Magic weekend thought : Sun Feb 13, 2011 10:01 am  

Whilst enjoying a full day of rugby yesterday and will do again today I still think having the opening games of the season for the magic weekend is a big mistake.

What we saw yesterday were ring rusty players and referees. In all games we saw mistake from players who you know that would not have happened later on in the season and whistle happy ref's oh my word we certainly got the worst of the refs (i think his mum must have bought him that as a pressie for washing her car the day before)

The RFL want the magic weekend to promote our game so we end up watching games where set plays don't come off quite as well as they would later in the season, and games that don't flow because the ref is still bedding in too.

Also they want to promote the game in south Wales so we hold magic weekend right in the middle of the six nations campaign not exactly going to attract any of the union crowd are we

Re: Magic weekend thought : Sun Feb 13, 2011 1:36 pm  

It hasnt been a great advert has it? although I am sure those who travelled enjoyed it
I dont want to knock the event because in principle it is an excellent concept but we never seem to get it quite right in order to showcase our great game do we?

Re: Magic weekend thought : Sun Feb 13, 2011 3:01 pm  

I went to the first year in Edinburgh and thought it was just ok to be honest. The stadium was too far away from the main streets and the weather was freezing (which can't be controlled).

I definitely think the derby matches are more of an attraction but the half empty stadiums we keep seeing are not good. I understand the will to promote the game elsewhere but we've done Edinburgh and Cardiff now.

Perhaps a smaller stadium and a better location travel-wise might be an idea. Maybe one half in Lancashire and the other half of games in Yorkshire!? This is where you'll find most fans who are willing to go and watch.

It's a tough one though and they're never going to be able to please everybody 100% of the time. I just think it's expensive for people to travel/stay over when the pennies are tight.

Re: Magic weekend thought : Sun Feb 13, 2011 3:36 pm  

Trouble is, having it in the heartlands detracts from having a 'weekend'. Might as well just scrap it altogether if you do that and that would detract from the point of it.

We don't have enough showcase events in rugby league - we need to increase these and so the MM HAS to stay.

Re: Magic weekend thought : Sun Feb 13, 2011 3:59 pm  

we have been to the last 3 magic weekends, 2 in edinburgh and the last one in Cardiff. I thought that Cardiff was by far the better venue - the stadium was better placed and due to having a good choice of places to eat and drink the prices weren't too bad. Edinburgh just seemed like a license to print money for the locals due to the stadium being out of the centre of town, there weren't too many places to choose from to eat and and drink unless you wanted to travel back into town.

I love the concept of a weekend where we can all get together but think it should be mid season when we have the chance to better weather and i would happily go back to Cardiff

Re: Magic weekend thought : Sun Feb 13, 2011 4:09 pm  

Really enjoyed yesterday. Be much better in the summer months though.

Re: Magic weekend thought : Sun Feb 13, 2011 4:11 pm  

Just a thought,
Could it be made the last game of the season with your opponents named the week before based on league placing.
ie, 1 v 2
3 v 4 etc giving most teams something to play for and players at there peek

Re: Magic weekend thought : Sun Feb 13, 2011 4:19 pm  

Couldn't be named the week before as it would be very late to book things as you wouldn't know the time and day of your game.

Re: Magic weekend thought : Sun Feb 13, 2011 4:25 pm  

you could have a good idea if you knew bottom 6 play sat and top 8 play sun

Re: Magic weekend thought : Sun Feb 13, 2011 4:46 pm  

smoggytiger wrote:

Just a thought,
Could it be made the last game of the season with your opponents named the week before based on league placing.
ie, 1 v 2
3 v 4 etc giving most teams something to play for and players at there peek

Rather than that, the actual last game of the season. Everyone would know their opponents?