reasonable" to expect of an elite player. Super League based players seem to be acutely aware of the negative impact of a long club season and inadequate rest on their performances.

Going back to the topic of the Magic Weekend, Graham has every right to question the demands it puts on players.