Taking away the Magic?

In 2021, Manchester City played in their first ever Champions League Final. Manager Pep Guardiola decided not to start key players Rodri or Fernandinho, playing without a 'holding' midfielder. This was Manchester City's 61st game of the season and the first time that neither man had started.

Manchester City lost the final. Pep Guardiola was widely accused of 'overthinking', not the first time that this criticism had been levelled at a hugely successful manager.

Guardiola is obviously cognisant of these criticisms. Before a 2022 Champions League match against Atletico Madrid he told the press that he "loves to overthink and create stupid tactics". Before a critical game against Manchester United earlier this season, he said "I have a few thoughts, ridiculous ones", when talking about his tactics for that match.

The Magic Debate

That brings us on to the Magic Weekend. Like Pep Guardiola; fans, administrators and key stakeholders in Rugby League are often guilty of overthinking. The Magic Weekend's future is a classic example.

The future of the event gets debated most years but an even greater focus is present this year following IMG's notional takeover of the sport. Media reports suggest IMG wish to scrap the event but clubs and broadcast partners are less keen.

The Challenge Cup Final may be returning to its traditional May slot, meaning that a football club may not be as keen to host six matches of Rugby League in the summer months as the new football season approaches. This may lead to the Magic Weekend being squeezed out of the schedule.

In Rugby League, our overthinking leads to change. We change the number of teams in our elite competition. We change how teams are promoted and relegated. We change if teams are promoted and relegated. We change how many teams are in our play offs. We change how the play offs are structured. We change so many times that we have ran out of changes to make are simply reheating ideas that have deemed to have failed in the past. But remember, they'll work this time because we will "do it properly" *winks*.

Against that backdrop, the Magic Weekend stands in stark contrast. It is an event of stability. The date may change but the premise of all Super League teams playing out of the one venue over one weekend has remained consistent since 2007. Even the venue has stayed the same in recent times, with the event taking place at St James' Park every year bar one since 2015.

Problems and Solutions

Let's take a look at some common criticisms or suggestions about the Magic Weekend and try and either debunk them or politely suggest why they may not be the way forward:

1. Empty Seats

One criticism is that, despite a cumulative crowd higher than an average week in Super League, the 'all-day' nature of the event means that crowds come and go. This leads to empty seats which gives a poor impression.

I agree, it's far from ideal. But for an event which lasts for almost seven hours, it is inevitable. There is no tweak to an all-day Rugby League event that can avoid fans coming and going.

This is perhaps an uncomfortable truth, but it is also no different to any other week. In 2023, the average Super League stadium occupancy is around 57%. That will probably drop further too, as Super League crowds tend to decline as the season goes on.

I'd argue that the bigger issue is half-empty stadiums on a weekly basis and not for this one particular weekend. If we decided to get rid of any Rugby League event with empty seats, there would not be a sport.

2. It Doesn't Spread the Game

The initial stated aim of the Magic Weekend was to spread the sport. In reality, this hasn't happened and the event has turned into a festival-style away day / weekend away for existing fans of the sport.

We can debate until we are blue in the face whether the lack of expansive footprint of the event renders it meaningless. Yet if we were to scrap the Magic Weekend and replace it with an alternative, or even nothing, then there's little evidence to suggest the sport would experience growth as a result.

I would like to see more ambition in engaging the local community. That is tough when there is no team that a local may feel connection for though.

3. It's Stagnant at Newcastle

For an event like Magic Weekend, location is arguably central to success or failure. Liverpool is a city of many brilliant attractions but Anfield's location outside of the city centre and in the middle of a residential area means it is not suited for an event of this nature. That is why the event has not returned to Liverpool. It is also a little *too* close to some clubs, taking away the 'day out' feel'.

Newcastle's transport connections to nearby towns, city centre proximity and train links through many Rugby League heartlands means that it is ideally placed to host the Magic Weekend. 

There could be an argument to use a different location every third year before having two years back at Newcastle. The majority of the event's highest crowds are at St James' Park. There is a reason for this. The Magic Weekend has found its home.

Making changes simply for the sake of it rarely works. If anyone should know this, it should be Rugby League fans.

4. Make it a 9's Event!

Another annual suggestion is that we change the event to a 9's event with big prize money on offer to the winners. We barely have any 9's competition in this country. With the exception of social media theorising, I see little appetite for it either.

This wouldn't overcome the empty seats problem, as fans would leave as their side is eliminated. We also wouldn't know which teams would be eliminated after day 1, making it harder for fans to plan. The final would just see two teams left and would doubtless be played in front of a near empty stadium by that point.

The idea of putting in place 'big prize money' in a sport which lives hand-to-mouth is fanciful. Oh, and teams would probably play their reserves! Can you imagine the uproar if Bevan French injured himself in a 9's contest and was ruled out for the season, damaging Wigan's hopes of winning Super League?! No sensible coach would take such a risk.

5. Challenge Cup

There is also the idea of changing Magic Weekend to the quarter finals of the Challenge Cup. That would reduce the event to two double headers, removing four Super League fanbases from attending. 

If two of those sides were poorer supported Super League teams and, like this year, a Championship side was in the quarter finals, it's hard to see how this would lead to bigger crowds or a better event.

Again, like with a 9's event, you only know the cup quarter finalists a few weeks before they take place. That means less time to promote and less time to sell tickets.

You could host the event in the last 16 but may be stretched to find a football club willing to host 8 matches on its pitch over the one weekend. You would also encounter the same problems with fans leaving after their matches that we have now.

There is also the suggestion that by getting rid of the Magic Weekend, the Challenge Cup would enjoy a boost. Hull FC, for example, took 2,500 fans to Newcastle on Sunday. It's quite unlikely that even 1/10th of those would suddenly decide to attend the Challenge Cup Final, if their side wasn't in it and Magic Weekend was scrapped.

The debate about how to revive the Challenge Cup is something separate. We need to try harder than this if we are serious about it.

Where From Here? 

Rugby League has a massive vanity problem. We are obsessed with what other people think of us.

The Magic Weekend averages over 60,000 fans over two days, and has done so for several years. Let's stick our chest out a bit - that is something to be proud of!

The attendances are holding steady. This year's crowd showed a modest increase; no mean feat in the face of train strikes and cost of living pressures. Huge growth is not present but when you look at the Grand Final, Challenge Cup or international events in the UK, crowds at those events are shrinking.

Whilst I am not suggesting we should rejoice at anaemic growth, we do need to look at matters in the round. Of all of our events, this is the only one that is not contracting, yet this is the event we speak of removing from the calendar?

The sport gets an (admittedly modest) publicity boost and the rarity of having each match of a round of fixtures televised. Do we want to get rid of that and replace it with nothing, or risk replacing it with something less appealing?

Of course, there can be tweaks. Smarter scheduling (though that must be balanced against stadium availability) for one. We had a full programme of Championship and League 1 action across the weekend, taking away potential attendees from Magic Weekend.

Expanding the offering is another. We have hosted Toulouse v Toronto's Championship match at Magic Weekend in the past. Could we not have Newcastle play a home match at St James' Park, or invite two of the better supported Championship clubs? 

Newcastle has a relatively strong amateur and junior Rugby League presence, we should do more to engage them. And there's plenty that can be done without huge expense.

We have seen the danger of wholesale change. The Championship's Summer Bash was initially a success but since it was moved from Blackpool, the decline has been rapid. It's demise now seems inevitable. Sometimes you don't know what you've got until its gone.