Think big,
everyone is a potential sl fan. We just have to find ways to reach them, history suggests we're not very good at that bit.

People who, like you said, are likely to go to sports events. Obviously there isn't much chance of that in Wales (other than Magic weekend), but you can still like the sport. You were suggesting that people were staying away due to a lack of brand value, or at least that's what I assumed you were talking about, so I replied in a Northern context. If you're not talking about that, then what point are you trying to make?

History suggests they're not interested

You mean like host a festival of the sport which involves all the teams in the elite league playing over one weekend in a world class stadium? If only the RFL would come up with an idea like that.

A lot of it comes down to class , in the south , working class have followed football , upper class have followed RU , and all the other rubbish like tennis , cricket , polo

( hockey on horses )

The middle class , have followed footy and then the ones who want to be upper class follow RU ,

South Wales is slightly different in that although working class the bulk of people have followed RU , but now with many heading towards football

The actual market we have to aim for is quite small

You missed out two important ingredients

It wasn't in London

Not enough turned up

Everything is possible, history suggests we didn't try hard enough.

You've missed
the point, the concept is good, the execution is not.

No history suggests that if it can be fuk Ed up , then RL and the people in charge of RL clubs will do exactly that

That's why both you lot and us are playing in stadiums we don't own , when both of us 30 years ago owned very valuable assets , but then again you lot wouldn't have won all those cups and Championships , would you ?

Nitey nite

In what way? I guess they could have held it on a non-6 Nations weekend, but it was worth trying it at the start of the season IMO. I doubt it would have made much difference to the crowd anyway, the vast vast majority of people who watch Wales RU have no interest in sport, they are just glory-chasing meatheads who want to get drunk.

guys what the point of bi***ching given the event is over, just chill

guess what the season has started for you guys, focus on the footy / rugby

i think what the RFL is doing with MM is fantastic and i wouldnt accuse them of lieing regarding attendance figures

RL as a sport doesnt need to lie about itself, its got enough going for it to stand on its merits

Edited for accuracy

No it wasn't. So no, that is not 'still' the purpose - it never has been.

A basic knowledge of the history of the past five years would tell anyone that MM exists for two reasons and two reasons only:

1) Wembley finally reopened, Cardiff and the Milennium Stadium, which had been doing quite well out of the Challenge Cup Final, the FA Cup final and the Football League play-offs realised they were going to miss out on these big occasions: they approached the RFL with a wad of money to host an 'event'

2) The RFL, on the back of the Cup Final reverting back to where it belonged at the business end of the season, decided there was a gap in May for a possible 'event' occasion, so it made sense to take up Cardiff's offer and pump some money into the game.


The fact that there was a, then, NL2 team in Bridgend was an irrelevant coincidence.

So adding 2 (MM in Cardiff) and 2 (Crusaders in Bridgend) and coming up with 5 (MM's purpose is to showcase and expand the game in South Wales) is just plain wrong. Of course, that hasn't stopped people doing it and declaring MM a failure for not achieving something it was never designed or meant to achieve, or not outside their own minds anyway

Does that extend to the battery licker's 'contributions' and the rant which started this thread?

I went for the first time on saturday and tbh I enjoyed it much more than Wembley, simple trip and the whole day and a night out back in warrington cost me £55. Bargain.
Easily 30,000 throughout the day, really enjoyed it

Well done Durham Giant, once again you make a post with some good points, but as ever you have to go and cloud it.

I was responding to the assertion that folk who don't go are pathetic. There has been a lot of snidey comments made about folk who don't go, so I was providing a few points to explain why I think folk don't go. I'm not saying its the answer, I'm just offering a few suggestions because I think its unfair for some fans to pass judgement on others.

Magic weekend to a lot of people means a lot of time and a lot of money in planning, preparation and payment. How you can say that is a false argument is barmy. If you went on the cheap, good for you, well done, but just because you found it cheap and easy does not mean everyone else will. I'm one of those people who wanted to go, but found it too costly on my time and my money.

I have been critical of the Magic weekend because I think there are a lot of flaws to concept. Despite the flaws I don't think its a failure or that it should be scrapped. What flaws there are can be ironed out over time. I'm not convinced with the time of year that it is played. As has been argued to death the sale of tickets coincides with christmas, its on at the same time as 6N's and Valentines, its in the winter and like I said before the standard of play and refereeing is low in comparison to other times of the year.

However, I think if the RFL keep the weekend in Cardiff and on the same round for successive seasons then I can see the event growing. If it becomes properly established in the calendar then the demand should gradually get higher. If demand increases, then tickets increase, if tickets increase it brings more outsider interest, if crowds and interest increase it will become more of a spectacle, if its more of a spectacle it will mean more to the players, so the intensity and standard will increase.

As far as this weekend goes, if 30-40k fans travelled down to Cardiff and had a great weekend, if the RFL get a fair old pay cheque from Cardiff council, if all that footage pleases Sky, if we have an aggregate attendance of 60k, if its been a good PR exercise for the the RFL, if we've laid down solid foundations for the event's future whereby more heartland fans will want to make the trip, we can start bringing in new fans or outsiders and we can start bringing in more publicity then I am more than happy.

Because you're not bothered if a rugby league event grows. Would you be happy if the grand final still only had 40,000 watching it?

Burn him!

Where on earth have you come up with this idea from?

From your earlier post where you said "Who cares if it's not growing?". Which was a ridiculous thing to say.

Was just asking if you would've been happy if the grand final hadn't grown to become the event it is today. You seem hell bent on declaring MM as the best it could be, and blaming fans for staying away. What the RFL should be, and I would imagine are, doing is trying to find out why fans stayed away and what they can do to improve on 60,000 over 2 days.

Or would suggesting an event which is advertised as a showpiece occaision, which shows more empty seats than fans could be improved on, make me a flatcapper that's not interested in the game?

But given the game's ambition to improve it's nationwide profile, wouldn't it be fair to assume that the RFL would hope that this event would attract new fans from a new area? Even if it wasn't the original driver of the idea?

I'd say its fairly obvious why many fans stay away. Its because they are not the target audience for the event. MM is mainly aimed at the hardcore rugby diehard and those that like to combine a boozy weekend with a few games of rugby. Thats a fair section of the RL community but by no means all. There are large sections of the RL community for whom MM just isnt their thing, other than as a televised event.

MM isnt aimed at those fans that watch rugby in family groups, the category I'd put myself in from the mid 90's to the mid 00's. The idea of watching multiple games of rugby with a group of 6-12 year olds just doesnt appeal. They're never going to maintain interest beyond the match their team is playing.

MM isnt aimed at young teenagers, the groups of kids that you see at every ground watching a match with their mates. They couldnt afford it and would be largely excluded from the social side.

Perhaps the largest group that MM isnt aimed at are those who's work/family/financial commitments are such that they can justify the time to watch a game of rugby once a weekend or fortnight and if their team gets to a final, but just couldnt afford the money or time required for a MM weekend.

I think MM does a decent job in attracting its target audience, its just that that audience isnt huge.

Then maybe we should look at hosting an event in Cardiff with a bigger target audience?