We said the same.
We really enjoyed Manchester, the ground was very good the stewarding was very fair, people were allowed to take in their own food & drink in cool bags (apart from their own alcohol), the stuff around the stadium was decent enough to keep the young ones entertained and places to eat not too expensive. I was impressed how they had lots of buses ready to ship us into the city centre straight after the match on Saturday for £1.50 each. Plenty of choices for a night out overall I consider it the best venue so far. Mind what really shocked me was the high police presence, horses and the riot vans, got talking to one of coppers on her horse and she said she had seen nothing like it all the fans sat drinking and mingling together was a credit to the sport she said they are normally very busy splitting the fans up!

Does everyone make a "weekend" of salford away?

Why would people do that ?

Personally I consider MM a great opportunity to mix and have a good laugh with the fans of the other 13 clubs....the concept is clearly lost on you.

No but Salford is just 1 game. MM is the chance to watch 3 or 4 games in one day and 7 if you go to both days.

We really enjoyed the weekend, nice venue and easy to get to. The 1 hour between games on the Saturday was a bad choice though.

Agree about the hour between the games on the Saturday. should have been 4 games on the Saturday and 3 on Sunday, giving people the chance to get home earlier on the Sunday (work on Monday morning and all that). Thoroughly enjoyed the weekend (despite the result) and the stewards were all in good form, good senses of humour and we were allowed to take soft drinks, water and food into the complex. Saw a few getting kicked out from Hull, Dobbins, Leeds and Wire (so no change all round), hope the idiot that went onto the pitch gets banned from games. We really don't need our names dragging through the mud again.

All in all, a thoroughly good weekend, great rugby, fantastic company and the chance to slag Ganson of AGAIN.

I thought that would be a problem but it really wasn't. By the time we had got out of the stadium, had a bite to eat, a wander around the events and a beer, it was just right. With a tight turnaround (like Sunday), we would have missed out on taking the pee out of the Stobart spotters!

I went on Saturday and really enjoyed it. Cracking atmosphere around the stadium, I am planning to do the full weekend next time.

Whilst i like the concept and did have a great time despite the result, there was maybe 10-14k in the stadium for our derby, if that was at the KC you'd be looking at 22k + attendance, same again for leeds-bradford and Wigan-Saints so the combined 60k for the whole weekend could quite possibly be outdone by those three games alone if they were held at the home grounds, but the RFL is looking at having it there for the next three years so maybe it'll pick up. Although we also went to the Soccer Aid on the sunday and there was 75k there for that one game!

But they were celebrities and it was for charity, & football is a more popular sport.

I was surprised at the number of riot vans also. I know from past visits to Wembley and chatting to a couple of officers down there that they don't know why they are sent out in such numbers every year as there's never any problems to talk about (handbags excepted).

The last 4 derbies at the KC have failed to attract 22k+, so think again.

I love the concept, but I think they should ditch the derbies for a number of reasons. There are too many, hence why the crowds for them are falling, the rarity value is wearing off. Imagine how the Pies & Sts fans feel, 10 derbies (min) in the last 2 seasons. I also think all supporters from Hull (both sets) would have a much more relaxing weekend if we were playing other sides. I'm getting too old for the stress it induces.

There were 67,000 there so only marginally more than the magic weekend but I take your point.