Every event takes time. It was 50 years before the Challenge Cup Final attracted over 60,000. I'm not saying the Magic Weekend is in any way as prestigious as the CC, just showing it takes time for some annual sporting events to capture peoples imagination.

Keep it in Cardiff as the opening round, let it grow.

Does anyone know how many people from South Wales went to the event, or what the RFL did in South Wales with regards to marketing?

For a guy that hates League so much he bangs on about it enough.

=#4040FFHave it at the Olympic Stadium 2013 [uIN SUMMER [/u
Reasons for

1) The travel links will be fantastic

no thanks I had to go to Stratford yesterday. Central line was suspended. So had to go a different way.

Then this morning the Jub line was suspened at stratford no one had a clue what was going on.

The Jubilee keeps getting suspended because they're sorting it out for the Olympics. Also Crossrail is being built, and the North London Line actually works nowadays. Stratford, although still a hole, can't really be faulted on connectability.

And the Paralympics start 29th August. Ok after the BH weekend, but will the Olympic authorities want Wembley being used so close to the start. The Football for the able bodied games starts before the Olympics. So there is every possibility of the CC being turfed out for a year.

It can take time, but the GF grew as an event very quickly in its first 5 years. The MM has remained broadly static. Probably because its fully reached its target audience of RL fanatics and those wanting a boozy weekend with rugby.

You may have a point - although they do have the capability to turn the stadium round overnight - they had an athletics events on the day after the CC final a couple of years back.

The FA were asked if they minded moving the charity shield - they weren't booted out. They've also delayed the start of the premier league to avoid a clash. I wonder if the RFL has thought about scheduling against the Olympics next year?

I think MM has suffered somewhat by moving the weekend it's on and by having it at Murrayfield for two years.

Keep it as a season opener in Cardiff for a few more years, step up the marketing in South Wales (schools, discounts to those with RU 6 Nation tickets etc), perhaps even get a couple of games broadcast on BBC.

Good in theory, in practice - well, as soon as the Olympics are over, the ground will be redeveloped into a wendyball stadium. It's not going to sit there for a year waiting for the Magic Weekend, and once the wendyballers get their hands on it, there's no way they'll let two days of... etc etc etc.

Not quite sure why 'Yed' seems to think that because 'it's the tourist hotspot of the UK' it will make more people come along to watch

I can't see all those Americans giving up their photgraphing 'Bucking-haym palace' days to go along.

And if you want to go to London as a tourist you go because you want to see 'touristy' things in London like Madame Tussauds, the London eye or Hyde Park.

This 'Magic' weekend should remain in Cardiff. It's ideal.

Just have it when it's a bit warmer and on a bank holiday weekend!

The problem with this discussion is that apparently Cardiff Council pay the RFL for MM. The RFL are happy because they get a wedge off CC as well as money off the gate and it keeps Sky sweet. The stadium's happy because they get to open up all weekend, rather than three-four hours one day. CC are happy because it brings in excessive of 40k people to the city to stop more than one night, which brings in a fair wedge of money for them and their businesses. The RFL are also happy because their target gate was 60k for the weekend, which they achieved. CC are happy with that because the majority of that number will be folk from outside Wales who will have had to stop overnight.

The reason why the RFL concentrated their marketing more on their 'heartland' supporters than trying to encourage the Welsh to come is because CC most likely wanted out of towners to come in and spend more money and, with it being Valentines and a Wales RU 6N's match, it wouldn't have been cost-effective to try and get the Welsh in.

The point is, it might not seem like a success, but it is. It ain't really broken so why fix it? Why not leave it to grow a bit more by giving the event some stability. If we can start taking larger numbers down and it becomes more of a spectacle for newbies then we can realistically start marketing elsewhere. Also, until a London council or tourist board is willing to cop up for a Magic weekend it isn't going to happen.

But... to play the "if I were in charge of the RFL game and money was no object"...

I'd take it to Sheffield.

Its expansion and on the fringe at the same time. So, we can tap into a new area as well as be near enough to encourage more hardened supporters to turn up. Sheffield's also a great city with a good vibe about. If Magic weekend is meant to be a jamboree of RL then let's have a proper festival! Have it in June, summer month, when teams have settled into stride, after early CC rounds, after amateur season, before NRC final.

Then hire out Hillsborough, Bramhall Lane and Don Valley and have matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This festival wouldn't just be for SL it would be for all professional clubs, so you'd distribute SL and Championship matches across all venues on all days. SL matches could be scheduled, so all can be televised along with key Championship matches. Get all the RL community involved and use it as a day to unify our identity.

I can see the benefits of having it in London, but we have the CC final and we have Quins. Also, you try tell Edinburgh that London is the centre of culture in Britain and try tell Manchester that London dominates at football and music. If we're a northern sport we should be proud of it, not get all embarrassed about it. That pride, passion and heritage should be turned into a product that we can sell to folk outside the heartlands, so they want to come to us, not pander to how we perceive the media networks, act all meek and head towards them cap in hand asking for just a little bit of attention and respect.

Wow, take a bow, it took nearly a whole day to counter one of my points, the weakest one too.

Don't worry about the headache you have, that's the grey matter working.

(to all except the Don Valley bit

)

Not the best of stadiums I agree, but if we're talking all day event in the sunshine, then where better? If needs be you could always throw up a couple of big temporary stands behind the sticks and use all that space behind it, including the permanent stands, as a beer garden.

I do feel that for Magic weekend to be a real success it isn't just about filling out a stadium and looking good on camera, its about filling out a city and taking over.

So because i'm not a millionaire, and had to live in some over priced dive that makes a city ok? Everything about the place is wrong. The richest people in the country and the greatest number of homeless people all living on harmony, oh no wait a minute.

Oh and love the racist bit by the way. The population of London are now a 'race'. Love it

Perception is everything.....a stadium less than half full on TV gives the perception that Rugby League is still a 'small" sport. Look at the games organised by Quins Union around the xmas period......a near packed twickenham, or if you go to the start of the season, a packed twickenham for 2 games. Simply put, the problem with MM is the fans. You could play it in the KC stadium and East Hullians would complain.......play it at the DW stadium and the Saints lot would have a pop.
We are all supposed to love TGG......it is, in many cases, the No1 sport ahead of soccer, but when it comes to forking out a few bob and travelling outside the "comfort" zone, no bugger turns up. If the average gate for SL last year was 11,643 then any weekend, 81,500 fans walk through the gates at 7 grounds.......this is the initial target audience and MM has managed to attract 37% of these based on 30k a day and the majority being there for 2 days. It's all well and good us trying to find a better formula, but until the so called hard core RL fans are prepared to roll up we may as well bin magic.

Agree about the perception. The closed stand at MM looked awful on TV. The problem is, there isn't a stadium that would let 7 games of RL in 2 days be played on their pitch and if the RFL are intent on playing the game in Feb, then this makes the problem even worse. There are few stadia with a roof that can be closed in bad weather and I don't know of a 40,000 capacity stadium that has a closing roof so we are a bit stuck.

We could always hold it at court at Wimbledon

other sports please

Here's an idea


15 pounds a ticket for the weekend...kids free when with an adult....cardiff, announce the dates now and sort out the local transport companies with shuttle services for the outlying towns to handle crowds staying outside cardiff.
Family of 4......30 quid + Hotel and travel for a weekend away with 7 games of RL......real fans will find a way of putting aside a tenner a week to pay for it......others will just come on here and moan.

example.
London based supporters group hire a 75 seater coach leaving the stoop at 7am Saturday. Check into hotel in chepstow at 9.30am. Coach leaves for cardiff at 10.30 arrives 11.30...>games> coach returns to chepstow at 10pm.
Next day, check out, coach to cardiff, leaves 1 hr after last game...back in London 10pm or later....

Coach about £3,500....hotel about £75 a room...match tickets £30 a family ...total for a family of 4....£155 notes or £3 a week ..........hardly recession busting is it?

Add another £30 a family for the coach from Hull.......still can be done if organised properly.....but unless it's a bus ride away along the M62....most so called fans won't make the effort

Your always going to struggle getting families to attend MM , keeping kids interested for 7 games is a hell of an ask

looking at the empty stands last weekend it's not just the kids who have a problem with 7 games

It all depends on how you view it , did the vast majority of fans who normally travel to an away game go to MM ? , probably , so how do you change the mindset of those fans who will happily watch on TV rather than spend hundreds of pounds travelling to watch their team ?

It's easy for me as I wouldn't go anyway unless my club was playing , would I stay and watch half a dozen other Champiobship matches ? , one maybe , but any more than that ? No

You not being a millionaire ??? Give me a clue and most of the other people on here who seemed to agree with my point of view what that has to do with anything.
The richest people in the country living in harmony with the most homeless. Again as before that occurs in every city.London probably has the most because ............er let me think now..........oh yes its the biggest city in the country. Odd that. Though being Northern I am sure you don't mind millionaires row in Cheshire being just a few miles from the deprived areas around it. I state that simply as an example. Even Hull has millionaires living in "harmony" with the poor and deprived....I could go on.
As for the racist bit. I said it could almost be. No they are not a race. Neither is the whole population of London a Cockney. Note the lack of emphasis on certain parts of the name. I am not entirely sure what anyone would call your thinking. Its not racist as they are not a race. Its not sexist as it covers I assume both sexes. But it is some kind of "ist". I might add mind after 20 years of living and working in London I have met very few people who class themselves as Cockneys.

Finally once again you bring in sweeping judgements. "every thing about the place is wrong" I would say everything about you is pathetic but I am sure that someone loves you, someone finds you of use to the human race, which probably makes you worthy to some. But I know I feel so much better for not being a small minded little egit like you.

I'm afraid to tell you it was more just general disinterest in your post than me actually taking the time to think up a reply.


Was there actually a 'strong' point anywhere in your post?


Must have missed that one.