Re: What is Magic About Next Weekend? : Sun May 26, 2019 12:10 am  

UllFC wrote:

30k there today, 9k down on Saturday last year. Didnt look any better or worse on TV as Anfield has more upper tiers than St James' park...but 9k is a massive drop and had Catalan, Hull and either Wigan or Wire been at home today for a normal fixture they'd have got about 30k so you have to wonder what the point is

30k for a Saturday seemed low too me. Anfield is closer for the m62 'heartlands' clubs yet the crowd hasn't gone up.

I think the real question should be has magic weekend had its time now? Maybe the fans are now just tired of it and after so many just aren't interested in this concept anymore. Personally I think we need change. I would keep the weekend but go with a 9's tournament. Try something different and new as the current format has become tired and old.

Re: What is Magic About Next Weekend? : Sun May 26, 2019 12:41 am  

puroresu_boy wrote:

30k for a Saturday seemed low too me. Anfield is closer for the m62 'heartlands' clubs yet the crowd hasn't gone up.

I think the real question should be has magic weekend had its time now? Maybe the fans are now just tired of it and after so many just aren't interested in this concept anymore. Personally I think we need change. I would keep the weekend but go with a 9's tournament. Try something different and new as the current format has become tired and old.

I think they need to advertise what is available to do other than the games. There aren’t that many people who want to sit through 3 games back to back. There needs to be stuff around the ground to keep people there. The clubs need to be brought into it more. The 6 clubs that aren’t playing that day should make players available for various fan zone activities. There should be club merchandise available etc. Ticketing for other RL events and England games. Sign people up for Our League (which desperately needs refreshing).
Have a competition whereby you select a Magic Weekend fantasy team, the top 5 teams win some prizes etc.
Stuff to fill some time in for people and keep them interested.

I was somewhat reluctantly persuaded to go to the F1 last year and was amazed at the amount of stuff around the track to go and see. Watching the race was only a part of the whole experience, we need to do the same with Magic Weekend.

Re: What is Magic About Next Weekend? : Sun May 26, 2019 7:23 am  

30000 does not seem to out of step.

Alot will depend on the attendance tomorrow. Recently Saturday has been the bigger day, but if that trend is changed then this weekend will be equivalent to any other magic weekend.

The first Newcastle event holds the record so far I believe.

Aggregate attendance 67,788,
single-day crowd of 40,871

So a big Sunday crowd would push that number.

The difference between Liverpool and Newcastle maybe that because it is close why would fans buy a weekend ticket. Wigan and Warrington fans would be home earlier than if they had played a home game due to the earlier kick off.

So it may lose the fans who may have made a weekend of it.

Re: What is Magic About Next Weekend? : Sun May 26, 2019 7:26 am  

I thought that the idea of magic was to promote rugby league in new areas hence Cardiff Edinburgh and Newcastle. If that is the idea the size of the crowd although important is not the be all and end all it is the new fans who are converted that counts. Taking it to Liverpool and Manchester is absolutely pointless as only die hard fans attend. But maybe the current SL management are only interested in the money they get from the host city

Re: What is Magic About Next Weekend? : Sun May 26, 2019 7:47 am  

ball-in-hand wrote:

I thought that the idea of magic was to promote rugby league in new areas hence Cardiff Edinburgh and Newcastle. If that is the idea the size of the crowd although important is not the be all and end all it is the new fans who are converted that counts. Taking it to Liverpool and Manchester is absolutely pointless as only die hard fans attend. But maybe the current SL management are only interested in the money they get from the host city

I think that is accurate.

A reasonable number of fans just prevents it being an embarrassment.

The lack of a strategy is just scary.

Re: What is Magic About Next Weekend? : Sun May 26, 2019 8:00 am  

Mash Butty wrote:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/may/23/adam-hills-the-last-leg-comedian-tv-career-rugby-league-games
hopefully these guys will get a warm welcome.

I have just read the article I found it very positive and a heap of good news for once, The game really should make more of this guy & his media presence. Thanks for the link.

Re: What is Magic About Next Weekend? : Sun May 26, 2019 9:06 am  

Im not sure the idea of Magic should be to promote it to new fans. If I was being introduced to a new sport I wouldn't want to sit through 6 games back to back all weekend.

Re: What is Magic About Next Weekend? : Sun May 26, 2019 10:33 am  

What kind of engage are the players having with the local community in the week before magic weekend? I read the NRL had players engaging with 10k kids in Queensland via schools and workshops prior to the weekend in Australia.

Re: What is Magic About Next Weekend? : Sun May 26, 2019 10:40 am  

thought it was poor outside the ground with no fan zone this time

inside anfield i thought the seats were awful, hardly any leg room!

but a good win for the giants so i enjoyed the day

crowd was no where near as bad as some would have you believe before the event had even started

[Durham Giant]

Re: What is Magic About Next Weekend? : Sun May 26, 2019 11:05 am  

Depending on where it is held it should showcase the local team or be based an strategy to win new fans. The same 12 teams every season tells you nothing.

As a minimum the Local team should play a game. Such as Thunder at Newcastle.

Or have a women’s game or an under 16s game to showcase kids playing

I would like 6 teams piked for each day and then a draw to see who they play. Even something like a mini fans it’s a knockout to determine the games on the day. So teams have no idea who or when they will be playing on a particular day. Means if you want to watch you have to turn up for the day