why move it to the heartlands I thought the whole idea of the magic weekend was to attract new fans in the RFL's expansion push,or are the RFL now going cool on expansion.

I think the RFL are playing safe by holding it at the COM stadium.
It will hopefully give Rugby League boost in East Manchester.
At least by holding here we won't here the excuses by some Rugby Fans about the distance they have to travel and they can still take the dog to vets in the morning and take in the afternoons games. Also all of those who always paint the mother in laws front room when we have the magic weekend will be able to put their paint bruses down for a couple of hours and watch a game , and for those who like to wash their cars that very weekend they can wash their cars after the games have finished.
Rugby League fans have no excuses for not attending at the stadium this event, but I'm sure some will.

I'm with the B-F every year there has been some poor excuses for not attending......the only excuse that has any good reason in the past is the cost of accomodation on top of the tickets etc. being to much for the budget...(where Cheese would jump in with.....give up the booze for a while)....

Coming from an out-sider I think instead of an entire weekend of teams meeting each other at the same venue, it would be more appealing having the best 3 games played at one venue whilst still having a Friday and Sunday games for t.v purposes as per usual. Just an opinion...

Does the rugby league consider the fact it may be a rainy weekend,judging by the last few summers,and what it would be like for the teams playing later in the days.Manchester is a lot easier venue for us all to reach being central,but at least at the millenium there is a roof to protect the pitch.Imagine if one of our showpieces turned into a mud bath.! Good luck to england this weekend.

Many a good game played in the wet, for years it has been played in wet winter conditions both southern & northern hemisphere..

Plus double carpet......most tickets are pre-sold these days, so wet weather doesn't really effect ticket sales....maybe crowd figures but not $$$$$....

The magic weekend can take a jump for me, dont understand why its played. Each team should play another home n away.
I would much rather see another cup comp or a return of the yorks n Lancs cup.

Souths.I really meant ground conditions,because hull and rovers are sure to be one of the last matches played so there would be a crowd left in the stadium,imagine if the last match was quins v cats.!Not a good idea for me rather play away at the kc to a 25,000 crowd,under 60,000 I think last years event over 2 days,you would get nearly that at rovers v hull and saints v wigan,waste of time IMO.!

Yeah I see, that's why I suggested games like that be played as per usual and just play the 3 best games on the Sat. alone at the one venue...

Souths. Yeah i would go for that.!

You know, now it's being played somewhere logistically easy for me to get to, i'll defo buy tickets for both days. never been to the weekends before, so they've got at least one extra punter this time.

Might even take the wife along .... she likes looking at the players legs ... doesn't have a clue about the sport itself.

dsu4*****
Ya better off keeping it that way mate, because there is nothing worse then the handbrake saying...(I told you so) when you end up 3 down on the tipping comp....

Happy with manchester I like to keep my horizons narrow so travelling to the far flung exotic places like Wales and Scotland was a step too far, but a trip over t'hill is spot on gonna be a busy one I hope.