I need my brain refreshing here, but is the MM weekend an extra week of fixtures to the competition or is it a part of the original fixture format ?

I have a nagging thought that it was introduced as an extra round of games, in which case trying to compare the same fixtures to what they would have attracted if they had been played at the normal local grounds is actually irrelevant - as long as the weekend makes a profit then its a bonus all round and some free advertising.

I could be wrong though...

Stopping in Dunfermline is the future.

Had a fantastic night out there on Saturday despite some rather disappointing opening hours. I mean, closing at 2am. What's all that about?

I like Edinburgh but:

I've had the worst two hangovers of my life in Edinburgh. It's the only time I've actually thought I was going to die - not wished to die (I've wished to die many times with hangovers), but genuinely panicked that I was not going to make it to the next morning - and that was the night after I had been on the lash and I'd been in bed all day. That was when I was grown up and working for a living.
First time was at Uni when we had a "field" trip to several agricultural research stations during the Easter hols. We had a night in Leeds before getting the coach in the morining and the last thing I remember was downing half a pint of irish malt whiskey in one and someone breaking a wooden tray over my head (one of my "mates"icon_wink.gif. Luckily another of my mates always carried smelling salts as he fell asleep in bars and couldn't be woken up any other way. I then set the world continous vomiting record. We arrived several hours later at Leith Nautical college where we were bunking. The warden was a large jocular man who took the p1$$ out of me for looking shocking. I wiped the smile off his face by handing him the half full bin liner I was carrying and asking if he could get rid of it for me. It took a second or two before he realised what it was half full of and the look on his face still gives me a warm feeling.
I couldn't even sniff alcohol for the rest of the week and the one girl I pulled turned out to be the niece of legendary Scottish forward Jim Calder -so no funny buisness there.

Last time I was there was to watch Leeds lose to the Dulls in the CC. I can't say I have too many happy memories.

It's an extra round of fixtures in addition to the basic home and away format. It's also an all pay event (except at the discretion of the RFL with targeted freebies.) Any comparison to an average round of fixtures that are covered by season tickets is an odd one.

A more reasonable comparison between the close on 60,000 all pay attendance in Edinburgh could be this weekend's eight ties in the Challenge Cup 5th round. Although again not ideal as only nine of the fourteen SL clubs remain in the competition.

Thats what I thought - so from a marketeers point of view the comparison to the equivalent fixtures being at the relevant SL grounds in order to assess the fall-off in attendees is a non-starter, its a stand-alone event that should make a profit and provide a terrific marketing opportunity for uneducated locals.

Still a shame that the RFL didn't spot that.

I got thinking about this today


How many other sports can take a round of fixtures to one venue over a weekend where all the fans from all the teams get on with each other and happily drink,eat and watch games with fans from other teams?

why would anyone want to scrap that?

we had a great weekend. edinburgh has so much to offer tourist wise, shame the rugby got in the way,although it gave the women a chance to go shopping.

already booked for next year

Us too. Think that a lot of the rooms are already booked for next year. We are closer in though next year so are very pleased.

The birds part reminds me of a work meeting in South Carolina - a place on the coast called Seabrook Island. On the last night we had an outdoor barbie and a stage for Karaoke. All the tables were set out with white linen and all polished cutlery. We are all dresssed up, the comapny big cheeses are arriving for nibbles. Guess which donkey decided it would be a good idea to throw a peanut to a seagull. One peanut to one seagull, what harm could thay do?
I imagine your room looked similar. Half the seabirds on the Atlantic coast descended on us - we had pelicans dive bombing the women -and they are huge. People scattered screaming, the waiters ran around with their arms in the air trying to scare them off (scare them!). Suffice to say 15 minutes later when they realised they weren't getting fed they buggered off, but all the tables had to be re-laid with fresh linen and cutlery, people who hadn't found cover were covered in bird crap and I was as popular as a fart in a lift.
One peanut!

Agree that Cardiff stadium location better and hopefully next year I can see more than I did this time, Yes food etc quite dear the nearer the ground you got but isn't that the case most places ? Worse thing for me was although distance very similar it took me a lot longer to drive to Scotland.

Nothing it saves me a fortune at €7-€8 for a Vodka and 7up

I think we have to remember as well that a lot of SL fans who travelled up to Scotland for the weekend bought their tickets at the ground. Therefore the official figure is not really very accurate. As so many people in Edinburgh didn't even know that there was anything on I can't see that many locals would have bought tickets at all.

Give me Cardiff any day.

How many people actually knew that Scotland A were playing the French 1/2 a mile from Murrayfield on the Friday night? Not many. They didn't even advertise that.

Give me Cardiff any time.

And as for going to Dublin, forget it. What as Dublin got to do with the UK. Newcastle would almost be like going abroad as well, just imagine trying to understand the local jingo.

Give me Cardiff every time.

A quick niggle, following Murrayfield.

When we won the title last season, I was a bit miffed that they didn't play 'We Are The Champions' onver the tannoy. I figured that the RL didn't want to shell out for the priviledge.

Thank god they weren't so stingy when it came to something really important, like the Mascot Highland Games.

This weekend's CC games attracted just over half the numbers that travelled to Edinburgh last weekend.

Perhaps next season they should play all of the fifth round ties there in an attempt to boost the Challenge Cup attendances?