: Mon May 04, 2009 3:07 pm  

EmmaMur01 wrote:

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.

what was the in cardiff for them to do??

: Mon May 04, 2009 3:28 pm  

Totally fantastic weekend. Loved it all and will definately be going next year.

: Mon May 04, 2009 3:42 pm  

EmmaMur01 wrote:

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.

Agree with all of that.

And to add if it had rained it would have been a wash out, as it was fans could sit on the grass in the ground and enjoy a drink or two and gather in the beer gardens of the few local pubs to the ground but if it had been raining then what would have happened?

: Mon May 04, 2009 3:47 pm  

We had a great weekend and very little to complain about. a 10 min bus ride to the ground is fine IMO and rather a 20-30 min walk back or a taxi (if you can flag one down). We spent alot of the mid-afternoon of both days at Wetherspoons on £8.18 a round for the 4 of us which is spot on. Watched the Man U game and Hudds game in there then went down to the ground. Met and spoke to alot of fans which was great.
Also loved the Jimmy Chungs all you can eat chinese last night

: Mon May 04, 2009 3:50 pm  

Joe Kerr wrote:

We had a great weekend and very little to complain about. a 10 min bus ride to the ground is fine IMO and rather a 20-30 min walk back or a taxi (if you can flag one down). We spent alot of the mid-afternoon of both days at Wetherspoons on £8.18 a round for the 4 of us which is spot on. Watched the Man U game and Hudds game in there then went down to the ground. Met and spoke to alot of fans which was great.
Also loved the Jimmy Chungs all you can eat chinese last night

The bus was all well and good other than at the end of the games where the queues were massive for the buses - as has been said a shuttle service or something should have been set up as the public transport couldn't deal with the volume of people wanting to use it after the games.

: Mon May 04, 2009 3:55 pm  

gateaux wrote:

The bus was all well and good other than at the end of the games where the queues were massive for the buses - as has been said a shuttle service or something should have been set up as the public transport couldn't deal with the volume of people wanting to use it after the games.

yeah i can understand your point, but it dint really effect us. We walked back to the centre for a few drinks and a meal on sat, then on sunday we managed to get a taxi (£4) between 6 of us. A shuttle service should have been in order as mentioned before as this would allow more people to explore the city and have more to do

: Mon May 04, 2009 3:56 pm  

AdmiralHanson wrote:

Stuff in a list...

Just got back and on the whole agree with most of what the Admiral says.

Just to add:

Running out of lager by mid-afternoon on day two was inexcusable

£3:50 a pint, £2 for a soft drink and £3 for a portion of chips was pushing the limits of decency, especially with the knowledge that most would be in the ground for the duration.

No body cavity search (like at Cardiff) on entry which meant that on Day 2 we could take what we liked in the way of food, drink, fire-arms, etc.

We purchased ‘Unreserved’ seating but were never challenged for our tickets wherever we went so those who paid the little extra for reserved seats were unnecessarily overcharged.

Had good-hearted banter with virtually all other fans with the distinct lack of Celtic supporters, did anyone actually see any because we didn’t?

Which just strengthens my belief that awarding them a Franchise above Widnes is becoming increasingly more folly.

: Mon May 04, 2009 4:03 pm  

LS16_Rhino wrote:

Just got back and on the whole agree with most of what the Admiral says.

Just to add:

Running out of lager by mid-afternoon on day two was inexcusable

£3:50 a pint, £2 for a soft drink and £3 for a portion of chips was pushing the limits of decency, especially with the knowledge that most would be in the ground for the duration.

No body cavity search (like at Cardiff) on entry which meant that on Day 2 we could take what we liked in the way of food, drink, fire-arms, etc.

We purchased ‘Unreserved’ seating but were never challenged for our tickets wherever we went so those who paid the little extra for reserved seats were unnecessarily overcharged.

Had good-hearted banter with virtually all other fans with the distinct lack of Celtic supporters, did anyone actually see any because we didn’t?

Which just strengthens my belief that awarding them a Franchise above Widnes is becoming increasingly more folly.

I saw a lot more Celtic fans than I did Salford fans!

: Mon May 04, 2009 4:06 pm  

southport dave wrote:

what was the in cardiff for them to do??

A whole city with various attractions in for kids, within a 30 second walk?

: Mon May 04, 2009 4:44 pm  

gateaux wrote:

I saw a lot more Celtic fans than I did Salford fans!

They probably made just as much noise as the Leeds fans!!!
Why were the fans so quiet - hangovers maybe?? It was like being in a morgue in the West Stand, I thought we must be observing an 80 minute silence. We made more noise shouting for Wigan than we did for our own side.