Special day for Hull, says Ellis
Hull captain Gareth Ellis says Saturday will be a great day for the city, with its two clubs facing off at the Magic Weekend and Hull City taking part in the FA Cup final.
Both matches kick-off at 5pm on Saturday, with Ellis’ Hull side taking on arch rivals Hull KR at the Etihad Stadium, and Hull City facing Arsenal at Wembley.
He said: “It is a great day for the city. It is a credit to the city itself for having two Super League clubs and a Premier League club that happen to be playing in the FA Cup final.
“I was in the Hull FC club shop not long ago and the tickets for Magic Weekend were flying out so obviously the football club playing in the FA Cup final has not drawn away from that but I’m sure there will be plenty of people in the ground on their phones finding out what the scores are at both events.
“But hopefully the Hull fans will be cheering for two reasons – one because Hull FC have won and two, because Hull City have won.”
It will be the sixth time the two sides have met at the Magic Weekend, with Hull KR winning four out of five so far.
Their run was ended last year, when Hull FC pulled off a controversial 22-16 victory.
Having returned from the NRL ahead of last season, Ellis made his first Magic Weekend appearance since 2008 in that game, and he’s a fan of the concept.
He added: “It is a great concept. It’s a festival of Rugby League, there’s all the games from over the weekend and there are fans from all the different clubs watching all the different games. It is a great spectacle and is quite different from any other sport.
“The difference for a player is that you are playing in front of different fans. Obviously you are playing inside a great stadium, which is always nice, and then there are going to be 30 or 40,000 people there each day as well.
“It is nothing like your normal week in, week out rounds of Super League, so it’s just a great occasion and everyone enjoys playing in it. And it is obviously a great occasion for the fans as well, they really enjoy it whether they come for the weekend or the day – they get to see as much rugby as is possible in a weekend.”