I have just read the article I found it very positive and a heap of good news for once, The game really should make more of this guy & his media presence. Thanks for the link.

Im not sure the idea of Magic should be to promote it to new fans. If I was being introduced to a new sport I wouldn't want to sit through 6 games back to back all weekend.

What kind of engage are the players having with the local community in the week before magic weekend? I read the NRL had players engaging with 10k kids in Queensland via schools and workshops prior to the weekend in Australia.

thought it was poor outside the ground with no fan zone this time

inside anfield i thought the seats were awful, hardly any leg room!

but a good win for the giants so i enjoyed the day

crowd was no where near as bad as some would have you believe before the event had even started

Depending on where it is held it should showcase the local team or be based an strategy to win new fans. The same 12 teams every season tells you nothing.

As a minimum the Local team should play a game. Such as Thunder at Newcastle.

Or have a women’s game or an under 16s game to showcase kids playing

I would like 6 teams piked for each day and then a draw to see who they play. Even something like a mini fans it’s a knockout to determine the games on the day. So teams have no idea who or when they will be playing on a particular day. Means if you want to watch you have to turn up for the day

Unlike the Millenium, the Etihad and St James’; Anfield has got absolutely nothing going on around the ground or isn’t near/in the centre of its city.

It’s also still got a lot of restricted views even with the new stand (which took out many restricted views). The Anfield Road end (where Wire were last night) is where there are numerous white poles hold up the tier above, if you’re behind any of them you can see nothing of any game. Also at the back of that first tier in the Anfield Road end you can’t see the other end of the stadium and can see a letterbox view of the bit of the pitch you can see. Over in the Kop, if you’re at the back (where the Wigan fans were singing last night) you can’t see the sides of the pitch.

It’s a poor choice of venue for Magic.

Being a bank holiday weekend should help keep the crowd in til the end, other years the ground has emptied early on the Sunday.

Still cant beleive they missed an easy trick to get the crowd up by letting Widnes play there as a warmup, would have added at least 3k on. Real issue is however not attracting any Scousers in.

scouse pie was decent, never knew they existed

Yeah but Elstone pocketed an extra few quid from going to Anfield. Biggest problem is clubs don’t raise to the occasion like you’d hope for an event fixture (and never really have). Only Hudds have upped their game this weekend and even that was helped by Hull being utterly dreadful.

Anfield was a poor choice from day one . For one it is far away from the City Centre , and the lack of public houses & eateries around Anfield didnt help .
It wasnt even promoted around Liverpool City Centre . Cardiff is first choice for me followed by Newcastle .

30,057 came through the turnstiles to watch day one at Anfield, 26,812 were in attendance today for an overall total of 56,869.
The crowd at Anfield this weekend is still significantly down on the 64,319 who attended St James’ Park last year.
The crowd is the lowest since the 2010 event in Edinburgh

2007 in Cardiff.
Day one: 32,384
Day two: 26,447
Total: 58,831

2008 in Cardiff.
Day one: 30,628
Day two: 32,516
Total: 63,144

2009 in Edinburgh.
Day one: 29,627
Day two: 30,122
Total: 59,749

2010 in Edinburgh.
Day one: 26,642
Day two: 25,401
Total: 52, 043 (lowest crowd)

2011 in Cardiff.
Day one: 30,891
Day two: 29,323
Total: 60,214

2012 in Manchester
Day one: 30,763
Day two: 32, 953
Total: 63,716

2013 in Manchester.
Day one: 30,793
Day two: 31,249
Total: 62,042

2014 in Manchester.
Day one: 36,339
Day two: 28,213
Total: 64,552

2015 in Newcastle.
Day one: 40,871
Day two: 26,970
Total: 67,841

2016 in Newcastle.
Day one: 39,331
Day two: 28,945
Total: 68,276 (highest crowd)

2017 in Newcastle.
Day one: 35,361
Day two: 30,046
Total: 65,407

2018 in Newcastle.
Day one: 38,881
Day two: 25,438
Total: 64,319

2019 in Liverpool
Day one: 30,057
Day two: 26,812
Total: 56,869

Just to give balance to the attendance figures, how many of the Magic events have been made up of derby fixtures and how many with more "random" games.
If you put a Hull derby and Wigan v Saints into the fixtures, plus Leeds v Cas, the attendance figures would increase significantly, regardless of where the event is staged.

It's time for the RFL to seriously think what Magic should be about.
Where should it be played, which types of games should feature and what do we expect to come afterwards.

The concept of "spreading the game to new areas" seems a great reason to stage Magic but, we've gone a long way from this.
Liverpool and Manchester are not exactly breaking any new ground and having the event so close to the heartlands, whilst making it easier for fans to attend, actually takes all the "magic" away.

There was something really different when we played down in Cardiff and Newcastle but, Liverpool and Manchester



Maybe we should scrap Magic as part of the league and maybe have one of the Challenge Cup rounds as an "on the road" event or, be really ambitious and go for Dublin or Paris.

The concept of magic has died. It was about the rugby- it seems reading the comments on here most are bothered about where the pubs are

56k over two days isn't great. I expect next year will be Derby games to boost the crowd.

Serious questions need to be asked about magic weekend?

we already have enough derbies they lose their magic no pun intended if we have them all the time, keep them to twice a season!

You can still have them twice a season if you move magic to Easter and just play the games Friday Monday but only one game for all teams just have to find a ground we’re it might be possible

The thing is, I’ve never know many scousers want to watch rugby league. They’re only interested in football and fighting sports.

I’d say the Geordies are more open minded, in fact 3 were sat in front of me on Saturday in the Kop.

It may not have made much difference to the attendance but it doesn't help when there is a full programme of Championship games that weekend especially on Sunday.
I know it's meant to be a Super League event but that shouldn't preclude fans from other clubs.
Again it wouldn't help coming the weekend after the Summer Bash but it wouldn't be difficult in future to make them further apart.

As a Liverpool fan I knew that magic wouldn't work. Anfield is not suited for the full weekend and there is nothing to entertain fans outside the stadium.

I genuinely think it would have been much better to stay in Newcastle. As other posters have said. Find a venue. Tie it in for 5 years and push to make it better year upon year. It doesn't feel like that would be too difficult.

So what are super league going to do to see what happened here? Market research to see why people didn't go this year? Market research to see where people want to go?

Or do nothing and just go to the highest bidder?

Spot on. It’s daft. Any time a big RL event is held there shouldn’t be any lower league or even amateur games on the same day as it.
There’s only likely to be a max of 8 RL events in the year including internationals:
World Club Challenge
Magic Weekend
Cup Semi Finals
Cup Final
Grand Final
3x Internationals

It isn’t impossible to ensure that when those events occur they are the only RL activities taking place.
Then introduce a system whereby all clubs, including amateur clubs, can profit from selling tickets to those events and the RFL help organise/get discounts on travel and accommodation then I think we’d see a lot better uptake.
Time the whole sport started pulling in the direction and we mobilise the entire sport rather than just dumping all the responsibility on a few clubs who make these events, sometimes with only very little notice.
We also need certainty. None of this moving Magic Weekend or Internationals around constantly. Tell us it’s going to be at Anfield for 5 years, then after 3 reassess and announce another 5 year deal etc. Same for internationals.

Should all matches be cancelled the week before too for the Big Bash or will we be categorising 'events'?

It depends how much effort RL wants to put into the Summer Bash. Personally I wouldn’t because there’s always going to be limited support for it and it would be somewhat of the tail wagging the dog.

Great post :








#planningandstability

One of THE biggest problems with our sport is the lack of any proper long term strategy.
We are forever chopping and changing and looking for the "golden bullet"

Quote ="Him"It depends how much effort RL wants to put into the Summer Bash. Personally I wouldn’t because there’s always going to be limited support for it and it would be somewhat of the tail wagging the dog.'"

The viewing figures for the Leigh v Widnes Summer Bash game aren't bad though are they? [url=https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/rugby-league-today-wakefield-on-bgt-summer-bash-game-beats-super-league-on-sky-latest-paper-talk/[uHere[/u[/url