Magic Weekend was a great success, insists Ralph Rimmer

Drew Darbyshire

RFL interim chief executive Ralph Rimmer insists the 2018 Magic Weekend was a great success and admits other cities are interested in taking it on.

A total of 64,319 fans packed into St James’ Park to witness six Super League games and a top of the table clash in the Championship. 38,881 people attended on Saturday, while the crowd was 25,438 on Sunday.

Newcastle has proved a popular choice again and the city now has four of the five biggest attendances in Magic Weekend history.

It has not been confirmed yet where Magic Weekend will be held next year, but Rimmer said that it was a huge success.

He said: “The Dacia Magic Weekend 2018 has been an incredible success and the fact that Newcastle has once again attracted such a large crowd, in its fourth year as host, is credit to the people of this fantastic city.

“This weekend is one of the most innovative in sport and we have seen it become increasingly successful since it was first held eleven years ago.

“We now have interest from multiple cities around the world, a strong and supportive commercial partner in Dacia and we are now starting to regularly see large crowds across the two days.

“Being at this magnificent event and witnessing everyone having such a good time is great to see. I’d like to thank everyone involved in helping to make it possible – Newcastle City Council, NE1, Newcastle United and of course the thousands of fans for helping to create such a fantastic atmosphere.”