Wasps to bid to bring rugby league Magic to Coventry
Rugby union club Wasps is to bid for rugby league’s Magic Weekend to come to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry as it continues to explore the opportunities of rugby league in the Midlands.
The much-maligned Magic event sees a full round of Super League matches played at the same venue over two days.
It has been held in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester and Newcastle over the last 10 years, but has struggled to achieve the attendances that the Rugby Football League had hoped for when the concept was launched.
However it is used as a way to spread the game’s geography and Wasps chief executive David Armstrong has reiterated his desire to bring it to the West Midlands.
“This year we submitted a bid and we discovered that all bar one club in Super League is closer to Coventry than Newcastle,” Wasps chief executive David Armstrong told the BBC.
“So we know we are not far away from the heartland, we know we’ve got a strong and interested audience, so our dipping the toe in the water will probably continue. We’ll bid for it again for next year.”
The Ricoh Arena hosted an international rugby league double header last November, attracting 21,009 fans to watch England beat Scotland and Australia beat New Zealand in the Four Nations.
Up to 9,000 fans were local, which was seen as “very encouraging” by Armstrong, who is interested in the possibility of having a Super League club based at the Ricoh Arena. The rugby union side currently has former St Helens rugby league star Kyle Eastmond in its first-team squad.
Armstrong sees a successful Magic weekend in the West Midlands as being a stepping stone to one day bidding to be home to a top-flight club.
“We’re trying to seed our audience, grow our audience and grow awareness of the sport,” he said.
“If that did work, then we would have a serious look at it.”
Coventry currently has a semi-professional club, Coventry Bears, which plays in rugby league’s third tier.
The city has had a top-flight rugby league team before. Coventry RLFC played three seasons in the Northern Union competition, from 1910-1913, but folded after a winless season.
