You're probably right, but I can't image there will be many Widnes and Salford supporters committed to travel arrangements for their 14:45 kick off.
And if they've booked hotels it won't make a scrap of difference.
And it's nearly five weeks away. City have effectively given Arsenal a weeks notice of a change of day.
It's the Hull and Rovers supporters who would be more inconvenienced, but I thought the whole idea was to go and see all the games (in one day at least), so what's the problem?

If I was in charge of the RFL for a day (there's an idea for a new topic) I'd scrap the Magic Weekend (for ever).

We have a winner

At the end of the day the RFL has treated the supporters from the city of Hull with contempt again, like when they had fans facing the longest journey having to watch the last game on a Sunday at Cardiff. Of course you couldn't have predicted City would get to the Cup Final as they have a 100 years of not doing that but the improbable has happened. I'm sure the empty spaces at the Etihad will look brilliant and provide great PR for Super League - the clowns at the RFL do know which clubs buy the most tickets for the Magic weekend don't they?

The only positive might be that this farce will kill off this unnecessary weekend.

Agree that it would be silly to change the KO times now, the biggest issue is whose idea it was to have the magic weekend on the same day as the FA cup final in the first place. the media will all be focussed on the football, the wider non-rugby public of Manchester and surrounding area will be more inclined to watch the football and a fair number of rugby fans who watch football may have the inclination to watch the football.

Hull City getting to the final was a bit unpredictable but the RFL have been lucky it wasn't a Man Utd vs Man City final, that would have worked well trying to get the casual fan there. Suppose they dodged the nightmare bullet of it being City v Wigan tho.

It baffles me why Magic Weekend has moved forward a week .Checked the Man City website and there doesnt appear to be anything planned for the bank holiday weekend

Exactly.

Bit of forward planning many months ago and this wouldn't have happened.

Shows once again how incompetent the RFL are. Who on earth decided to hold it the same weekend as the FA Cup Final?

Whether City got there or not it is still crazy planning

Can't believe the people of Hull expect game times to be changed to accomodate us though. I'm sure we wouldn't be happy if it was Leeds or Wigan trying to change things?

I'll be watching rugby end of. By far the best sport.

One Direction concert I believe

Same thing I thought but the dates are 30th,31st may and June 1st

If City took circa 27k to the semi final does that mean they got outnumbered by a 3rd tier team?

Does that not signal enough of a message to Allam that the demand is simply not their for a Stadium extention. I am aware of load who went to the semi final as a one off day out ( no problem with that at all btw, )

Yes, Utd sold 35k....

I'm torn on the subject. On the one hand it makes for an unfair competition. On the other hand, having been to the etihad for the entire weekend a couple of years ago, it is a wonderful event and a great venue. I have been to grand finals and challenge cup finals, both with Hull playing and without, and as a day out, I much preferred the magic weekend.

Unsold tickets have nothing to do with it, Arsenal took 49,000 to their semi-final and also get 25,000 tickets.

33k

If Hull FC were playing Sheffield RLFC at wembley (average £50 a ticket) in the semi with all likelihood being that they will be in the final in a month do you think you'd get a big turn out? This was Sheff utd's final, they knew in all liklihood they weren't going any further and if they did it would be a historic win. All this was for City was a potential banana skin.
If City did kick on a level (highly unlikely) then the demand would probably increase and for the big games they would sell out 30K - £35K. Don't know the average gate this season but it must be around £23k - £24k if you take out the cup games.

Whoever it was saying they's struggle to sell 25k for the final is really kidding themselves.

I e-mailed the RFL to clarify why Magic Weekend is not taking place over the Bank holiday weekend.This is the reply is recieved from Rob Porteous





Thank you for your email below and I’d be delighted to clarify the reason why Magic Weekend is being played a week earlier this year.



Due to the Football World Cup taking place Manchester City’s season finishes a week earlier this year. As part of their pitch maintenance they used to remove the turf after their last game however since 2012 they’ve delayed this by a week in order for us to be able to play the Magic Weekend fixtures. It is for this reason that we’ve had to move the weekend not because of One Direction.



Kind regards

Rob