Magic Weekend thoughts - Edited

[daz39]

For those who went yesterday what was it like?

Is it easy to get in to stadium?

What was parking like?

Was the fanzone any good?

Any hints/tips?

Good points and bad points please.

Edited August 19 by daz39

[Just Browny]

Easy to get into stadium? Yes

Parking - not sure. I got the 51 bus from Corn Exchange to the ground and then the R2 bus back. Worked well both directions, even though when I came to get the bus back there was a long queue of Rhino fans in front - almost as if they had left early for some reason.

Fanzone nothing to write home about. When I was there it was Wagga and Alex Simmonds - certainly a good encouragement to retake my seat in the ground.

Elland Road unfortunately hasn't changed. Very cramped (my knees are both very bruised this morning) and where I was sitting in the SE corner you could hardly hear the announcements or music.

Probably sounds like a negative review but I had a good day and some good laughs with people all day. It's a convenient enough ground for RL fans, but the experience is not very festive due to the poor facilities.

[M j M]

Just now, Just Browny said:

Fanzone nothing to write home about. When I was there it was Wagga and Alex Simmonds - certainly a good encouragement to retake my seat in the ground.

 

How the hell are those two still getting this type of work from the RFL? It's amazing and depressing.

[daz39]

3 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

Easy to get into stadium? Yes

Parking - not sure. I got the 51 bus from Corn Exchange to the ground and then the R2 bus back. Worked well both directions, even though when I came to get the bus back there was a long queue of Rhino fans in front - almost as if they had left early for some reason.

Fanzone nothing to write home about. When I was there it was Wagga and Alex Simmonds - certainly a good encouragement to retake my seat in the ground.

Elland Road unfortunately hasn't changed. Very cramped (my knees are both very bruised this morning) and where I was sitting in the SE corner you could hardly hear the announcements or music.

Probably sounds like a negative review but I had a good day and some good laughs with people all day. It's a convenient enough ground for RL fans, but the experience is not very festive due to the poor facilities.

Cheers, i'm taking my Grandson for the 1st time and he wants to experience it all so if those fools are about then i may just have to take my hearing aids out for a while.

Hopefully we can find a back row seat to allow me to stand up, i've got bad knees and there's no way i can sit on an Elland Road seat through half a game let alone 3.

What about food and drink, inside and out please, choices and prices anyone?

[RigbyLuger]

22 minutes ago, M j M said:

How the hell are those two still getting this type of work from the RFL? It's amazing and depressing.

I'm guessing he's not taken the videos with "Wagga" in blackface off his YouTube channel.

[Whippet13]

Council parking right next to the stadium is £10, very easy in and out yesterday.

Fan zone was rather lame, with better food choices in the stadium.

ABK beer on sale so had a pint in the fan zone, tasted very ordinary so a bit disappointed.

Atmosphere in the ground decent enough, was in the East Stand lower and the seats were fine.

[daz39]

So, 53,000 of us apparently were inside Elland Road at some point so what's everyone's thoughts on the event etc?

Firstly, parking was great, i was in the disabled parking which was free, straight into the massive car park with no messing about and a 10 minute walk to our entrance, can't fault that at all.

Walked around the back of the North and West stands where access was pretty tight through the cordon area, it was a bit of a squeeze with fans going in both directions, no problems finding our gate and getting in but then that's when you realised you were in Elland Road!.

Signs saying 'Caution, low head room' as soon as you walked into the South stand concourse, literally anyone over 6' would have been in danger of having to go for an HIA, not one of the kiosks had coffee, the place stunk rotten, the toilets were filthy, blocked and had very little in the way of hand wash facilities.

Found some seats ready for the 1st game, i tried to sit down but my knees got stuck on the back lip of the seat in front so had to literally spread across 3 seats so i could see past the people in front of me who were doing the same.

Went for a coffee and something to eat at half time via the pass out system which worked very well, no problems at all with that which was definitely a positive when i had to pop back to my car.

Onto our game where most of us were stood up as do most fans these days, no one could get past anyone due to the narrowness of the aisles so folk had to either climb up or over seats in front of behind or get an entire row to move into the gangway, even at the back of the block we still couldn't see what was happening at the other end of the pitch.

We went for something to eat at half time and the Grandson got some chips which had clearly been there a while as they were stone cold, he obviously didn't eat most of them.

What i will say though is all the staff we spoke to throuhout the day were great, very friendly and helpful, including the steward near the car park gate who asked us if we'd won, when my Grandson said yeah he started dancing around holding his scarf up, a nice touch and so much different to normal away stewards who treat you as an enemy.

To sum up though, would i want it here again? absolutely not, the ground is not fit for the purpose of holding 3 games/all day events, it was hugely noticeable from previous events how many fans actually just went for their game then left, literally 95% of the Leigh fans headed home after their game, as did the Salford and Hull KR fans at the other end, there's usually a fair few stay on but not this year.

The ground is not at all comfortable or pleasant enough to hang around in for 7 hours, there just seemed to be a lack of effort from the RFL/SL all around and it felt like it was agreed to have magic there then Elland road and everyone else was just left to their own devices on the day.

My grandson enjoyed his 1st experience of Magic, though his choices of supporting Salford and Catalans in the 1st 2 games were bad decisions for him but at least Fartown made his day worthwhile in the end!.

Edited August 19 by daz39

[Harry Stottle]

22 hours ago, daz39 said:

So, 53,000 of us apparently were inside Elland Road at some point so what's everyone's thoughts on the event etc?

Firstly, parking was great, i was in the disabled parking which was free, straight into the massive car park with no messing about and a 10 minute walk to our entrance, can't fault that at all.

Walked around the back of the North and West stands where access was pretty tight through the cordon area, it was a bit of a squeeze with fans going in both directions, no problems finding our gate and getting in but then that's when you realised you were in Elland Road!.

Signs saying 'Caution, low head room' as soon as you walked into the South stand concourse, literally anyone over 6' would have been in danger of having to go for an HIA, not one of the kiosks had coffee, the place stunk rotten, the toilets were filthy, blocked and had very little in the way of hand wash facilities.

Found some seats ready for the 1st game, i tried to sit down but my knees got stuck on the back lip of the seat in front so had to literally spread across 3 seats so i could see past the people in front of me who were doing the same.

Went for a coffee and something to eat at half time via the pass out system which worked very well, no problems at all with that which was definitely a positive when i had to pop back to my car.

Onto our game where most of us were stood up as do most fans these days, no one could get past anyone due to the narrowness of the aisles so folk had to either climb up or over seats in front of behind or get an entire row to move into the gangway, even at the back of the block we still couldn't see what was happening at the other end of the pitch.

We went for something to eat at half time and the Grandson got some chips which had clearly been there a while as they were stone cold, he obviously didn't eat most of them.

What i will say though is all the staff we spoke to throuhout the day were great, very friendly and helpful, including the steward near the car park gate who asked us if we'd won, when my Grandson said yeah he started dancing around holding his scarf up, a nice touch and so much different to normal away stewards who treat you as an enemy.

To sum up though, would i want it here again? absolutely not, the ground is not fit for the purpose of holding 3 games/all day events, it was hugely noticeable from previous events how many fans actually just went for their game then left, literally 95% of the Leigh fans headed home after their game, as did the Salford and Hull KR fans at the other end, there's usually a fair few stay on but not this year.

The ground is not at all comfortable or pleasant enough to hang around in for 7 hours, there just seemed to be a lack of effort from the RFL/SL all around and it felt like it was agreed to have magic there then Elland road and everyone else was just left to their own devices on the day.

My grandson enjoyed his 1st experience of Magic, though his choices of supporting Salford and Catalans in the 1st 2 games were bad decisions for him but at least Fartown made his day worthwhile in the end!.

I reckon those who decided that Elland Rd was a good venue to hold this Rugby League Jamboree would not have the same expieriences as the majority of fans like yourself, corporate hospitality would be the order of the day for those.

My expierience of the place is very much like you describe and I have not been for a long time, *uncomfortable, dirty and smelly, so they have never learned in a long time.

*re Uncomfortable I am not overly tall at 5 -11, what you say re the narrow seating and banging your knees on the row in front is exactly the same at Anfield, been twice for 4 Nations and a Test match, won't be going again.

[fighting irish]

Well Cardiff would solve some of those problems.

The seating is more comfortable and the toilets are easy to access and not smelly (last time I was there).

With all the other advantages of proximity to the town centre, the welcoming Cardiffians etc. etc. let's have it here?

I'm sure it would give a boost to the small but thriving WRL. 

So come on RFL, the Principality is calling.  

[daz39]

3 hours ago, fighting irish said:

Well Cardiff would solve some of those problems.

The seating is more comfortable and the toilets are easy to access and not smelly (last time I was there).

With all the other advantages of proximity to the town centre, the welcoming Cardiffians etc. etc. let's have it here?

I'm sure it would give a boost to the small but thriving WRL. 

So come on RFL, the Principality is calling.  

I won't argue with that, i went to all the Cardiff ones and loved every minute of them, they seemed to really make an effort down there too, it definitely felt Magic unlike Sunday.