I understand your passion about travelling and fair weather supporters are frustrating, no more than at Saints with 5,000 for a semi that would have been 25,000 at a final. But its not so much the teacher aspect (though they CAN'T have holidays in term time) you are missing the point about schools in general. Kids have to be in school at 8am Monday so many families won't want a 4 or 5 hour drive back at around 9pm on a Sunday night with young kids that have to be up at 7am to go to school, not even considering the weather might be apalling for travel...

Seeing as we promote RL as such a family sport the RFL are making it that bit harder for families to attend across the whole weekend - your 5% holiday thing may suit yourself and many others but it won't cut it with many parents - kids have 65 days off and parents are not going to want to use any holidays outside the school holidays as they will only get 25-30 of the 65 days to start with.

I am actually for this as the league opener if we are going to do a showcase it has to be to launch the competition, for me weather isn't a problem and nor is location, but to maximise the event I do think the RFL will need to change Sunday to finish at 6pm given its not a holiday on Monday it makes it much more realistic that people would stick around.

Surely if the kickoffs are

12:30 2:30 4:30 6:30 on the saturday and 12:00 2:00 4:00 on the sunday

And they are sensible with the fixtures i.e put the crusaders on early & not the hull derby, it would still give people enough time to get there & get home on the sunday even if you're the last game.

I think I can live without the mascots running round the pitch.

Has to be said that the prices for accomodation in the main are already high now.

Compared to edinburgh where i got a flat for 5 in leith for 100 a night.

Post of the century. Why not allow him to become a welshman. Will get a headstart in life at least

Your comments about the cold are irrelevant. People accept that it's cold in winter. People still watch games in winter despite the cold. But the Magic Weekend isn't one game, is it? It's seven. Will people sit through the freezing cold for 7 games? I know I'd struggle, but I'd give it a go. Many however probably won't even consider it.

Not everyone can book a holiday off work. Some people get set holidays.

As for the comments about the camping... it's hard to go camping if the camp sites are shut for the winter.

There's nothing wrong with constructive criticism. These are genuine problems that will stop people attending. Not everyone can afford hotels. And not everyone wants to stay in a hotel. I've always camped at The Magic Weekend. It was part of the craic for me. Next year will be difficult for me money-wise now.

I had found a nice B&B not far from the stadium, which was cheap for 2 nights and put in a booking. I then got an e-mail this morning informing me that they aren't accepting bookings in February so they cancelled the booking.

I have watched every game at every Magic Weekend, but I might just go for a day trip this time if I can't find anything near the centre for a sensible price. I like Cardiff but it doesn't have enough hotels for events like this.

As for the weather look at it now we're supposed to be in Summer but it's cold and raining all the time.

Plank!!

small cluette F. E. B. R. U. A. etc etc

Lister, Cardiff has enough hotels for the (sold out every match, every year for the entirety of its existence) 6 nations. I'm sure it can cope with a few thousand Notherners half-filling our stadium over 2 days. And there are loads of far cheaper hotels and other accommodations for the Yorkshiremen amongst you.

But some tit has put the event in the middle of the 6 nations

Plus on top of all of the problems, weather, holidays etc., it will be Valentine's Day on the Monday - so the weekend prices are up already.

I agree with the Magic Weekend and have gone to the previous ones, but cannot see us getting to this one.

Am i missing something here. Why don't some of you look to stay in bridgend, newport, abergavenny, caerphilly???? newport is 10 mins away, bridgend 20 minutes and the millenium stadium is right outside the train station.

If it was in May and the BH holiday weekend that is exactly what we would be doing - staying at Trecco Bay with hundreds of others. If anyone is interested the Travelodge near Bridgend which we used for our Celtic game last year had rooms at £32.50 and £19.00 for the Sat and Sun nights that weekend, don't know if they still have.

I didn't realise it was also in the middle of the six nations, don't know much about RU but I presume alot of people will be down there for that too. That said, maybe they'll come along to our's that weekend and discover that ours really is TGG!!

I very much doubt it. I can't really see the Millennium Stadium hosting seven Super League games and a rugby union interational all on one pitch over two days. At a guess, I'd hazard that Wales RU are playing away that weekend.

Probably at twickers if the RFL have planned it right

As I was freezing my nads off at Murrayfield this season, at no point did I think to myself, "i wish they did this event in February!"

To be honest, having been this year, I'm not sure I agree with the concept full stop. Being out to watch 4 games in a row is a lot to ask of a fan, which means for all the fans that travel, they are rarely all in the ground at the same time. This means there's never much of an atmosphere.

Cardiff is a better venue than Edinburgh, and I understand what people suggest about it starting the season with a bang. I reckon this is the last throw of the dice to make this event a success.

I will agree with what you're saying, although I don't necessarily think it's the "last throw of the dice to make it a success". In a way, it is already a success. It achieved its aims: to reduce the season from 28 rounds to 27 rounds without losing any money for SL clubs in terms of revenue, to spread the gospel of SL more than previously, and to increase media presence.

To me, this is just another option to try and make it a further success. There are still more options to consider.

One I wouldn't mind seeing is to move it to the fifth round of the Challenge Cup, and use that free weekend to try and build up as an international weekend. It could achieve further goals then: reduce the SL season further (and keeping it a pure round-robin, which many fans would prefer), increasing internationals, giving the event a more "game-wide" feel in that Championship fans would have reason to attend, and increasing media presence further (extra internationals give us more exposure, and having it in the Challenge Cup would get it on the BBC).

I cannot believe all this b@llocks about valentines day and Xmas etc.

BUDGET. Cut your cloth to fit. If you want to go GO, if you want to take your lass out and pay £75 for a meal that would cost £50 on any other weekend or buy Roses for £20 yoiu could get for a £5 the week before then fine.

If not cut out the whinging and start planning now. It is not rocket science.

Wake up!! It's got nothing to do with romantic gestures, purely the greed of hotels/eateries who bump their prices up BECAUSE it is Valentine's weekend. In your post you quote rise in price for meals and roses, but strangely no mention of hotel rooms.

It's not rocket science, no. But the more difficult you make an event to attend, the less people will go. That's not rocket science either.

It's not difficult to attend. Just buy a ticket and find somewhere to stay. I'm just going to ask for one for xmas and so is my mate.
In the back of my head i'm thinking a Leigh season ticket for xmas and MM ticket for valentines day but that might be pushing it!

1. Just buy a ticket - you've just said you're asking for one as a gift, so that one is straight out!
2. Find somewhere to stay - No campsites in winter (which many use). Hotels are not always an option for everyone as they're expensive (and not in plentiful supply in Cardiff).

You also missed out "arrange travel" and "take time off work if you're travelling from far, otherwise you're in for a loooooong day".

It's a very expensive weekend. Don't pretend it isn't, and don't pretend it shouldn't put people off when it is perfectly understandable why it would. Won't stop me, but I can see why it would stop others. Not everyone is that fortunate.

The whole season kicks off a month too early Season should run mid March - late Sept, GF in Oct, 4 Nations mid Oct/Nov then a decent off season. Why do we have to play the first 6-8 rounds in the worst possible weather?

[size=200GREED!!!![/size

I'm considering asking for one for a gift. If I don't i'll get my Leigh season ticket for xmas and buy a ticket. It's not exactly hard to get time off is it? Even if you work Saturdays and Sundays, which I do, it's 4 days tops. And travel down? Hows that a problem? Just book a train ticket or drive.

What about kids having the day off school?

Kids go to school on a Saturday/Sunday?