Yep, there's a window of 3 -4 weeks at the end of the season for City to put on events of this type and rock concerts (Coldplay next week) before the pitch is replaced. There's no chance of Magic Weekend being staged at the Etihad beyond mid June.

Force the people inside and they will not go. Very few fans have the appetite for several hours of non stop rugby. Switch off the big screens and they'll either head for the nearest pub, only turn up for their team's match, or not go in the first place.

Its the nature of the event. Either accept that there will always a large number outside the ground or dont bother with it.

To paraphrase the Chemical Brothers......

HERE WE GO!

They ought to get all the teams kitted up on the Saturday and draw two teams out five minutes before the kick off time of each game, the same on the Sunday. That would be fun.

The only pre planned act should be that Ganson referees the FC game

And how many dressing rooms does the average stadium have?

Have you never been to a local park on a Sunday morning, they use the bogs, backs of cars etc. If the will is there, we can make it happen

jumpers for goalposts..

Don't forget the dog $hit. Oh, the memories

Edited. Sorry, couldn't resist. (I'm still upset by Ganson)

All teams to remain inside their Stobart Truck/Trailer until their name is drawn , that'd get them focussed on the match



The trailers would just be reversed up to entrances at each end , and the players would just run out into the sunshine to meet their opponents

can you guarentee decent weather for the next 3 years!? bank holiday weather is usually known to be a damp squid in this country

Can you just leave ours locked in...

...thought they were last weekend...at least until they'd shipped too many points.

I think they should just get rid of it. The crowd is hardly much better than it was in Cardiff and that's with it being on the doorstep of most clubs. You have to ask what its purpose is really?

And yes, I didn't go, but that was as I had prior plans on the Sunday, and my team was playing on the Sunday, so I didn't want to go and not watch my team.

Obviously not, but I can confirm that the last four late May bank holiday weekends which apparently are known to be a damp squid (whatever one of those is) have actually been glorious; added to this year's non-bank holiday on the same weekend - just offering facts rather than wives tales. It's not a bad run of weather. The point remains that the weather doesn't actually take a turn for the worse just becasue a day is designated a bank holiday.

Have you ever been?

Yeah went to the first two Cardiff ones.

At first I thought it was a great initiative, but it hasn't really moved on in 6 or so years, even moving it closer to the heartlands attendances haven't improved. My opinion of it has changed, I just don't see what its point is anymore. The overall attendance is lower than a normal SL round, I don't see how that is classed as a success.

The attendances haven't grown because in usual RFL fashion they've chopped and changed its location, time of year and format. Hopefully it'll stick in Manchester for a while now and be allowed to grow.

I dont have the facts but I would have guessed that far more people will have a stayed for the weekend in Cardiff than Manchester meaning that a greater number of individuals will have attended this year.

Its a great concept in my opinion and I cant understand why more people dont go. A similar event in rugby union would no doubt get 60k a day rather than for a weekend.

People have ago at the RFL and they have got a few things wrong in the past but this is something that they have got right although it could be better advertised.

From a Bulls perspective:

1 - The contrived extra fixture, between the team that finished 10th last year and the champions (is that fair?) gave us no points; our closest rivals for that 8th play-off place both picked up two points. Will that be the difference between a play-off spot and not at the end of the season?

2 - The game cost us 4 long-term injuries and a heart attack - that is five players unlikely to figure much if at all again this season, as well as a near-fatality.

I have always been bitterly opposed to contrived extra fixtures. This year, given the extremely precarious financial situation, this contrived extra fixture might just mean the end of our club. I detest the whole sodding thing.

...you missed out the bit about being bailed out by the RFL and swindling 500k out of RL fans.....but all the same, good post

Nothing to do with my post or the thread subject. Everything to do with showing what a nasty little piece of work you are.

Did I sink your Battleship

Would they be the same last season Champions that you were above in the table prior to kick off and had beaten at Easter?