Much like Toulouses inclusion in the Championship

Why have it at the beginning of the season in the middle of the six nations Union games in a Union heartland? Absolute madness, just makes our game look so amateurish (again).

I can say it because this is a discussion forum. I would be very surprised if they weren't the top two at the end of the season.

yes at first but then it just got boring

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The promotion of RL in this country is run by a set of complete empty yeds

No matter what people think about the concept the fact is nobody wants to go and watch it Live, and the empty stadium speaks volumes .

But it was a sucsess cos the RFL say so.

From the outside in people must think great game but no body wants to watch it, an abject failure of the RFL to market the product.

For me the RFL need to rethink the selecting of stadiums think smaller grow bigger , no atmosphere in empty grounds and I bet the RFU will be rubbing their hands laughing at us AGAIN.

I just don't see the reason for it at all. They moan about how many games they play and this is just an extra one that isn't needed. Just play each other twice and thats it!

As far as I’m aware, Hull KR have just as many if not more regular Aussie starters than Catalans, do they get called East Hull Aussies?

The crowd hasn’t been great, but we’ve got some good free publicity with Mickey Rourke and Joe Calzaghe watching the game, and a movie coming up starring Mickey Rourke as Gareth Thomas. The viewing figures will tell us more about whether the event is worth it, the crowd doesn’t look great but people are just as likely to tune in and be impressed that we have celebrities watching the game.

When Saracen’s hired Wembley, a stadium not far from their own territory, I recall only 40,000 odd turning up with many tickets going for £10. Did Rugby Union fans decry the event as a pointless waste of time because Wembley was over half empty? In fact the event was bigged up and heavily promoted by the press, it was hailed as a success despite the fact that they didn’t recoup the money they paid to hire the place. Putting a positive spin on things has worked wonders for Union, you would think we could learn a trick or two from them when it comes to self promotion.



I thought Championship teams needed more games, not less? Extra revenue and all that.

Whilst I don't usually get too involved with commenting on what SL clubs do I do think MM is worth sticking at.

Its a additional game and probably the only place you could play it on a Wet February weekend would be at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff with a closed roof.
Logistically they seem to handle it well.
In terms of season starts its a bit more high profile than each club kicking off on a bad weather weekend in Feb.
I also think if planned correctly (going head to head with RU 6 Nations was a daft idea) it could get decent support.
I'd keep at it, I remember similar criticisms of Internationals at Wembley (when we got circa 30-40,000), we moved back to more central stadiums and now class 25,000 at Wigan as a success when we play Australia.

The whole thing is a embaressment and a joke to rl,if these teams played their opening matches with these teams they would pull in double the crowd what went there to wales,but they will dress it up as a success.....oi empty heads we are a northern sport enjoyed by nothern people in the bloomin m62 corridor,yep 6 million people,get these buggers watching instead of a load of welsh southern numpties

Right, I've just got in, back from Cardiff. I watched Scorpions vs Warrington Senior Academy at the Arms Park on Friday night, then watched all the games over the two days, though I confess to missing the odd 20 minutes here and there, and watching the first half of Crusaders in the Walkabout eating the contents of a small farmyard.

This is the first time I've been to Magic - we run a nines comp on May Bank Holiday so I've never been free to go, and besides Edinburgh is 500 miles away so the last two years were right out of the question.

This has been one of the best RL experiences I've ever had. The games were, largely, excellent. The mix of crowds in the ground was also really good... to have 5000-odd fans of Saints, Wire and Pies all at the same end yesterday was ace, the Saints fans scored a real coup of starting up a 'stand up if you hate Wigan' chant, so getting the Wire fans all lined up with them before the last game on Sat. Today it was Leeds and HKR in huge numbers in the same places, with largish groups of Bratfut and Hull FC in between, cross-singing songs over each other's games. Absolutely fantastic inside the ground, plenty of space, busy but not rammed, lots of atmosphere but no rain (roof on LSV??!).

Outside, though, was better than Wembley. Cardiff is a cracking city, the stadium is in the middle of it, and it was taken over by RL with a warm welcome from the locals. Surprisingly large numbers of Crusaders fans. Probably more Cats fans than Quins fans. And, like Wembley, a bunch of fans from every club, all in gear, some in daft fancy dress, all getting on with getting along and having a cracking time.

I've also seen a huge bunch of RL mates, from ex-schoolmates from Warry, Leeds fans from Plymouth, Coaches from South Wales, volunteers from Swindon, uni lads from Bath, ex league players I coached at Exeter Uni from London Law Firms, to saying hello to Billy Boston, Mark Forster, Mike Nicholas and Eorl Crabtree out in town last night.

No, Leyth weren't there, and I'm sad/envious of the likes of HKR, who we were beating in cup finals not so long ago, and no, aside from wanting the pies to lose I don't really care about the results. No, it shouldn't be on the same weekend as a Wales RU international (although that might have added more outside, removing 20,000 locals from the city to make it more RL on tour, without actually costing us many ticket sales).

Yes, we should be making more of the development opportunities, from my perspective I'd want to be bringing more of the kids and teenagers from Wales and West to see our sport live and up close for the first time, because I genuinely believe ours is the best game in the world and if only people watch something like this once, they'll be hooked. 30,000 on each day probably represents around 50,000 different people, and at any time on each day 10,000 of them might be out and about, so 1/4 full for each game vs the third largest event for ticket sales in UKRL gives you a half-empty/half-full glass.

So, it's not perfect.

But it was an absolutely fantastic experience. It is a unique RL concept. It is a showcase that buzzed in and outside the ground with excitement and enjoyment from start to finish. Never been before, but I will go to every Magic weekend they stage in Cardiff, from now on until eternity. It really, really was that good.

If you've been before and didn't enjoy it, fine. Your choice.

Otherwise, stop moaning, you don't know what you're on about.

As I said Joe , nowt do wi us

I am a Leigh fan first, and a League fan second. It's not even that close second. But no other runner is even in the stadium, much as I enjoy cricket and football, and like most sports to some degree.

That's one of the best posts I've read. Sadly I doubt many on here will take it on board.

Not many of the parochial, perpetual moaners will take it on board but it was an excellent post.