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Any lingering cynicism over the decision to bring Magic Weekend to Newcastle has been blown out of the water by yet another positive update on ticket sales, as I found out when I chatted to Super League boss Blake Solly.

The general manager was pressing the flesh on Tyneside at an event to help promote the two-day extravaganza, which sees six fully-fledged top-flight rugby league games played over two days at St James’ Park on May 30 and 31.

Total ticket sales had breezed past the 45,000 mark when we spoke a week ago, with the Saturday already boasting the highest single-day crowd of any Magic Weekend.

For an alleged rugby league outpost it was a massive shot in the arm, Solly confirming around a quarter of all sales had come from North East postcodes.

As a proud regional voice it should come as no surprise that these pages are right behind Super League in making the event a success, but this is no mindless endorsement.

Having covered too many ticket stories to mention down the years, you develop a bit of a radar for these things.

Rather than an interloper riding into town to make a quick quid on the back of Geordie sporting passion there is a genuine feeling that Super League view Magic Weekend as a sincere attempt to establish a major rugby league foot-hold in the region.

That much was clear by their inclusion of Newcastle Thunder in the pre-tournament publicity, the League One side playing their part in the weekend despite sitting two divisions below the top flight.

They will host York City Knights at Kingston Park on Friday May 29, the eve of Magic Weekend.

Rather than seeing the night as an unwelcome distraction from their own event the Super League boss threw his full weight behind the warm-up, stressing he would be mad to do otherwise at a time when Thunder carry the region’s rugby league hopes on their shoulders.

The upwardly mobile club are now a genuine prospect for a Super League place over the next five or so seasons, not that they would put such a public timetable on their top-flight ambitions.

Solly and his team are certainly pushing the boat out to swell interest in the 13-man code, Super League players and the trophy itself having been brought up to Tyneside for some pre-match publicity.

The openness with which they have marketed the weekend could certainly be a lesson to some other competitions, with no shortage of media access and a determination to include as many people as possible.

Par for the course when there is money to be made, you might say.

But the message seems to be getting through, Magic Weekend set to storm the home of Newcastle United at a time when interest in the code is at its highest here in well over a decade.

North East sports fans are voting with their feet, and rugby league bosses are taking note.