: Mon May 04, 2009 12:46 pm  

rhinoms wrote:

That's very harsh mate scotland is a great country with plenty to see and do.
When stationed up there and on many visit's mate not had 1 bad day/experience.

Agreed.

Scotland is a cracking place to visit and there are some great (*) & very beautiful places to see, as well as some fantastic things to do.



(*) Although I reserve judgement on Orkney, where you're supposed to want for nothing, as long as it is not Sky Sports. Some of the world's best ship wrecks, standing stones and neolithic settlements to knock Stonehenge in to a cocked-hat and of course, the quaint village of Twatt (I kid you not)

: Mon May 04, 2009 1:15 pm  

I had the pleasure and delight of coming up for the day with bitter Hull FC and Cas fans ..... "We're aiming to join the big three : Bradford, St Helens and Wigan"

Sometimes it is great to travel neutral (ie not wearing a Leeds shirt or making any open advertisement to who you support) and listen to the sheer bitterness (washed down with reasonable doses of claptrap) from the likes of teams that have failed to win at Wembley or secure a domestic championship during their entire history.

Thankfully on the train on the way back, there were far more Leeds fans on it, although the Cas fans weren't looking too chipper about their prospects in advance of their 'Cup Final' in a couple of weeks .... "They'll tear us apart, if they play like that" said one pit-village pundit.

Although I didn't see much of the Saturday games on TV, it was interesting to note the reaction to Leon Pryce (convicted recently) and Greg Bird of Catalan Dragons (convicted of assault) and the reactions to both players by the self-righteous crowd. Pryce was booed with every tough, whilst Brid's appearance passed off without a whimper.

Perhaps some of the points for next year should be :

1 ) Just have a set fee for the day / whole weekend ... There was very little (if any) ticket checking going on and as a result, people sat more-or-less anywhere, only to be disturbed by the I've-booked-this-seat-and-this-seat-only brigade. Personally, I'd be happy with a flat fee and a sit where you like policy.

2 ) The booze / food prices were a touch expensive in the current climate, but something that I suspect the RFL didn't have a great deal of control over.

3 ) Shoot Keith Chegwin, no particular reason, I just don't like him. Someone who would be great for the mascot games stuff would be Stuart Hall.

4 ) A few more things around the ground 'to do' between games might be an idea, I know some kids who found the prospect of sitting through 4 straight games to be a little too much. Having said that, there seemed to be plenty going on around the clock area.

5 ) The house and behind the sticks were pretty good and their half time sets were pretty good.

6 ) Might it be better played over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend next year, when the Scottish football season is over ?

7 ) I hope with the proceeds the SRFU buy a mower to trim the playing surface to a reasonable level next year ... And how about a return to an RFL logo being mown in to the turf ? (Remember the 'Love The Game' logo at the 1999 Cup Final ?)

8 ) There were plenty of rumours that the 2011 onwards Magic Weekends will either be in Dublin or Newcastle !

9 ) It is shame the big screens didn't show the arrival of the various team buses, which after getting the police escort through the streets were then piped in to the stadium. This looked really spectacular and something most fans would have missed.

10 ) The true Catalan fans brought much needed spectacle and atmosphere with them (excluding all the assorted Leeds-hating hangers-on they attracted)

11 ) The Leeds game being on 3rd meant that for the first time during the Magic Weekend concept, you could do the trip in a day by train.

12 ) To even it up, could there be room for an 8th game ? Maybe some form of Rep. Game ? Scotland Vs say an NL1 select side, which would attract the locals too ?

Murrayfield does suffer from its bowl design, by virtue that it wasn't close between the seats and the various consession stands that chances are were on a lower level and a bit of a walk from the seating areas.

On the whole, I enjoyed it and look forward to an improved weekend next year.

: Mon May 04, 2009 2:23 pm  

We have just got back from a great weekend in Edinburgh.

A few points.....

1). We really liked Edinburgh as a city. Some great pubs, restaurants, and lots to do and see.
2). A lot of Edinburgh 'locals' and people who worked in the city obviously didn't know about the rugby league. A number of taxi drivers asked us what was going on and had no idea or no interest in it.
3). The facilities around the ground were crap. I saw little to do for the kids and I can understand that they must have been bored.
4). Why did the city council not get their act together and put on a shuttle service from the city centre to Murrayfield? If they had charged say, £1 per person, (and the ticket was valid all day), they would make a killing, the shops etc would have more RL fans throughout the day, and it would have also meant that you could have picked and chosen your games. For people who find it hard to walk, (like my auntie and uncle), it was hard going doing the walk.
5). I said to Danny on the way back today that it is a shame that we did not meet up with half the people we had said we would, BUT everything was just too spread out.
6). The scottish RFL missed a great opportunity for marketing. Why not give away a load of things associated with Scotland, or produce merchandise for people to buy to do with Murrayfield and the magic weekend? I saw little merchandising available! To be honest as well, we could have been in any city in the world.
7). Great weekend, but Cardiff by plenty.

: Mon May 04, 2009 2:36 pm  

My main points as a whole;

1.There was nothing to see or do around the ground.

2. Everything was too spread out.

3.There was no decent concourse, meaning you had to trail a distance up and downstairs to get food.

4.There was no atmopshere in the ground, it just didn't work due to the layout of it.

5.The prices of food and drink were a joke, £4 for a burger and £3.50 a pint meant that it was far too easy to blow a fortune.

: Mon May 04, 2009 2:42 pm  

Does anyone know if your club was actually better off financialy for trailing all the way to Scotland given that you normally get a good home support anyway? Or would they lose out ,as who pays all expenses etc and is all the ticket money shared out. Do you get extra from the RFL to recompence as there are a few games where you do not get away support eg. Quins,Celts, Cats.To be honest there looked very few at the Huddersfield game but plenty at yours.

Re: Thoughts on Murrayfield : Mon May 04, 2009 2:46 pm  

Jord Rhinosaur wrote:

So what did everyone think?

Personally I'd think twice about going again, there just isn't enough around the ground, and the facilities in it leave a lot to be desired.

I think the whole weekend should have been left in Cardiff.

great game leeds .credit to rob burrur and ryan hall

: Mon May 04, 2009 2:48 pm  

johnny freeman fan club wrote:

Does anyone know if your club was actually better off financialy for trailing all the way to Scotland given that you normally get a good home support anyway? Or would they lose out ,as who pays all expenses etc and is all the ticket money shared out. Do you get extra from the RFL to recompence as there are a few games where you do not get away support eg. Quins,Celts, Cats.To be honest there looked very few at the Huddersfield game but plenty at yours.

This is a ONE-OFF fixture, outside the Home & Away set-up, it's also a promotionally exercise to expand the Game to other areas.

: Mon May 04, 2009 3:01 pm  

Have to say we had a great weekend , have got no complaints about the stadia or Edinburgh , thought the whole concept was pretty well thought out . there will always be things that can be done better and maybe with legitimate input from attending fans these will improve year on year . prices were a bit steep in the ground but certainly no worse than rip-off wembley , I hope this becomes a regular fixture although like a previous poster , I would probably prefer spring bank weekend .

: Mon May 04, 2009 3:03 pm  

I had a fantastic weekend.

Stayed just outside Edinburgh, a 10 min train ride from the centre, on the same line as haymarket train station. The city of Edinburgh had plenty to do being a historic city. Was only £2.70 return by train from the city to the haymarket train station, then a 10 min walk from there.

Behind the west stand as a mass of activity with bouncy castles and the lot in a "family fun area". Next to that were the warm up pitches, the coaches would pull up so you could see each team enter and see your fave players up front!

I saw all the games, bar about 15/20 mins of the Hudd/Celtic game and thought all the rugby was of a good standard. The atmosphere for all the games IMO was excellent, seeing the north stand fill and empty before and after each game with fans of all clubs was excellent.

The whole crowd was willing Wigan on vs Saints and the same again for the Leeds vs Catalan game. Mixed in with the Catalan fans I could see Hudds, Cas, Wakey and Bulls fans singing along with their new found French nationality.

I was in the west stand - upper tear and if I was a bit fitter and not such a fat blob would have enjoyed it more. Beer prices £3.50 vs headingly £2.70 per pint isn't that much more and £3.50 for a burger vs £3.00 at Headingly is again not much different.

The RFL sold 6000 + tickets to locals who from all the Scots I spoke to knew I was up for the rugby and said it was good for the city.

All in all fantastic weekend and shall be doing the same next year.

Travel up on Friday and back on the Monday!

Best match of the weekend - Hull KR vs Warrington.

Try of the weekend - Ryan Hall's 70 meter effort. Fantastic!

Funniest chant of the weekend - "It's a long way back to France when you're poo!" (there were kids around you see!)

Random moment of the weekend - Bumping into Paul Sculthopre on Sunday and asking "What did you think of the game yesterday?" and his response being "Shocking mate absolutely shocking!"

: Mon May 04, 2009 3:04 pm  

Homer Simpson wrote:

This is a ONE-OFF fixture, outside the Home & Away set-up, it's also a promotionally exercise to expand the Game to other areas.

I am aware of that ,my question was does your club have to pay for all the expenses or do you get recompense for it. Also is all the ticket money divided out equally or would you get more because you had the bigger crowd? We know it`s to expand to other areas so have you made contingency plans for all the Scots who are going to be coming down like you have to for all the Celtic supporters?