Anfield to host next season's Magic Weekend
Super League's Magic Weekend will have a new home in 2019, with Anfield chosen to host the 13th annual round of fixtures on the road.
Anfield, which staged the second Test between England and New Zealand earlier this month, will host all 12 Betfred Super League teams on the Spring Bank Holiday weekend of May 25-26.
The decision to take the event away from Newcastle, which has hosted the last four Magic Weekends, was ratified on Tuesday by the Super League board.
Super League chief executive Robert Elstone, a former chief executive of Everton, said: On behalf of the Super League clubs, we're delighted to be taking the Dacia Magic Weekend to one of the most famous stadiums in the world.
"Anfield and Liverpool Football Club have embraced our sport - throughout all our discussions on the Magic Weekend they made it very clear to us that they wanted that relationship to continue."
"The game should be proud that Anfield has become a rugby league venue."
"I had the privilege of working in the city for more than a decade and I know Super League fans will have a great time not only at Anfield but in one of our country's most vibrant and exciting cities."
"The place is special - it's a perfect fit for the celebratory atmosphere of Magic."
I'd also like to thank the City of Newcastle and Newcastle United for hosting the Magic Weekend so well over the past four seasons.
They've created so many great memories for Super League and our fans, and have set the bar very high for Liverpool. Newcastle has inked its place into Super League history.''
Cardiff's Millennium Stadium staged the first Magic Weekend in 2007 and Murrayfield and Manchester's Etihad Stadium also acted as hosts until it was taken to St James' Park in 2015. It drew an aggregate crowd of more than 64,000 this year.
The concept is now firmly established in the domestic calendar and is being copied in 2019 by Australia's National Rugby League, which will stage a full round of matches at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium in May.
The fixtures for 2019, determined by ranking position from the 2018 season, will include a repeat of the Grand Final between champions Wigan and Warrington which rounds off the first day's action.
The two beaten semi-finalists, St Helens and Castleford, will bring down the curtain on the weekend while promoted London Broncos will play Leeds on their first Magic Weekend appearance since 2014.
2019 Dacia Magic Weekend fixtures:
Saturday, May 25
2pm - Wakefield v Catalans Dragons.
4.30pm - Hull v Huddersfield.
7pm - Wigan v Warrington.
Sunday May 26
1pm - Salford v Hull KR.
3.30pm - Leeds v London Broncos.
6pm - St Helens v Castleford