Ranking every Magic Weekend venue in Super League history from worst to best: Man City 2nd…

Elland Road is set to become the sixth-ever host of Magic Weekend, as it plays host to the annual festival of rugby league this weekend. 

It was rumoured that this would be the final instalment of the event, however Love Rugby League has exclusively revealed it will remain in place in 2025.

The stadium in Leeds joins a list of historic stadiums across the country to host the event, which began back in 2007 at the now Principality Stadium. Since then, it has visited Scotland, Merseyside, Manchester and Tyneside; but how do these all compare to each other? With that thought in mind, here is our rankings of each of the Magic Weekend venues.

5. Anfield

Coming in fifth place in this list is Anfield, which hosted the event in 2019. This wasn’t the only time rugby league has ventured to the historic football ground, with high profile games like the 1991 World Club Challenge and the 2016 Four Nations final held there, but the game has yet to return to the venue.

A collective attendance of 56, 869 (30,057 on day one and 26,812 on day two) packed out the ground, and highlights from the games included Huddersfield Giants destruction of Hull FC as they claimed a 55-2 win.

The ground has only hosted the event once, and that’s why it sits in fifth place.

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4. Murrayfield

Just pipping Anfield into fourth is Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium. The home of Scottish rugby union hosted Magic Weekend in back-to-back years in 2009 and 2010, but again this was not the first time the 13-man-code had been played at the stadium, with the 2000 and 2002 Challenge Cup finals also taking place here.

59, 749 fans (29,627 day one and 30,122 day two) attended the 2009 edition, but that fell to 52, 043 (26,642 day one and 25,401 day two) the following year, which proved to be the last.

The highlights at Murrayfield include Wigan’s impressive 38-18 win over St Helens and Huddersfield’s 40-16 win over the Crusaders in 2009 and Warrington’s mammoth 68-16 win over Salford in 2010.

3. Principality Stadium

The place where it all began wins bronze in our rankings. Cardiff played host the first two Magic Weekend’s, then called ‘Millennium Magic’. The spiritual home of Welsh rugby union had also hosted the Challenge Cup final between 2003-2005, so this wasn’t its first foray into rugby league.

The 2009 event got off to a bright start, with 58, 831 fans packing the stadium out across the weekend (day one 32,384, day two 26,447), and they increased the following year to a collective 63,144 across both days (day one 30,628, day two 32,516). 

After a hiatus, Magic Weekend returned to it’s original home in 2011, but the crowd numbers fell as 60,214 attended over the two days (30,891 day one, 29,323 day two). 

Highlights from the three Cardiff instalments include Leeds Rhinos’ 42-38 win over Bradford, St Helens huge 57-16 victory against Wigan and the Crusaders 42-12 thumping of Salford.

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2. Etihad Stadium

Sitting in second in this list is Manchester’s Etihad Stadium, which hosted the event three times between 2012 and 2014. The stadium had hosted rugby league once before, as Great Britain faced Australia in the 2004 Tri-Nations, but Magic Weekend made it a firm fan favourite.

The first weekend in 2012 pulled in a great collective crowd of 63,716 fans watching over the two days (30,763 day one, 32,953 day two). 2013 saw a slight dip to 62, 042 (30,793 day one, 31,249 day two), but the 2014 edition saw an even higher collective crowd of 64,552 (36,339 day one, 28,213 day two). 

Highlights from the Etihad era include Hull KR’s 32-30 win over Hull FC, Warrington’s 48-22 win over St Helens and Castleford’s 50-12 drubbing of Wakefield.

Rugby league hasn’t returned to the Etihad since, but in recent years there has been growing calls for it to host the Grand Final instead of Old Trafford.

1. St James’ Park

Newcastle’s St James’ Park has become synonymous with Magic Weekend since it’s first year hosting the event in 2015, and a section of fans are hoping it will return to Tyneside one day in the future. 

St James’ Park has hosted the event seven times in the past nine years, and has drawn in the highest crowds in Magic Weekend history. The 2015 edition saw a record for both collective and single day attendance, with 67,788 attending across the two days and 40,871 coming on day one alone (26,970 day two attendance). There were also high numbers in 2016, 2018, 2022 and 2023 as well.

Highlights from the St James’ Park era include Hull FC’s 40-26 win over Hull KR, Wigan’s 40-8 demolition of Leeds, Toronto’s entertaining 43-30 victory against Toulouse – which remains the only Championship fixture ever played at Magic Weekend – Catalans dramatic 31-30 win against St Helens and Hull FC’s stunning 30-18 victory last year against Warrington.

It still remains to be seen if St James’ Park will ever host rugby league again, but it is certainly the fan favourite for Magic Weekend.

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