Dacia Magic Weekend - The VIP Treatment*

If you saw my post on Saturday (here) which was all about day 1 of the Dacia Magic Weekend then you should have a good idea how great of a day it was.

Me and Michael were very lucky to get VIP tickets for all of the games on Sunday. These included Catalans Dragons V Huddersfield Giants, Leigh Centurions V Salford Red Devils and finally Castleford Tigers V Leeds Rhinos (or as I kept calling them, Captain America). The Tigers V Rhinos was one of the most of anticipated games of the weekend with fans travelling from all over England to cheer on their teams.

With it being a Sunday the first kick was at 1pm so me and Michael thought we would have a look around the Fan zone which was situated in St JamesPark car park. This included options to win a number of large competitions, to buy replica team shirts and other merch. There was also a stage where they were doing interviews with cheerleaders and ex players and the chance to win prizes.

There was also the chance to buy hats, shirts and underwear from ODDBALLS with money going towards the charity that rasies money and awareness for testicular cancer. You could tell that this was a popular charity with rugby league fans as the odd balls hats were everywhere.

 

We weren't sure what to expect with our VIP passes but we definitely weren't expecting the treatment we got. From walking through Milburn reception where we were greeted and directed up to level 3 where we were shown to the Heroes Suite.  If you are a Newcastle united fan then you will know that the heroes suite is a big deal and definitely a perk we weren't expecting. We were given our VIP wrist bands and our itinerary for the day.  When we walked in to the suite you knew you were in a room with important people this included chairmen of the rugby clubs, ex players and even one of the directors of the league.

After some food and drinks we made our way to the directors box to our seat and let's just say we definitely had the best seats in the house. With the seat being right in the centre we could see all the action happen both on the pitch and off. I will say that I've only ever been to one other rugby league match in my life and I didn't have a clue what was happening but with the help of Michael I started to get it and, being a girl with a tactical mind, I started to really get in games.

After watch Catalans Dragons V Huddersfield Giants we headed back in to the heroes suite and were given little steak pies and chips which I believe is a tradition of NUFC hospitality. We went out for the 2^nd match of the day which is where the game pace picked up with Leigh Centurions playing against Salford Red Devils. Leigh Centurions were the underdogs but they didn't let that stop them  from putting up a good fight even when they lost one of their players through a tackle that wouldn't have looked out of place in a wrestling ring. This game definitely had a different pace from the first, you could see how much the Centurions wanted to win but Salford played the better game and the Salford fans were loving every moment of it.

Final match of the day was Castleford Tigers V Leeds Rhinos this was the game that a lot of people were here for. The fans were not let down and the Tigers fans must have been loving every moment as their team delivered try after try in the 2^nd half. The atmosphere at this game was crazy the fans from both teams cheered, chanted their team songs and did what every fan does best and made lots of noise.

I have to say that this day was defiantly a high light of 2017, from getting the VIP treatment to seeing fans from all over the England coming together to cheer on their own teams but cheer on other teams along the way.

I would definitely recommend Dacia Magic Weekend to anyone, you could go with the family with the fan zone entertaining every member of the family to the half term entertainment (I'm sure we saw a pillow fight in the middle of the pitch). You can go along with a group friends and soak up the atmosphere with a beer and some chips.

Even if you didn't get to go to Dacia Magic Weekend you couldn't have missed the 65,407 fans that were running around Newcastle throughout the weekend. This is the 3^rd highest magic weekend attendance with all 3 highest attendance being in Newcastle.

 The next thing to do is wait and see where the 2019 Magic Weekend, you never know it could be back in Newcastle or it could have a new home for a few years. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post all about Magic Weekend. 

* This was a gifted post but all views are my own. 

Dacia Magic Weekend is here and what a weekend it has been already

If you have no idea what Dacia Magic Weekend is then I don’t know what rock you’ve been under for the past 3 years. Magic Weekend is a 2-day event where the best in the world of rugby league come up to Newcastle to play some of the biggest games of the season at the historic St James Park.

Following the record-breaking success of the Dacia Magic Weekend in 2016, there was no reason why it wouldn't be coming back in 2017 so when the announcement came that the event would be returning to St James Park, you could feel the excitement in Newcastle.

I and Michael were very lucky to be able to get tickets for the full weekend but due to work commitments, we couldn’t make the Saturday games but the 2 family members I sent along instead loved every moment. My uncle is a massive Newcastle football fan so being in the stadium for any reason is always a bonus for him and his son.

Source

They were really lucky as they got to watch all three games on the Saturday: Wildness Vikings V Wakefield Trinity, Hull FC V St Helens and finally Wigan Warriors V Warrington Wolves.

Everyone knew that some of these games were going to be great games to watch with Wigan Warriors V Warrington basically being a rematch of last year's Super League Grand Final (definitely a game I was gutted to miss out on seeing).

My uncle took along his son who has become really interested in rugby league and this was the perfect opportunity for him to get to see some great games. With his son only being 9 years old he was really glad the atmosphere and the event itself was really made for families, with the crowd full of families cheering on their team or soaking up the great atmosphere from the crowd.

For someone who had never been to the Dacia Magic Weekend, My uncle and his son loved every moment. From the welcome, they received when they arrived, to the family friendly atmosphere throughout the games. He recommended the event to everyone and said that it was worth every penny.

If you fancy getting some last minute tickets for tomorrow games which include:

Catalans Dragons v Huddersfield Giants (13:00)

Leigh Centurions v Salford Red Devils (15:15)

Castleford Tigers v Leeds Rhinos (17:30)

You can get tickets from here: https://www.eticketing.co.uk/rle/details/event.aspx?itemref=11276

Have you ever been to a Dacia Magic Weekend?