Can't see the problem. The RFL will have had little / no choice on dates. The dates would be dependent on Sky and venue availability. I think the support from Hull will suffer but no one could reasonably have foreseen Hull City / Tigers getting to the FA cup final - it's never happened before! Anyway, if Hull is the RL city it purports to be even that won't matter (although I think that's hot air). In short, I can't see a problem.

PS There is an added potential benefit - if Hull FC supporters go to Wembley and infiltrate the City crowd before causing trouble that hits the national press / TV screens it would even things up from those times when Hull FC have brought disgrace to RL (albeit after having been "infiltrated" by City fans)!!

The FA cup final should move to accomodate Hull FC v Hull KR

When did the Footie team last make it to the FA Cup final ?
I don't think we can blame anyone here, apart from staging the magic weekend on the same day as the FA Cup Final, of course.

I don't think we should organise our season around the FA Cup Final every year.

I like this idea, it also means all the big games aren't coming at the back end of the season. The earlier rounds of the cup could easily be re-arranged to fit with a May final, and getting rid of the long gaps between the 5R and QFs and QFs and SFs may actually generate a bit more interest in those games.

In an ideal situation I would like to see the CCF on the bank hol weekend at the end of May, and the Magic Weekend used as a 9's competition in a week off between the league splitting from 2 x 12 to 3 x 8 (probably around mid July time). They'll continue to persist with this format of an additional league game where the fixture list is pulled from nowhere until the concept is killed off completely, however.

This is just a section of RL fans moaning about nothing. It's not even in the top 10-15 soccer games of the season so we can't seriously plan to avoid it. And there's NO WAY we should move kick off times for a long planned weekend of fixtures because some sh**e soccer club from an RL city has made it to the final.

the f a cup final should move to accomodate catalans v broncos
( presuming that game is on same day lol)

Why is a league game worth 2 points killing off the concept whereas an inferior format of the game wouldn't?

Because it's an additional league fixture that leads to a mis-matched fixture list and each team playing one team once more than the others. A ridiculous situation now that relegation is back.

9's might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is a quick format of the game that could be used to showcase the sport and would fit with the carnival atmosphere you get at MW. Providing there was a decent pot of prize money on offer I don't see why it couldn't work. An alternative would be to use MW after the leagues have split in to 3, so then it at least serves as one of those 7 games rather than an extra fixture on top of the weekly rounds.

A whole tragic weekend of sitting through 7 meaningless regular season SL fixtures at just the one venue which is surrounded by sundry chavhole estates? No thank you. I'd rather watch paint dry or plait fog.

The dates correspond with my off-season anyhow (mid-May to mid-August) as I no longer participate in that bull concept otherwise known as "Summer Rugby" (or, more accurately, the Sky Sports soccer off-season, yours in desperation, schedule filler).

Bring on the Cricket, Tennis and the FIFA World Cup during the summer months. Oh, and the State of Origin series on Premier Sports. That'll do me nicely.

Your reverse psychology is working Mr Eve, I've just bought my Magic ticket

I like the idea, but the CC Final wud either have to be the first weekend of June, as the Football League have the late Bank Holiday booked up for their playoff finals. The first week in June when the football season has finally ended, but the World Cup/European Championships haven't started, Wimbledon hasn't started etc could be a good time for media coverage though.