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Murrayfield: Set to host a weekend of Super League fixtures

The biggest worry is the pitch - the very last game of day two might turn out to be a mud wrestling competition!

Phil Clarke
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The news that the Magic Weekend will move from the Millennium Stadium to Murrayfield next May has polarised opinion.

Some see it as a step backwards, moving away from a city centre stadium location to one that is more out of town.

Moving away from an area with a potential Super League team to one in which the early shoots of development are just taking seed.

And, for most fans, travelling north (further away from the Equator and therefore potentially colder!) instead of south, with bitterly cold memories of a Challenge Cup Final that was almost washed out in 2000.

Others however, see a greater choice of affordable accommodation, space to provide entertainment before, during and after the matches, and a willingness from the local tourism board and stadium to help make the event as successful as possible.

My mind is split. It's too early to say whether we should have stayed in one location for five years to build up some local awareness and following.

Ticket sales

In theory, there are more potential supporters of rugby league in south Wales than in Scotland, but that didn't translate into ticket sales in the first two years of this roadshow concept.

The supporters so far have been those willing to travel from the Super League towns.

But the biggest worry is the pitch.

Anybody who went to the Challenge Cup Final in 2000 (which took place at exactly the same time of year) and had a chance to walk onto the turf after the torrential rainfall would wonder whether it's possible to play seven games of rugby in two days.

The very last game of day two might turn out to be a mud wrestling competition!

Despite my misgivings, I'll give it a go, and I hope to see you there as well.

Play-off format

Whilst talking about next year, I would like to canvass your opinion.

With the expansion of the Super League to 14 teams, discussions are under way regarding the play-off format for 2009 and beyond.

Some people have suggested a top 8 play-off, which is what currently takes place in Australia where they have a 16-team competition.

I understand and appreciate the commercial and financial reasons for having a top 8 play-off.

There would be more games, potentially more paying spectators and the interest factor would hold probably ten teams' attention until the end of the regular fixtures.

However I'm not in favour of rewarding eight teams in a 14-team competition. The eighth-placed team will win less than 50 per cent of its games and I think that you're rewarding mediocrity.

If you sit an examination I believe that a minimum pass rate should be 50 per cent and I'd prefer to see teams that win at least half of their games rewarded with the honour of appearing in the play-offs.

I would be very interested to read your views.

Phil answers your questions...

Hi Phil. I have recently started getting into rugby league and really enjoy the competitive nature of the game, especially watching Leeds Rhinos. However I just wondered, do you think the Super League would be more exciting and competitive if teams played for three points for a win and also had more teams competing in the league? Surely this would improve the quality pool of players availible for the national teams?
Simon Corion

PHIL SAYS: I can't really see what difference it would make to the excitement, intensity or quality of the Super League competition if you increased a win from two points to three. In fact it would probably just widen the gap between top and bottom and have the reverse effect.

Last year there was a total of six drawn games from the 162 matches played (i.e. just over three per cent of matches ended up as a draw). This year we've had three drawn games from 125 matches (c. 2.5%).

The point that you make about having more teams is a topical one. Some people believe that the standard will drop next year when we move to 14 teams. They argue that there aren't enough players to field 14 equally competitive teams. If that's true, then we may see some one-sided matches with victories by 60 or 70 points.

One of the reasons why we may not find the player pool necessary is related to the professionalism of rugby union over a decade ago. Prior to that most sides had at least one or two former rugby union players in them. If you take Wigan as an example in the mid 90s, they had players like Frano Botica, Vaianga Tuigamala and Scott Quinnell. Most other teams fielded players who had spent time playing rugby union e.g. John Bentley, Jonathan Davies, Scott Gibbs, Mark Jones, David Bishop, Martin Offiah, David Young, etc. Many of these came from Wales, but a large number were from England and had never reached International status before switching to rugby league.

Most people assume that the days of recruiting rugby union players are over, but I don't necessarily agree. We tend to have a narrow view when identifying players and repeatedly go to the local junior clubs within walking distance of our professional clubs trying to find the next first team players.

St Helens took a wider and more long-term view when they signed the most dynamic forward in Super League at present. Maurie Fa'asavalu is one of the best players in Super League. It is impossible to think that he is the only rugby union player who could make the transition. It takes greater effort on the club's behalf, but it is possible.

One could also look at Simon Worrall at Leeds. He attended a school in Bradford on a rugby union scholarship and then went to play rugby union at Leeds before shifting across to the Rhinos.

There are two examples of players who have the ability to play at the highest level. Digging into those type of pools might also help the national team.

Phil, I was recently watching an old Regal Trophy final and it struck me that the game could really use a third domestic trophy (okay, fourth if you count the League Leader's Shield), but there is obviously no room for it in the fixture list. Now, I understand that next season there will be one free weekend for an international during the season - presumably England-France. Assuming that this is true, what would you think of the following idea: the same weekend, although not the same day, Super League has a sevens competition. All 14 Super League teams, plus two more by invitation (from National Leagues, Scotland, France, Russia, rugby union - wherever) playing in a straight knockout format, giving a total of 10 games of sevens, which I would think could be played in one afternoon. Sky cameras could come in after the opening round, showing the quarter-finals onwards. This would, I think, be a great day out for Super League's fans generally, would give those players not selected for England something to look forward to at that weekend and would give the domestic season an extra trophy which, realistically, those clubs that are unlikely to win Super League or the Challenge Cup might have a little more chance of winning.
Martin Marshall

PHIL SAYS: Well Martin, I should be writing to you for answers, not the other way around! How do you know next year's fixture list so early?

I have read that the northern and southern hemispheres are attempting to co-ordinate their mid-season international fixtures so that clubs do not need to release their international players for Test matches and miss important club games. I think that would be sensible.

In addition, the timing of the mid-season international match could be co-ordinated to help. Steve McNamara, the Bradford coach, made what I thought was a very good suggestion - accepting that we are going to have two games over the Easter weekend for each club, he recommended having the Test match on the following weekend. It might be possible to allow Catalans to only play one game, say on the Friday, with at least seven days then to prepare for the Test.

When the Test Match is played, all the players in Super League with the exception of those playing in the Test would get a weekend off.

It would fill what was Round 9 this year, i.e. one third of the way through the season, and be played well before the State of Origin series in Australia.

History tends to show that it's the week after Easter when the players tend to struggle and the quality tends to drop.

I do like to watch sevens tournaments but can't see it being that successful. I don't think that you would get more than 25,000 supporters at such an event and I can't see it making money.

I appreciate your point about another club winning a trophy but feel that it's the wrong time in the season.

In my opinion, it would need to take place at the start of the year, say January, but the weather isn't conducive then. If you could find an indoor venue, say in Manchester or Leeds then perhaps that could work?

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