: Mon May 04, 2009 7:01 pm  

Cardiff was better inside but outside the ground Murrayfield had a better feel with it - They'll probs do one more year there and then move to the new Landsdowne Road in Ireland

: Mon May 04, 2009 7:08 pm  

Had I been up to Edinburgh for this which of course did not happen thanks to my ex. wife I would be sat at home completely depressed after that it's now all over. I'd also be thoroughly regretting going for a terrible and over priced curry at the Bay of Bengal on the royal mile last night.

Anyway this would be my thoughts:

* The locals were far friendlier and much better hosts than they were in Cardiff.

* It was good to see a lot more locals turn up for the matches and they seemed to enjoy it.

* Edinburgh is a much nicer city than Cardiff, there's loads more to do, it's cheaper and has a much better choice of acommodation.

* The ground wasn't that much of a trek from the city and I quite enjoyed the banter on the way out to Murrayfield. Anyway seen as I had to stay in Bristol last year because of the lack of hotels in Caardiff it's proximity to the city didn't really matter.

* I like the green spaces around the ground and found it was really nice to sit out on the grass enjoying a pint between matches with all the goings on around me.

* The stadium isn't as good as at Cardiff but the beer tents etc. were well organised and it was really easy to get served for drinks and snacks. The draw of the millenium stadium I don't think are enough to win me over and I can't wait to go back next year. Or err I would if had been this year I mean.

: Mon May 04, 2009 7:13 pm  

!RYAN! wrote:

Cardiff was better inside but outside the ground Murrayfield had a better feel with it - They'll probs do one more year there and then move to the new Landsdowne Road in Ireland

Newcastle have put a bid in for 2011. Be interesting to see what they offer. Dublin put in a bid last year so I wonder if they'll have another go. It really is becoming one of the stand out events of the Rugby league calender and cities across Britain are actively trying to get the RFL to go to them. That I think is because of one major factor and is I think the best thing about this sport and that's us the fans. I would have felt extremely proud walking down the royal mile in a Bulls shirt to be a rugby leaguer had I not been at Eureka in Halifax with two moaning kids and a lady from Social services.

: Mon May 04, 2009 7:20 pm  

We have been to all 3 weekends now and we all thought Cardiff was much better !!

much more atmosphere around the ground with all the roads around the ground buzzing with fans all having a good time,

the official figures speak for themselves!

A total of 30,122 watched Sunday's four matches at Murrayfield and, with 29,627 in attendance on the opening day, the combined total is down on last year's aggregate of 63,144 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff

taken from sky sports

[Bullseye]

: Mon May 04, 2009 7:22 pm  

Maccbull_BigBullyBooaza wrote:

I would have felt extremely proud walking down the royal mile in a Bulls shirt to be a rugby leaguer had I not been at Eureka in Halifax with two moaning kids and a lady from Social services.

Quite right Keith. If you had been there you would've experienced great cameraderie with fellow RL supporters and a super atmosphere around the ground.

Shame you weren't

: Mon May 04, 2009 7:42 pm  

Edinburgh is my favourite British city, I love the place. Didn't see any promotion of the game in Scotland so cannot comment, but the locals seemed to know it ws happening & were grateful for the custom.

Inside the ground complex was a bit surreal. Almost as many around the ground drinking & chilling as there were watching each game. How people can ignore the footie going on is beyond me. I saw every game except the first half of HUdds Celtic.

I thought the quality of play was generally poor & I would much rather have all the derbies played. The only derby, Saints played like they didn't want to be there, which echoed their comments. A shame for their fans.

Fans wise, I thought Wire had the most. I was pleasantly staggered by the number of Bulls shirts I saw all weekend. However they tended to be spread around the ground rather than concentrated like Wire. HKR took loads, I never realised there was so much woodwork on Humberside for them to crawl back out of. Hull FC was the worst turn out I can remember, they are usually in massive numbers for any international or final. Especially big raps for Cats & Quins who were there all weekend in good numbers.

The weather was great in the sun, but bloody freezing out of it.

We stayed in Leith which is a great little area, a 2 mile walk along the river each mornig into the centre was a perfect start to the day. The tigress & cub loved it, they are responsible for regenerating the shops of Scotland, they definitely want to go back.

: Mon May 04, 2009 7:44 pm  

bulls20042002 wrote:

A total of 30,122 watched Sunday's four matches at Murrayfield and, with 29,627 in attendance on the opening day, the combined total is down on last year's aggregate of 63,144 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff

Yes it was lower by 5.4% which I think is at least representative of current financial constraints on supporters.
We too have been to all 3 weekends and would happily go back to either venue, the preference is subjective as both were top notch carnival affairs.

I think Dublin in 2011 would be a logistical nightmare for travelling and to my recent knowledge hotel prices are astronomical.
Never thought about Newcastle previously...that would be interesting but the limited accomodation might be as bad as Cardiff.

: Mon May 04, 2009 7:45 pm  

A let down,

Cardiff had a much better feel, better atmosphere in and out of the ground, and is next to the city centre.
The Murrayfield stadium doesn't have the same feel, Until the sun came out its a cold windy stadium, The stewards once again annoyed me, Why do the block peoples viewing 5 mins before the end of a half? and for the last game on sunday tripled all because of bantor between fans.
On the Food And drink side, we were promised better choice and quality, How is it better to go outside to get a beer than stay in the dry like at Cardiff. The burgers were cold, they ran out of milk for the wifes cuppa by game 5 of the weekend, and most inportant ran out of larger at the Bar tent on the east side of the ground for game 6.

Another reasons it was taken away from wales was due to lack of local advertising, but yet not one local (haymarket) old and young i spoke to knew anything about it.

The city centre wasn't the same, Most places were closing bang on 1am, getting taxi was a joke, we stood at rank with transport marshalls for 40 mins be we got 1.

: Mon May 04, 2009 7:58 pm  

Adam79 wrote:

A let down,

Cardiff had a much better feel, better atmosphere in and out of the ground, and is next to the city centre.
The Murrayfield stadium doesn't have the same feel, Until the sun came out its a cold windy stadium, The stewards once again annoyed me, Why do the block peoples viewing 5 mins before the end of a half? and for the last game on sunday tripled all because of bantor between fans.
On the Food And drink side, we were promised better choice and quality, How is it better to go outside to get a beer than stay in the dry like at Cardiff. The burgers were cold, they ran out of milk for the wifes cuppa by game 5 of the weekend, and most inportant ran out of larger at the Bar tent on the east side of the ground for game 6.

Another reasons it was taken away from wales was due to lack of local advertising, but yet not one local (haymarket) old and young i spoke to knew anything about it.

The city centre wasn't the same, Most places were closing bang on 1am, getting taxi was a joke, we stood at rank with transport marshalls for 40 mins be we got 1.

ill second all of the above .
we got 4 taxis over the weekend [ after a very long wait] & not one of them new that the rugby was on until they asked why we were up here!!

: Mon May 04, 2009 8:05 pm  

Well they sold 2000 more tickets locally than Cardiff managed to they must have been doing something right regarding marketing it to the local population.

Given the current financial climate, and the fact it wasn't derby games I think the attendance held up well. Let's face it more people are going to be interested in travelling to see Leeds/Bradford than Leeds/Catalans or Bradford/Wakefield.

Now we have a 14 team comp, and only home and away derbies, I think they might go back to the derbies next year - it has been overkill having 4 a season for the last two years but 3 might not be so bad.