Definitely is time for a change.

Change of city and change of ideas. Seems like the powers at the top have no genuine interest to attract the host population into the stadiums that the Magic Weekend goes to.

What is most frustrating is i've spoke to at least 20 locals in bars, working in shops etc this weekend who have had at least some knowledge that the weekend was on. You say 'im here for the Rugby' and they dont assume you are there for Newcastle Falcons, or look blankly at you, they know RL hosts an event here annually..so it surely wouldent take much marketing spend and effort to lure a few in.

But instead we just rely on the clubs selling discount tickets to season ticket holders.

All the top clubs played on Saturday, because of this, Sunday was a drab affair because there was none of the big clubs on show.

Need to have better fixtures too. Based on league positions. Advertise it better and generate some interest. Only advertising to rl fans isn't going to work

Exactly. First time we’ve done just the one day instead of both, simply because the Sunday fixtures were so unappetising. Clearly from the attendances we were far from the only ones.

If I were the RFL, I'd also probably be inclined to think "feck it, let's do New York".

Let's face it, the sport has this great event but the only people who buy into it just whinge incessantly about the price / discount codes, moan about it being held outside the boundary of their bus pass, moan about the price of food, accommodation, drink and anything else that they have to put their hand in their pocket for and, no matter what the RFL do, they're never fecking happy.

So yeah, why not take it and have a jolly in NY on the company dollar? Maybe they'll find some people who want to enjoy this sport but even if they don't, at least they won't have to put up with the usual wingebags for another year.

As for the second day, simply writing the poor crowd down to the draw card lets some clubs off the hook. The same clubs perpetually undersell this event and the sport in general and its time that was called out. Why aren't these clubs growing their audiences and selling more tickets?

There are 12 clubs all with an equal stake in Magic Weekend and we have the usual suspects doing just enough to tread water whilst the other clubs bring disproportionately more of the audience and value. These clubs need dragging into Red Hall for their long term marketing plans to be scrutinised, because what they have at the moment isn't working.

Moving Magic Weekend to New York in 2019 would be absolute madness. We haven't even established a Super League club there yet. At least 90% of English rugby league fans who attend Magic Weekend in Newcastle could not afford a trip to New York, even with a cheaper jet-lagging schedule of 3 nights only, arriving Friday night and leaving Monday. In addition how could you expect 30,000 New Yorkers to show up for a game they have never even seen?

Leave such adventurous plans till after we have 3 or 4 north American clubs established in Super League, each with a 10,000 + fans base.

Rimmer is clueless.

Whilst we can no doubt look to an ideal world where all clubs are doing the same to attract fans, we're not in one.

Saturday had 3 local derbies involving 4 clubs with 10k+ attendances. The league leaders, last year's league leaders and the Grand Final winners. It was massively stacked. Only one club outside the top 6, and you could have predicted that before the fixtures came out.
Sunday saw 2 derbies and one left over game involving a foreign side against an underperforming small club. Only Hull were in the Top 6 before the weekend started, the rest lower league teams with much smaller fan bases. They completely put all eggs in the Saturday basket and relied on the Hull derby to at least shift a few tickets.

A better balance would have been to sway the Leeds/ Cas game with the Catalans/Salford game. Saturday would still have featured more big clubs, which shows you just how imbalanced the days were.

And that is the reason this game is on its last legs, I say the game can't afford to carry on with a fan base that can't afford to pay the going rate. Why do fans think we should get free to air or ridiculously cheap tickets? My only concern is there are better places to visit in the states? but NY is OK as most Americans are open to new ideas & do get pro sports as entertainment. My only change to the plan would be either to stop the extra fixture by making one side give up a home match every other year or make it the last 16 of the challenge cup.

Agree that the balance of games could have been a lot better, but it also needs to move back to the Bank Holiday. Its strange that they play the challenge cup final, a 1 day, 1 game event on one but the two day, multi game Magic Weekend isn’t on one. It doesn’t help attract people for the Sunday as they have work in the morning.

Only issue is the football grounds wanting to take the pitch up to host concerts and do repairs, but if demand is as high as the RFL claim then surely they can start demanding the Bank Holiday weekend.

Magic weekend in New York would be magic, now you see it now you don't, Debbie Mcgeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I'm not necessarily asking 12 clubs to make an equal contribution, but at the same time I think that simply saying "the draw was bad" provides an easy excuse for clubs that consistently under-perform when it comes to ticket sales - not just at Magic Weekend, but across the league.

At what point do we say to these clubs that bumbling along on <6k averages and under-selling the sport with cheap tickets is damaging to the sport and that they need to work harder? I don't see any of these clubs doing anything particularly innovative.

Why is it always Leeds fans banging on about smaller clubs attendances/holding back the game like they are the blueprint how every sporting club should be run.... it’s so hypocritical from fans of a club who are against running an academy and attract the massive amount of around 20,000 out of nearly a million people despite being the most successful super league side and only having a very poor football club to compete with. I’d focus a little closer to home rather than looking at how the smaller clubs are trying to get interest.

So against running an academy that their's has been one of the most fruitful in this sport in the modern era? Seriously, stop embarassing yourself.

I'll be more than quick to call out Leeds' failing where I see them, but the fact remains that they have made much more progress than most. They also have challenges that other clubs don't have - they compete with a vibrant night-time economy and large parts of that one million population is much more transient than the population of most of RL land.

But the fact remains that all clubs, top-to-bottom, aren't attracting new audiences. It's time that was challenged, rather than resorting to petty "whataboutism", because it lets lazy clubs off the hook.

But hey, who am I to want to see this sport progress and the product for spectators become as good as it can be?

Yeah it’s harder attracting new fans in Leeds than it is in Leigh because you have ‘a vibrant nightlife’ to contend with



Cut the spin out, I doubt your a politician so don’t act like one

It's nothing to do with "spin" in the slightest. There are a lot of ways to spend £20 in Leeds on a Friday night - probably far more than there are in Castleford. Despite what you imply, Leeds Rhinos are competing against far more than just Leeds United.

There are also more people living in Leeds who don't have much of an attachment to the city than there are people living in Castleford. I doubt that hundreds of thousands of people move to Glasshoughton from all around the UK and beyond to take advantage of the educational and professional opportunities, do they?

Like I said, I'll happily call out my club where I see fit (for the record, their online store is a shambles), but I'll equally praise smaller clubs that do show that it can be done. I've seen some of the work at York and it's far ahead of what clubs with much bigger resources and budgets are doing.

But you keep that chip on your shoulder if it makes you feel better.

Presume you mean reserves, firstly what's that got to do with attendances and secondly given we're looking at being into or near double figures of injured players this week and longer as well as struggling most of this year then the chances of us having enough players to fulfill weekly reserve fixtures without cancelling numerous games is slin.

Continuously taking digs at smaller clubs who get a few thousand out of tens of thousands for not making enough effort..... offer nothing but feeble excuses when questioned about why you aren’t tapping into the 3 quarters of a million people who don’t go to watch your club.

Love Leeds fans on the VT

Pointing out that the leisure market in Leeds is a lot more competitive than in Cas and the population dynamics are also very difference is not a "feeble excuse" - they're the facts of the market.

The facts are also that every club, big or small, needs to work harder at increasing their customer base. If you're not attracting new fans, you're losing fans and the reality is that some clubs aren't working as hard or as smart as others in this regard.

Castleford aren't confined to marketing themselves to the population of Castleford. If their crowds aren't growing because the market is too small, they need to expand to another market.

But yeah, petty 'whataboutism' is really what this sport needs right now.

Average attendance to number of people in town/city and Leeds are near the bottom so their fans should never harp on about attendances

Regards

King James

Yeah, it’s not like Castleford have to compete with a place that’s a 3 quid 15 minute train ride away...... stop being a moron

The bottom line is that all clubs have to work harder, and I've never said some haven't. But some aren't working as hard as others.

These forums are full of moans about the lack of crowds, the falling participation, the crap sponsors and crap TV deals. Now we can do what we usually do and take the easy answer by blaming the RFL and hoping that Eddie Hearn will save us, or we can apportion blame with where it actually lies - with ALL of the clubs. My point however still stands, some clubs are more culpable than others.

Back to the usual snorefest over typed lines, I actually take it back you might be a politician. What makes you so smart that you know more than club owners whose interest it is in to make a business work ??? Maybe you should buy a RL club or start your own amateur club in an expansionist area and we can all watch as that club soars to the top of RL showing all others in the sport how it’s done ??? I can’t imagine thinking I’m so smart I have thought of thousands of ideas that club owners and marketing teams haven’t whose interest it is in to succeed.

Another spot on post by CTID.