You're kidding aren't you? Wigan v Hudds looks to be a cracker ditto Saints v KR, Hull v Quins is always an interesting tie and a couple of the others don't look too shabby either. While there are no "headline" games neither are there any games that will be a snoozefest either.

I'm becoming less of a fan of the "magic" weekend the more times they do it.

But they could have easily have created massive excitement by basing the fixtures on the previous weeks league table.

So we could have (on current table)

1st v 2nd (Wigan v Warrington)
3rd v 4th (St Helens v Huddersfield)
5th v 6th (Bradford v Hull)
7th v 8th (Hull KR v Wakefield)
9th v 10th (Leeds v Crusaders)
11th v 12th (Salford v Castleford)
13th v 14th (Catalans v Harlequins)

You can't get more even than that and it would create excitement in the build up to the event, not knowing who your going to be playing.

Personally I think it would be brilliant and apart from maybe 13th v 14th every match would be vital to top 8, top 4 or top spot ambitions and hardly anyone could complain of an advantage (apart from maybe Leeds who for this event would perhaps benefit from a poor start).

Day 1 looks pretty poor this year. Will be interesting to see how many fans choose to attend both days.

Is it? Did you not see the borefest at the start of the season? I find our games against the Quins the most uninteresting fixture of our season.

You could always space out the rounds so that there is more space between games than at the moment. As of now, there are 3 weeks between every round apart from the quarters and the semis (which for some reason there is a 10 week gap?!). Plenty of room to manoeuvre there.

And why is it only non-SL clubs that have less time? Last time I checked, SL clubs aren't guaranteed a 5th round spot (just ask fans of Hull FC, Hull KR, Wakefield, Cas and Salford!).

Then there is always the possibility that a team would draw a French based team or a London based team anyway, so at least you know where you're going and can plan BEFORE you know if you'll be there or not, and then go through with it after.


I'd be happy with it to stay in SL, but think it would be better suited to the cup (neutrality reasons, more on the line, more magic in the cup, etc.)

Fair points, but it would remove all benefits of getting a home tie, while removing the possibility of lower league clubs getting a lucrative draw in the 5th Round.

Well yes, it would remove all benefits of a home tie. But you could argue it would remove all negatives of getting an away tie. There are two sides to that coin. No-one is guaranteed to be at home or away. You could be drawn away every game, such is the way a random draw is. This way it is always neutral which is the fairest way.

And I don't see how it removes the possibility of a lower league club getting a lucrative draw in the 5th Round. If anything, it guarantees them a more lucrative draw. Last year, the aggregate attendance for the 5th Round was 30,822 over 8 games, so an average attendance of only 3,853, and the highest gate only being 7,176. The Magic Weekend usually gets near to that each day. You could be looking at something like 50,000 over the two days, which would be an average if 6,250 per game (nearly the same as the "lucrative" game of the round last year) for every team. And that's not to mention whether the host city pays any money in via the tourist board like they do for the Magic Weekend. You could find that it is much more lucrative for each club overall.

What about a Round "On the Road"??

Two/Three games at strategically placed venues.The on the road fixtures before were one game and im not sure we could attract big enough crowds for that. I dont go to Magic Weekends as I think the idea is flawed on the basis that the grounds are too big so there is no athmosphere and the idea of loads of games is just simply too much. I love my RL, but 7 games is an endurance marathon!!!

Played on a Bank Holiday Weekend, two games per event, bar one. The biggest game first to prevent the feeling of a curtain raiser. Well supported clubs playing at the same venue as less well supported clubs.

My idea is;
Saturday afternoon
Wigan v Leeds (big enough to be a stand alone fixture, attractive to neutrals)
Tynecastle, Edinburgh
Supporting the development of the Scottish RL

Saturday Teatime
Cas v Warrington
Quins v Salford
International Stadium, Gateshead
Supporting the development of Gateshead Thunder

Sunday teamtime
St Helens v Hull
Catalans v Huddersfield
Cardiff City FC
Supporting the development of South Wales Scorpions and Wales RL

Monday afternoon
Bradford v Hull KR
Crusaders v Wakefield
Meadow Lane, Nottingham
Supporting the development of Nottingham Outlaws and the Midlands RL

Of course the venues could change as could the fixtures, but the idea is strategically placed events, affordable and not too long in stadia relevant to the expected crowd.

The games and venues you have suggested would probably result in just as sply empty grounds as Murrayfield. Tynecastle is 18k (Leeds vs Wigan wouldn't get that on its own in Edinburgh, probably 10k at best), Gateshead holds 12k and probably would only get 5k for the games you mention, Cardiff City holds 27k and would probably get 12k for the games you mention, and Meadow Lane holds 20k and would probably struggle to get 10k for the games you mention. The situation is always going to happen.

The good thing about the Magic Weekend is that it brings a lot of publicity at one moment in time. That wouldn't happen if you spread it about into smaller events.

I also don't know how you can comment on the atmosphere if you don't go? I've been to every one and thought the atmosphere was great. Plus, you don't have to attend all the games. The tickets are ridiculously cheap for that reason.

I liked the idea someone mentioned on TotalRL.com, about having one venue, but instead of having all the games at once, spread them over the season. This would do much more for expansion IMO.

Say, for example, Nottingham. If you held the 7 games from the Magic Weekend there over the course of the season, you could sell locals cheap deals on things like a mini season pass, have their local side play the curtain raiser every time to build their profile, and basically instil a bit of continuity into the area whilst still being able to pull the plug on them if it doesn't go too well.

I like the idea of....RL fans not moaning and whingeing and getting themselves to Edinburgh to watch 7 SL games for a stupidly cheap price in a beautiful city.

Why not alternate between Cardiff and Edinburgh each year so we don't get 'bored' of the same city year after year?

Or if we're feeling adventurous, add Dublin and Toulouse in there! Any more 'touristy' cities with good grounds?

Wish Blackpool had a bigger ground!!

The reason for the 10 week gap is television and potential conflict with much larger televised sporting events. As the cup runs from Jan/Feb through to August it conflicts over a four year rolling period with

Year 1 - Football World Cup, Wimbledon tennis championships
Year 2 - RU World Cup, Wimbledon
Year 3 - Football Euro Championship, Wimbledon, Olympic Games
Year 4 - Wimbledon

With other events like the Commonwealth Games thrown in too it means that the CC rounds cannot be fitted in on terrestrial tv during June and July. Therefore in order to have all rounds televised a gap needs to be in place during this period so the SFs can only be shown 9 or 10 weeks after the previous round. It is an issue that needs addressing and has been cited as a contributory factor in the loss of crowds to CC games.

The Challenge Cup is stuck as it is until the current deal ends but after that needs to either

1) Have the Final restored to May to allow rounds to all be played at 2 or 3 week intervals without clashing with large events (as it used to be)
OR

2) If the final is delisted then the tv rights sold to SKY (as they are unable to show the big events named above and so would have the schedule space) under condition that they allow the rounds to be played at 2 or 3 week intervals and keeping the end of August Final.

It'll never happen...

I suppose Edinburgh is as close to its nearest SL club as Cardiff is these days