I thought you were cleverer than this

You've forgotten that there's one less home and away fixture.
It'd be 24 games + 1 MW + 1 OTR.

If you have an odd number of teams that will dictate how many games you play as each ' round ' will include 1 ' bye ' , so 13 teams require a mutiple of 13 rounds meaning either 12/24 or 36 matches

end of , otherwise you have some teams playing more games than others

Having just looked at the NRL season 2005 ladder there is a way you can reduce the number of games you play by having more than 1 bye per round , that year they had 15 teams and they played 24 games , in rounds 11 and 14 they had 3 teams not playing , therefore shortening the season by 4 games

So yes you could in theory work in whatever number you wanted , but with 13 teams you would have to work from 36 games downwards having 8 extra ' byes ' to get down to 28 games

Personally I'd prefer Sheffield, but Fev or Fax would be fine.

Damn Wellsy got to it before me.

here was my example,

13 teams so you have 24 fixtures home and away, each weekend one team gets a rest weekend

In addition

Magic Weekend

Hull FC v Wakefield
Wigan v Castleford
Hull Kr v Leeds
Bradford v Widnes
Saints v Huddersfield
Warrington v Salford
Catalan sit out.


Catch up weekend for Catalan

Catalan v Wigan

Now Wigan have had 1 more game than everyone else as they played both Magic and Catalan.

So you have another weekend were everyone plays but Wigan

It finishes the season with each team playing 26 fixtures.

It’s not that hard really to have a 13 team league, to keep the magic weekend, and make sure everyone plays the
same number of games.

The playoffs ensure it does not matter that you play 2 teams 3 times as where you finish does not decide the winners.

The magic weekend already means it’s not just home and away for every team.
I picked Catalan to sit out the MM weekend as they would not bring many fans anyway.

It only requires a little thought to work this out.

So not just

Teams are always wanting more money, so they could use any formula you liked, the bonus weekend could be derbies.

It could be another on the road set of fixtures to spread the game.

You could have a weekend of fixtures in and around grounds in London, if that was your thing. Making sure we all hit the capital. It could a RIP London weekend.

But seriously, you could use it for any purpose you liked or just an extra home fixture for a team and share the takings, or not what ever people prefer.

Yes there will be one more fixture than this year, but with players getting bye rounds they should be well rested.

You don't actually have to have 12 games home and away. That format can also be changed up. But it would take too long to explain that. The season can be as long or as short as you like as teams do not have to play home and away an even number or times.

We have done it before in previous seasons when we had smaller leagues, some teams got more home fixtures than others.

Sod the Magic Weekend, no-one knows what its purpose is.
If it's already booked in for next year and money has been spent or will be lost, OK fudge it in some non-credible way, makes no difference, it has no credibility anyway.
Then ditch it.

They cant risk wigan not being at Magic they take mroe fans that 3 clubs conbined (sure it is signed for at least 2 more seaons) -Magic Weekend is heading back to the magnificent Etihad Stadium for 2014 and 2015. Wildcats training wear including polo shirts, vests- was on a wakefield website could be wrong though.

13 teams is workable and maybe a better option with 1 relegation spot, whereas if a CH clubs comes up most likely some of the crackpots at the RFL will give them a years dispensation otherwise they will be on a hiding to nothing i think.

Many of today's Super League fans are unquestioningly loyal towards the product in all it's tragic and meaningless forms and that includes the Magic Weekend. Nobody will ever know what it's purpose is because the reality is... it doesn't have one.

Surely you know that is was brought in to spread the "gospel" away from the heartlands.
Edinburgh, Cardiff and Manchester ???

The purpose of the Magic Weekend is to give those who don't go a reason (whatever they choose) to moan. They will pick it's primary purpose at the whim of their negative opinion (earlier its primary purpose was to "spread the game"icon_wink.gif and then b*tch and moan about it and suggest scrapping it.

I've been to every Magic Weekend (apart from this year's which I'd just got back from Cyprus for so couldn't afford it, and man was I devastated!). They've often been a highlight of my season. Great fans. Great days. Great stadiums. Great evenings out. How any real RL fan can't sit down and enjoy 7 games of elite RL is beyond me.

And for those questioning the "primary purpose" of the Magic Weekend, it was to allow the fixtures to drop from 28 to 27 fixtures whilst still obtaining the same income. The rest was a bonus.

If you don't like Magic Weekend, don't go. But don't tell others they shouldn't just because you don't like it!

If you hadn't noticed, I'd just done it in alphabetical order.

Personally it'd be a shame to exclude anyone from the Magic Weekend. It's a great weekend and great that all fans mix. Including Catalans. They usually come in good numbers (for them) and are very vociferous. There were loads in Cardiff and Edinburgh!

Would be good to mix it with the WCC, but doubt they'd get the Aussies over mid season. In fact, isn't it "supposed to be" over there next season?