The Latest Edition of the Blog of Cheese will be about Magic Weekend.
For those unaware, this weekend marks the third edition of what is now known as Magic Weekend in the Rugby Super League. The Magic weekend is when all of the teams from the Rugby Super League play a round abroad at the same venue over one weekend.
The Magic Weekend was first mentioned in 2006 to reduce the competition from 28 rounds to 27, giving each club 13 home games, with the other game to be played at the Millennium Stadium in Wales. Wales has been given the opportunity thanks to its successful hosting of the Challenge Cup finals between 2003-2005.
The first Magic weekend, known as Millennium Magic, was staged in mid-2007 on a long weekend, allowing fans to stay for the weekend and travel back on holiday Monday. Most of the games were between local rivals to attract more fans. On Friday preceding Millennium Magic, then Second Division club the Celtic Crusaders played against Oldham to celebrate 100 years of Rugby League in Wales as Oldham had played in the first Rugby League game in Wales 100 years earlier.
Millennium Magic had its second weekend in 2008 over the same long weekend. Again on Friday night, the First Division club, Celtic, played on Friday night, and local derby matches were played across Saturday and Sunday.
In late 2008 the Rugby Football League decided to move the Magic Weekend to Murrayfield in Scotland, citing a lack of support from the Wales Rugby League, the lack of accommodation in Cardiff and the lack of options for fans to spend their free time in the Welsh capital, it was also decided that instead of playing local derby matches to use a seeded system based on where teams finished the 2008 season.
As with my post on the Challenge Cup, I believe this idea could be implemented in the NRL. Last year Manly CEO Grant Mayer suggested having an extra round of NRL football be played at Suncorp Stadium. Mayer suggested that two games be played on Friday night, three on Saturday, two on Sunday and one on Monday night for fans to travel to and from the games. I suggest that the games be played on the Queen’s birthday weekend. This would allow fans of non-Queensland teams to travel back from Queensland on holiday Monday. For scheduling, I would have no games on Friday, allowing fans to travel to Brisbane, on Saturday I would have 4 games, the first starting at 1:00, the second at 3:00, the third at 5:30 and the fourth at 7:30, which would involve the Cowboys. On Sunday, I would have three games, the first starting at midday, the second at 2:00 and the third at 4:00. Rounding out the weekend, I would have the Broncos V Titans being played on Monday night football because both teams are locally based. The games could be played in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and New Zealand in future years. For games to be played in those cities, games would need to be promoted.
Obviously, for this to go ahead, it would be a significant logistical challenge for the NRL, Fox Sports, Channel 9, the fans, the Queensland government, the city of Brisbane, airlines, hotels, Suncorp Stadium and the NRL itself. Even so, given corporations from all of these organizations, this round could go ahead. Also, entertainment around the ground and the city of Brisbane would have to be considered for people who do not want to sit through a lot of Rugby League.
Quote of the Week: “My reputation will always precede me to the day I die. For some people, that probably can’t be quickly enough”, ex-Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton soon after being released from prison.
Till next time, Cheese