Quote: Chris71 "I know Newcastle don't get the event for free but what real benefit does the Magic Weekend serve to the game as whole other than a money making exercise? As I said it was claimed at its inception it was a target new areas and fan bases to grow the game but has it really done that? Are Gateshead packing new fans into there ground, are the kids of Newcastle & Sunderland getting involved in the game, is the junior game developing well in the North East? Again what has it done for RL in Wales & Scotland?
Its fine saying its great as fan already and that it brings money in but the sport to continue to grow and be sustainable need fans to attend the games on a regular basis. Attendances have been falling so the RL need to ask why and look at ways to address this before its becomes a bigger problem. You can only get so much milk from the same cow before there is nothing left.'"
For me, the Magic Weekend is a perfect vehicle in which to promote a vibrant and growing sport. That is not what rugby league is at the moment. Having Magic Weekend as an event to try to do that is a failed venture. The marketing of the sport, not just from the RFL but the clubs, the leagues, the international federations and the wider engagement with national and international media, needs to improve MASSIVELY before an event such as Magic Weekend can start to bring in new fans in new locations.
I was a student in Cardiff during the early inception of Millennium Magic. It was only because myself and a friend from St Helens were students in the city that we knew the event was happening, as the promotion of the event locally was abysmal.
This seems to be an inherent problem with the RFL. And I think it stems further than them, with the chronic attitude from a large proportion of 'flat-cap' fans who want to ignore growth opportunities in London, France, Toronto, New York etc. Sticking with rugby league as it has always been will get the sport nowhere. Yes, there's heritage in places like Oldham, Leigh, Widnes, Salford etc, but are those clubs really going to turn the sport into one that is as successful off the field as the product is on the field? They have a part to play, of course they do, but expansion teams are the ones that are going to give us as a sport the most scope to grow and find new avenues with which to promote and support ourselves.
Magic Weekend started in Wales, moved to Scotland and has meandered around through Manchester and now Newcastle. And as you say, rightly, what is there to show for it? A failed Super League club in Wales, nothing of note in Scotland in terms of club rugby and a Salford team within touching distance of Manchester City centre that have a woefully low fan base and regularly flirt with the lower positions in the league.
Personally, I'd halt Magic Weekend, give it a few years off, get the Hearn's involved and then improve the game in a multitude of ways. THEN relaunch the Magic Weekend (under a different name) once it's about more than just getting fans from the M62 corridor to travel to Wales, Scotland, Manchester or Newcastle for a glorified two day rugby festival.
