Ah, it wasn't that cold.

I have never been to Magic weekend, because my team is not involved. However, the idea is a good one. We have few big events in the game these days, with so many of the old trophies scrapped. All we really have is the Grand Final and the Challenge Cup Final. The Magic weekend is potentially another great event for the sport.

It also got two full days coverage, with every game shown live on Sky Sports!

This has to be great for the sport?

It’s a pity about the poor turn out but, I suppose, with all the extra travel costs involved in following SL these days, something had to give.

Perhaps it just needs marketing better?

Perhaps a smaller venue closer to the heartlands, but where fans wouldn’t mind staying for a weekend is the answer?

The derby format certainly needs to be brought back imo.

Possibly not but it certainly didn't make double figures for the first game on Saturday.

Overheard a man on the bus saying to a relative that he was amazed at how many different shirts were on show, walking together, drinking together and that there is no chance of seeing that in football etc. He also commented on the amount of women wearing rugby colours then said these events can only be good for the city.

Btw the campsite was packed with rugby fans.

I think Newcastle has to be considered as an option, its in a city centre location, full of bars, easier to get to from the heartlands etc and I also think the public would take to it there (outside of the football season)

St James' Park's 52k capacity is more appropriate for the crowds the weekend gets. And it has the advantage that the camera's face the smallest stand (i.e. they could shut off the upper tiers and make it look full for the TV)

the big question is if Newcastle City Council, One North East or whoever would pay to attract the game there. And if Newcastle would let 7 games of RL take place (although if they plan to re-lay the pitch anyway, its a non-issue)

I would also move the weekend forward a few weeks for the better weather. If it was nearer the heartlands we woulden't really need the bank holiday anyway.

I think the biggest issue the RFL faces is convincing Edinburgh, Cardiff or in fact any councils to part with the cash in the recession. When the event first started they could claim they expected crowds to grow to say 40k each day...now that crowds have dipped by about 10% i'm not sure many councils will see it as a guaranteed money spinner.

They havn't even held concerts there since the new stand opened and the current pitch has been down close on five years after a couple of seasons of poor conditions. Now one game won't wreck it but seven in two days could, throw in some rain too and it is a chance I don't think they'll take.

No matter how much some bang on about the pitch wear not being an issue it keeps being brought up by football fans as an excuse, see [url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-511255/Fergie-wants-awful-Old-Trafford-pitch-dug-relaid-time-Manchester-derby.htmlFerguson's whinge about OT[/url, [url=http://www.football.co.uk/wigan_athletic/wigan_to_relay_dw_stadium_pitch_rss456657.shtmlWigan about the DW[/url, [url=http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/sport/football/footballnews/5055948.Pitch_will_not_be_relaid_this_summer/Watfords issues[/url and [url=http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/pictures/The-Wembley-pitch-is-relaid-again-article400339.htmlall the hassle with Wembley[/url would you take the risk?

He did suggest that the Magic weekend could be moved back a few weeks. In which case the Soccer season would be over anyway.

I love the idea of the Magic Weekend, been to all 4 now, but preferred Cardiff. What about moving it to the bank holiday at the end of May. The soccer season would be finished and maybe some financially strapped team would be grateful of the cash. A Birmingham team? Birmingham could cope with the amount of spectators and a smaller venue would be better.

Yeah I saw that, when we were at Brentford we had to be away from the ground for 6 weeks to allow the pitch to be maintained and that wasn't the bowling green surfaces the Premier League now demand, there is what around 9 to 10 weeks between the end of one season and the start of another that doesn't leave a huge window for us.

I'm not even sure it is what damage that does happen, it is what could happen and who gets the bullet for it later on. Add in the whinging from the footy fans and media there aren't many stadium managers who'd take a risk.

Last time Newcastle ripped up their pitch it cost £500k and took six weeks to complete, it wasn't any good for the first year and a bit until it got a decent year of bedding in and growing, the cr@p with the Wembley pitch only magnifies any doubts clubs would have.

I'd love to see an event like this at Newcastle BTW, a great ground and a fantastic city. I can't see it happening though.

How about the Ricoh Arena , Coventry?

It holds 32,500 and they’re still only a Championship side. It’s easy to get to, being right next to the M6, and there’s lot’s of places to see nearby – Warwick Castle and Stratford Upon Avon etc.

It’s a lovely stadium and the RFL will have no problem selling it out. It’s near the heartlands as well as in a development area. It would look great packed out on T.V.

Yup but it is way way out of the centre and a few here have been moaning about a 2mile walk from city centre to the ground.

It can only be Murrayfield or Cardiff IMO, if not them then not at all. Move the CC back to May.

Fair enough but...

For those that don’t like traveling there’s a hotel built into the ground.
[urlhttp://www.71rooms.com/[/url
For the rest you can get a taxi for about £12.00 from the city. There’s a bus that goes every 10 minutes to the stadium from the railway station. There are lots of park and ride services at a cost of £5 - £7 too. So there shouldn’t be any problem getting to the ground.
There’ll always be a reason to dismiss any venue as suitable. I’m not saying it’s perfect and, as my team won’t be there anyway, it makes no odds to me where they hold it next year, but it looks like a decent option to me; not perfect, but nowhere is it seems.

The reason for a non double header for CC semi is the fact that BBC want a game on Saturday and a game on Sunday.

I always thought of balmy as meaning pleasantly cool.

Like a light breeze on a fine evening.

Or a soothing ointment on a nasty case of athletes foot.

Typical glass half empty RL fans - not sold out so let's move to a smaller stadium, 200 miles is too far to travel? good job we're not in North America - it's a fantastic idea that the RFU would copy in an instant if we dropped it so let's look at this another way, how do attract another 15 - 20 thousand fans to go? that's what we should be looking at.
If some people on this site had been round in 1895 the Northern Union would probably have been doomed after 2-3 years!!

...based on what did happen their clubs would have converted to association football....

Mild and pleasant

It's a fair point, but back to my earlier post, later in the year is the key. It's just too cold in Edinburgh at the beginning of May to be sat there for 4 games.
We did, because we're die hards, but even learning from last year and taking loads of extra layers we were still frozen stiff by the end of Saturday.

Loads of people we spoke to came to their team's game and watched the rest in the pub where it was warm. So at any one time there were probably only half of the ticket holders in the ground. 13000 in a ground that size will always struggle to generate atmosphere.

There were folks here last year complaining of getting sunburn


A few years of "summer" rugby has turned us soft, layer up and you are fine, wander round in shirt sleeves and you be cold no matter where you are in the country at this time of year and as tb posted on another thread they compared well with Barca.

Personally Im not fussed if it's scraped or not.

I can guarantee that anyone complaining of sunburn wasn't in the west stand in the shade all day. We were layered up. Point is, Edinburgh has a markedly low mean temperature at this time of year compared to other places. I certainly don't remember the Millenium stadium being that cold.

Apologies if someone has suggested similar but...........

Take it down to London (i know, i know), maybe Emirates/Upton Park, and give the myriad of schools that play RL in the London area and the amateur clubs some cut-price tickets, and the chance to see the top players up close. The main concentration of the London amateur scene seems to be north/east of the London area, so take it there for a year at least, and see what happens.

It has a lower mean temperature most of the year mate






Cause the roof was shut?

Wembley.

And have a Sevens comp for the 11 Championship + 5 Championship 1 teams to fill in gaps between SL games and also tempt a few thousand more fans to the event.

I'd love to see Oldham and Swinton play there at long last and I can't imagine there'd be any problem with the pitch holding up...