Hull derby at Magic Weekend won’t be moved

The Hull derby at the Magic Weekend will go ahead as planned, despite Hull City football club’s progression to the FA Cup final.

Hull FC and Hull KR are due to go head-to-head at 5pm on Saturday May 17 at the Etihad Stadium, the same day and time Hull City will take on Arsenal in their first ever appearance in an FA Cup final at Wembley.

However, there are no plans to change the schedule of the Magic Weekend, which takes place at the home of Manchester City for the third successive year on the weekend of May 17/18.

An RFL spokesman said: “The Magic Weekend fixtures were published in January, some three months ago – on that basis many fans have already purchased their tickets (and made plans for one or both days of the weekend) based on the advertised fixture list.

“Many of those tickets (some of which involve hospitality) have been purchased by supporters of other clubs, for whom a change in schedule would cause disruption and inconvenience.  On that basis it would be impractical and unfair to revise the schedule at this stage.

“Magic Weekend ticket sales are currently running at record levels – over 30,000 tickets have already been snapped up, a 60 per cent increase on 2013.

“Whilst we sympathise with the people who want to watch both the Hull derby and the FA Cup final, we believe that the most exciting match involving an East Yorkshire club on Saturday May 17 will take place at the Etihad Stadium and not Wembley.”

The Magic weekend schedule is as follows:

Saturday May 17

London v Catalan (12.30)
Widnes v Salford (14.45)
Hull KR v Hull FC (17.00)
Wigan v Leeds (19.15)

Sunday May 18

Wakefield v Castleford (12.30)
Huddersfield v Bradford (14.45)
Warrington v St Helens (17.00)