The Magic Weekend (known as the Betfred Magic Weekend for sponsorship reasons) is an annual event organised by the Rugby Football League in which an entire round of Super League matches is played over a weekend at a single stadium to promote the sport of rugby league.[1]
The event took place at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in 2007 and 2008, and again in 2011. Subsequent events have taken place at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, from 2009 to 2010,[2] the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, from 2012 to 2014,[3] St James' Park, Newcastle, from 2015 to 2018, and again from 2021 to 2023, and Anfield, Liverpool in 2019.[4] Elland Road in Leeds hosted it for the first time in the 2024 season.
Having established itself on the English rugby league calendar, the Magic Weekend formula has now been copied in other rugby league-playing nations: starting in France in 2017,[5] and then in Australia, with the Magic Round in 2019.
- ^ Super League, 15 July 2008
- ^ "Magic Weekend heads to Murrayfield" Archived 2 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Super League, August 2008
- ^ "RFL Hails Millennium Magic A Success" Archived 28 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The Rugby Football League, May 2007
- ^ "Thanks for the most successful Magic Weekend". www.rugby-league.com.
- ^ "Magique Week-End de retour!". 25 February 2019.