Re: Millennium Magic : Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:46 am  

I like Marty have been to Magic events in Cardiff and Edinburgh but these were May Dank Bank Holiday weekend and despite it being May as Marty points out Edinburgh was cold especially if like me you were sat in the east facing stand.

My job is on account where the client is a large utility company in Wales and 2 weeks ago I had a colleague visit me who lives in Cardiff. His main passion is Union but does watch league occasionally on TV and has previously lived Auckland for 7 years where he watched the Warriors. Bearing in mind he lives in Cardiff now I asked him if he was going to the Magic weekend. He said that he knew nothing about it and that there had been no publicity locally about the event.

I think Cardiff is a great place to have this because of the proximity of the stadium to the city centre but the city doesn’t deserve it if they can’t be bothered to sell it to the locals. I have heard tales of hotels from large chains to dingy B&Bs all hiking their prices up for this weekend. OK yes it’s a free market so they are entitled to do this but then Super League has the right to move it elsewhere.

I can understand wanting a big event to kick the season off but February is not the best choice for the Magic weekend. Yes the pitch is protected from bad weather but who wants to travel 4 hours plus if there is any chance of now etc.

I think that the concept is a great idea but despite the meddling/fine tuning it still hasn’t grabbed a lot of fans so I think they ought to scrap it and think of something else.

Re: Millennium Magic : Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:59 pm  

I have to admit that when I heard they were moving it from Cardiff to Edinburgh , I was disappointed. I really like the Millennium Stadium, it's location and the stadium itself are second to none in my humble opinion, but having been for both Edinburgh weekends, I'm now converted. Cardiff itself is not an easy place to get accommodation, I had to stay in Newport on my last visit, as all the rooms in Cardiff had either gone or were too expensive. In contrast, I found a brilliant b&b for the one in Edinburgh. OK it's in Musselburgh, which is about 7 miles away from the centre of the city, but we found a direct bus to Murrayfield about ten minutes walk away from the digs, and buses to the city centre from outside the front door, every 10 mins and even every 20 mins on Sundays. The landlady couldn't have been nicer and even the bus fares are amazing. Last year on the Friday night, me and Neil went to watch Scotland Students v France Espoirs at Gala RFC. It's right on the other side of Edinburgh, about 14 miles from Musselburgh, a place called Balerno, and the bus was again a short walk from our digs, direct to the ground and cost £1.20 each way!! It's a flat fare, so you could argue that one stop would cost the same, but you'd only get about 3 or 4 stops in Sheffield for that price. Of course all this could be irrelevant, as they'll probably do away with it anyway.

Re: Millennium Magic : Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:39 pm  

We've been to all the MM events, including this one. Had an excellent weekend - stopped at the same hotel in Penarth as we did for the very first event. Charged Standard Rate - very reasonable. Edinburgh seemed to be more expensive overall & bl**dy freezing! Must admit we were initially concerned about the weather, but turned out to be warmer than Edinburgh in May! Regarding the Attendances - it was chocker where we were - 60,000 over the weekend was very good, all things considered. Cardiff is an excellent venue - the craic around the city was brill! I hope they keep it on - we'll be going again next year.