Luke Littler Stadium

[Damien]

I see both sides of this. Personally I find it a little naff, I always find these type of things to be, but accept that's just my view. Ultimately it is harmless and I think it is more about Warrington honouring one of its own for a night.

Is that just jumping on a bandwagon? Maybe but that relationship existed before Littler took off so it's not like they are just getting involved now. I really do think it is more about honouring one of its own doing good. Yes it may get a bit of publicity but I don't think Warrington will get much more than just people that are aware of the sport anyway. Like I said all harmless and will be forgotten about soon enough. 

[Archie Gordon]

1 minute ago, Just Browny said:

Didn't he and Michael Smith do the Challenge Cup draw for one of the rounds last year? I don't remember it having much of an effect or destroying the legacy of the cup.

That kind of thing is what we need more of. 

I just feel Warrington has the balance wrong this time and handed over top billing to its opening home game. Like every thread on here, it is not at all a big deal.

[gingerjon]

6 minutes ago, Just Browny said:

Didn't he and Michael Smith do the Challenge Cup draw for one of the rounds last year? I don't remember it having much of an effect or destroying the legacy of the cup.

Sounds about right. We’ve had a few darts/RL crossovers. They are mostly fun because the chosen dartists know they have to stay in character.

Not quite sure how these things always end up going down a rabbit hole of how insignificant RL is but it’s clearly a kink some RL fans enjoy.

[Dave T]

This is just peak RL. RL fans always have to be so combative. 

So far this year we have seen Sky have an advert comparing us to NFL to woo fans, the Leeds Rhinos vs Leeds Utd piece, the boxing guy at Wigan next week, this promo piece with Littler at Warrington. Last year we saw our players on Sky Golf, we've seen our stars head along to Wimbledon etc. 

These tie-ins and stories are exactly what we should be doing.

[Dave T]

6 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

That kind of thing is what we need more of. 

I just feel Warrington has the balance wrong this time and handed over top billing to its opening home game. Like every thread on here, it is not at all a big deal.

We need stories that are wider than George Williams vs Sam Tomkins. 

This is just some window dressing, in the same way that we had The Lathums entertaining the crowd for our home opener in 2023.

[Archie Gordon]

1 minute ago, Dave T said:

This is just peak RL. RL fans always have to be so combative. 

So far this year we have seen Sky have an advert comparing us to NFL to woo fans, the Leeds Rhinos vs Leeds Utd piece, the boxing guy at Wigan next week, this promo piece with Littler at Warrington. Last year we saw our players on Sky Golf, we've seen our stars head along to Wimbledon etc. 

These tie-ins and stories are exactly what we should be doing.

I think this is the nature of forums. 

But "combative", "upset", etc., are not what I'm seeing or feeling. This is pretty minor stuff. I'm just here because I'm waiting for a 1000 meeting.

[sentoffagain2]

8 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

That kind of thing is what we need more of. 

I just feel Warrington has the balance wrong this time and handed over top billing to its opening home game. Like every thread on here, it is not at all a big deal.

   The car taking the rugby ball to the centre spot didn't go to plan.But the toddler driving it raised a few laughs.

[Dave T]

14 minutes ago, Damien said:

I see both sides of this. Personally I find it a little naff, I always find these type of things to be, but accept that's just my view. Ultimately it is harmless and I think it is more about Warrington honouring one of its own for a night.

Is that just jumping on a bandwagon? Maybe but that relationship existed before Littler took off so it's not like they are just getting involved now. I really do think it is more about honouring one of its own doing good. Yes it may get a bit of publicity but I don't think Warrington will get much more than just people that are aware of the sport anyway. Like I said all harmless and will be forgotten about soon enough. 

I agree on the naffness - and I think I made that point in my first post on this, but I do think that's a nature of marketing/PR like this tbh. To make some noise it generally will have to be a little out there. 

I think it being a one-off, and all rather tongue-in-cheek is perfectly fine though tbh. 

[maccbull_bigbullybooaza]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

It will be the biggest crowd Littler will have been in front of for a while.

Now name another darts player that you could do this for and it not seem naff.

Joe Cullen and his beloved Wigan (even though he’s from Bradford). 

He’s playing in front of a sold out SSE arena in Belfast tonight. That’s 11000 plus. The Premier league final at the O2 last year drew 15000. 

I don’t see the issue he’s sponsored by the stadium sponsor, wears the clubs colours when he’s playing darts, Warrington have seen an up tick in social media numbers (the translates into cash and IMG points). The TV audiences for darts dwarf superleague however much we talk it up. This is great publicity. 

[M j M]

18 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I agree on the naffness - and I think I made that point in my first post on this, but I do think that's a nature of marketing/PR like this tbh. To make some noise it generally will have to be a little out there. 

I think it being a one-off, and all rather tongue-in-cheek is perfectly fine though tbh. 

I understand what the logic is with these things but it always strikes me as a bit desperate, trying to quite transparently piggyback off someone or thing more famous. I wonder how it's actually perceived by people.

The Super League GF programme always has these "famous person loves RL" articles, and most of the time they are relatively transparent. Similarly there was a piece with some soccer player on the Leeds website a couple of days ago. 

In short I just would prefer it if we made our own news with our own players. Luke Littler might own a news cycle for Warrington and maybe that's all that matters. But what it really suggests is the continued failure of the sport to create its own narratives.

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, HawkMan said:

True, only Littler could have this effect, absolutely. But that's hardly the point,  Warrington CEO and people on here excited because of what his presence does for SL, not the other way round.

Thats because super league does nothing for Littler’s presence. 

[Dave T]

2 minutes ago, M j M said:

I understand what the logic is with these things but it always strikes me as a bit desperate, trying to quite transparently piggyback off someone or thing more famous. I wonder how it's actually perceived by people.

The Super League GF programme always has these "famous person loves RL" articles, and most of the time they are relatively transparent. Similarly there was a piece with some soccer player on the Leeds website a couple of days ago. 

In short I just would prefer it if we made our own news with our own players. Luke Littler might own a news cycle for Warrington and maybe that's all that matters. But what it really suggests is the continued failure of the sport to create its own narratives.

I expect many don't overthink it tbh, I expect that is probably left to the likes of us who go into this level of detailed discussion. 

I can understand your view, but I think the sport does get criticised for staying in its lane too much and only speaking to its own customer base, so I don't mind the tapping into other fan bases and trying to show what we offer. 

I think whilst this one has a level of naffness, there is a story there in 'Local lad done good' and he is a Wire fan, his colours are primrose are blue for example, so playing on that as a one-off is fine with me. 

[Dave T]

So we have people who spent a lot of time arguing that darts is a huge sport, far bigger than RL. Yet, they don't see happy that we are tapping into the popularity of this hugely popular sport and the biggest star (indeed one of the biggest sports star in the country at the moment).

[gingerjon]

7 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Thats because super league does nothing for Littler’s presence. 

If that were true, he wouldn’t be there.

[HawkMan]

25 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

If that were true, he wouldn’t be there.

Sorry that's tosh. He's a nice lad, humble, and honoured I'm sure to do this. But I doubt his management team haven't said "you gotta do this Luke, it could really give you a boost." No way, but I'm sure he's keen, using his fame to help Warrington. 

Edited February 6 by HawkMan

[Eddie]

28 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

If that were true, he wouldn’t be there.

It’s because he’s a Warrington fan, not because it’s going to boost his career. 

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, Eddie said:

It’s because he’s a Warrington fan, not because it’s going to boost his career. 

It’s boosting his standing in his home town. It probably boosts his image more broadly as a working class lad who knows his roots.

That’s not nothing.

[Eddie]

44 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

It’s boosting his standing in his home town. It probably boosts his image more broadly as a working class lad who knows his roots.

That’s not nothing.

Do you think that’s why he’s doing it then? 

[gingerjon]

3 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Do you think that’s why he’s doing it then? 

No, I think his agent and Sky had an idea and ran with it. That doesn’t mean it has no benefits for everyone involved.

 

[dkw]

1 hour ago, Dave T said:

 Yet, they don't seem happy 

Could have just typed that, maybe added "and they dont want anyone else to be either".

Once again the desperation to call out everything our sport does is shown...

[The Masked Poster]

I think people are definitely looking too deep into this. It's a bit of lightheaded marketing PR, making the most of a famous Warrington person. The stadium won't be permanently changed and nobody will be hurt.

I don't know about being desperate but some are keen to prove that RL can do things on its own two feet without recourse to outsiders. But it hasn't quite achieved that status yet, so there's absolutely no harm in this. 

[RigbyLuger]

Some people want to pretend that Warrington and Littler have no connection and it's just a bandwagon.

 

 

[lucky 7]

Wigan getting in on the publicity stunts as well with Michael Buffer

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/33202752/michael-buffer-wigan-vegas-weddings/

[Fly-By-TheWire]

8 hours ago, lucky 7 said:

Wigan getting in on the publicity stunts as well with Michael Buffer

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/33202752/michael-buffer-wigan-vegas-weddings/

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but watching videos such as the one on that link leads me more and more into thinking this is all just a big distraction to enable Karl Fitzpatrick to wear more and more outrageous ear jewellery without being noticed.   It's insidiously creeping into the mainstream and before we know it we'll all be doing the same.   Stop drinking the kool-aid and wake up to what's really going on here, it's auricular engineering without consent.

[Father Gascoigne]

On 06/02/2025 at 23:22, The Masked Poster said:

I think people are definitely looking too deep into this. It's a bit of lightheaded marketing PR, making the most of a famous Warrington person. The stadium won't be permanently changed and nobody will be hurt.

I don't know about being desperate but some are keen to prove that RL can do things on its own two feet without recourse to outsiders. But it hasn't quite achieved that status yet, so there's absolutely no harm in this. 

I don't know about that. It's been doing things on its own since 1895 and it's still around today. It's proven beyond any doubt that it doesn't need darts, or anything else for that matter, to sustain interest in a professional league.  

In this particular case, I don't mind the position of the naysayers. I'm more concerned by the people who believe this will have some broader benefit to rugby league.