Carlsberg don't do bad ideas, but if they did they'd be as bad a this one....

I would have put the following games;

Saturday
Bradford vs Wakefield
Catalans vs Harlequins
Hull KR vs Hull FC
Warrington vs Wigan

Sunday
Crusaders vs Salford
Castleford vs Huddersfield
Leeds vs Saints



A mix of big games and derbies

Apparently the clubs voted against derbies. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Weekend

Apparently the clubs voted against derbies. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Weekend

The Magic weekend should be scrapped and 1 extra team should be added to super league.
A heartland team not a part of the country that has no interest like London or wales or Scotland or Ireland and not another froggie team either

Quote ="Wires71"Apparently the clubs voted against derbies. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Weekend'" I've not even read your link but it's pretty obvious why. In fact I was about to make a post while reading this thread suggesting the teams would prefer random fixtures, well, most teams.

Quote ="Wires71"Apparently the clubs voted against derbies. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Weekend'" I've not even read your link but it's pretty obvious why. In fact I was about to make a post while reading this thread suggesting the teams would prefer random fixtures, well, most teams.

Noo,
the magic weekend should be kept as the last 16 of the cup, THEN add one more team, probably from the heartlands i.e. Widnes

Well I shall be going this weekend and am really looking forward to it. I've never been to a magic weekend before so fortunately will not have anything to compare it with. For me its not just about the rugby it's the banter with the other fans and having the opportunity of watching the teams we love to hate but that we secretly admire too.

Im extremely happy playing Salford, much better chance of getting the two points and moving top, rather than playing, say, Wigan and losing and them increasing the lead. Go back to derbys. Wigan Vs Sts, Wire Vs Salford

Possible places to play
[u
Newcastle[/u (good night out)
[uEmirates[/u (Islington Angel decent night out, good stadium helps bring it to Landon and the media types)
[uMillennium Stadium [/u(Cardiff and Wales like their rugby, plus bad weather aversion with the roof)
[uDublin[/u (personally don't see the point)
[uTwickenham[/u (waits for abuse) could help out Quins
[uEdinburgh[/u (nice city but no one seems to be interested)
Not Wembley or Old Trafford for obvious reasons
[uVilla Park[/u (whose to say the midlands wouldn't be a good idea)
[uParis[/u (If Ireland is being talked about why not the capital of a country that actually have teams playing in our comp)

Thoughts ?

If the Welsh tourist board/RFU wouldn't advertise/support it then why keep it there. 90% of locals had no idea what was going on, that's why it was moved.


Derbies would be good for supporters but in fairness of the game/league, seeded games are to be preferred (indeed by clubs).

Don't think Edinburgh is the right place for it, unfortunately. I would suggest (in this order):

Newcastle (representatives were there last year, but as Newcastle United are back in Premier league I doubt it'll happen).
Villa Park (unexplored territory which should be looked into. Big city so plenty of accommodation).
City of Man.. (heartland, good way to open season, begin and end in cosmopolitan manchester. However if Oasis couldn't get to play there, 7 game of Rugby league...).

No to Newcastle, Emirates, Dublin, Twickenham, Villa Park (Birmingham is a horrible place), Paris (what a disaster that would be.

Just scrap it, this season we are getting an average of 65,000 per Superleague round, so if we cant even match that over two days then whats the point. If they do persist with it, it needs to be somewhere where its easy to get to and has plenty of bars around (so both rule out Leeds). Cardiff is the obvious choice but i can see why they left.

As fans we have our Wembley weekend away, Grand final night and a possible trip to Perpignan, so why question why fans dont want to turn up to a place like Edinburgh?

would go with
Sat
Sts V Leeds
Quins v Catal
Wigan V Warrington
Castl V Wake

Sunday
Salford V Crusa
Bradf V Hudds
Hull fc V Hull kr
not bothered in what order


I

Clubs voted against the Derbies when the league consisted of the "additional" fixtures and there tended to be three Derbies already in the fixtures. The fourth at the Millenium Madness was considered to be over the top.

Now that the extra fixtures have gone I see no reason why they shouldn't return for the "Madness" weekend. If the fixtures were Hull v Hull KR, Wigan v Saints, Leeds v Bradford, Wakey v Cas, Wire v Crusaders, Salford v Hudds and Harlequins v Catalans I would be going this weekend for at least one day. As it is I will not be in Edinburgh and will pick and choose games on the tv (alright probably watch them all).

How would that be fair if our extra game was against Saints, yet you seem happy to play Crusaders??? Thats the reason why i dont like the derbies, Its not a fair concept.

Suprised at your "avatar" as you surely think the NRL is an un-fair competition considering how the fixtures are done.

However you have the fixtures somebody is going to have to play Warrington and claim its un-fair on them.

Definitely could be a shout for somewhere like City of Manc (wasn't there once talk of Sale Sharks potentially ground sharing a few years back?) As a good a day out Edinburgh is really seems strange that we are playing rugby league in a country which you sense just isn't that interested. Also agree we should have a return to derbys, if your spending your money to get up there and accomodation etc you want to seem some decent matches.

Lets travel with it every year, people go once then get a little bored after that when the novelty has worn off.
Move it around and keep it fresh

Hardly as they are not extra games, its because there are 16 teams in the league and they dont want 30 regular games. Nobody has to play anyone 3 times in extra games, so how is that unfair? Typical lack of NRL knowledge.

Suggesting Superleage teams should play an extra game and have derbies is completely unfair, like is said why should Wigan have to play Saints an extra time??? Basically you want all your rivals to play each other and they Wire play a shocker of a team in Salford. If they have the Magic weekend, the only way they should do the fixtures is by a draw like they have done this year.

I'll admit im jelous that you got to play Salford, anyone would have beaten them today, good win though.

What i can't understand is why the games are played on this particular weekend ( i know it's a long weekend for most people) when the various football leagues are at the business end of the season and are likely to take precedence in the minds of the people we are trying to convert to RL.
As for Cardiff as opposed to Edinburgh i have been to neither but my opinion is that Cardiff being kept for a few years could have helped the concept of the fledgling Crusaders club in its early days. As for Edinburgh ,surely the city is the Scottish equivalent of Twickenham in its love of Union, & League will find it very difficult to find a toehold if ,for that matter,the people have any interest at all in Rugby League.

I actually enjoyed yesterday (from the armchair). First time I've ever enjoyed the marathon of watching four games back to back. They were all different games, all gave you somebody to cheer for, good stuff.

Agree with that it was ok watching with a beer in the comfort off your own home.But i think juging by the empty seats i would have been a bit dissapionted with it,if i went to watch it live.

Saturday attendance was 26,642. A bit more than I thought but down by 10% on 2009 (29,627).

The point on the NRL is that some teams will play the bottom club twice whilst some will play the top team twice, so the fixtures are not the same for each club. Lack of NRL knowledge; really? Perhaps if I called by self "Wllabong_Wolf" I'd become an expert - rather than watching and following the competition closely for 25 years.

If it keeps you happy I'd quite happily have Warrington play Saints and Wigan can play Crusaders. At the end of the day the concept of the "Madness" qweekend is to try and generate exposure and revenue for the game as a whole and this would stand the best chance of succeeding, in my view, is to put on "fans' favourite" matches to pull a bigger crowd and give matches with a bit of extra spice.

It comes as no great suprise to find a Wigan fan with an insular viewpoint rather than looking at a bigger picture for the game overall.

Either way I found yesterday very enjoyable from the first to last and hoping for a repeat, including a Huddersfield win, today.

I totaly agree it needs those games to make the magic weekend attractive, but i just dont think that its fair. Ok i get what you mean about the NRL, but the system is there because there are 16 teams and to play each other twice would mean 30 games!!!! I know it can be seen as unfair playing some sides twice and others only once. But the point is that not much can be done about it. Whereas the magic weekend, is an extra game and alot can be done to ensure its fair, ie. draw the fixtures. But as we have seen there hasnt been many attractive fixtures and its a hard sell.

I still think they should scrap it imo, but i did enjoy being an armchair fan yesterday, watching 6 live rugby league games, already off to a good start today aswell with the Roosters beating the tigers

The "Magic" weekend should just be moved to the start of the season, in a stadium with a roof in England somewhere.

I love the Magic Weekend, Murrayfield is a nice stadium and Edinbourgh is an awesome place, but it does cost a lot of money to get there, and 26,000 people from atleast 8 different teams? C'mon that's shocking. Not to mention the prices. £4 a pint is dire, if we have it closer to the "Heart" of rugby (Cheshire/Yorkshire) beer will be cheaper too, as well as travel.

Peacocks idea about having it to start the season with a Bang is a good idea, but... It will be COLD. Yesterday I was walking around the ground, popping in on the games for score updates, having general banter with other fans whilst drinking a beer without any discomfort what so ever, whereas if it was in Jan/Febuary... It would be sloppy if not frozen grass, absolutely freezing, people wouldn't be dressed up in Morphsuits or as Umpa Lumpas because it'll be way too cold and when we get into the ground, sitting down would just make things even colder, as you'll be in the shade and we all know from the HJ that on a cold match day, most people in the South squash together and things are a little warmer ('Til half time when everyone goes the bar)

So yeah - The idea of all teams playing on a weekend is an awesome idea that should stay, and at the start of the season would be good too, but it also has its negatives, like the weather. And now im off to remove this headache of mine after a heavy days drinking.