An 'I was there moment' in store at Luke Littler Stadium, says Wire chief
WARRINGTON Wolves’ first home game of 2025 on Friday will have a few more eyes on it than usual thanks to their most famous fan.
And having taken the unprecedented step of renaming their stadium after him for one night only, world darts champion Luke Littler’s homecoming is something chief executive Karl Fitzpatrick believes will be an “I was there” moment.
The 18-year-old Padgate lad will parade the World Darts Championship trophy he won last month around the pitch at half-time of The Wire’s Round Two clash with Catalans Dragons, which takes place at the temporarily-renamed “Luke Littler Stadium.”
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“The Nuke,” who also watched his beloved Wire beat Huddersfield Giants on Sunday from the away end, will also lead the teams out before kick-off as he makes his first public appearance in his hometown since becoming darts’ youngest ever world champion.
Having exploded onto the big stage with a run to the 2024 World Darts Championship final as an unseeded debutant, Littler has not only enjoyed unprecedented success since then on the oche but has influenced a huge surge in interest in the sport, with Sky Sports having just renewed its coverage of darts as part of a record TV deal.
As such, Fitzpatrick believes his contributions to his sport in such a short space of time can only be compared to one other iconic name.
“Tiger Woods is the only individual I can think of who has transcended their sport like Luke has,” he said.
“He is a genuine Warrington Wolves supporter – this is not staged or anything like that.
“He’s a season ticket holder, he was in the away end at Huddersfield on Sunday.
“We’ve been doing things with Luke for a number of years – he took part in a half-time challenge in 2023 throwing rugby balls into household appliances.
“He’s the hottest ticket in town, but he and his family are such down-to-earth people with it. He’s put Warrington on the map.
“In years to come, people will be able to say “I was there at the Luke Littler Stadium when Luke brought the trophy home.”
“I encourage everyone to get out and support and celebrate Luke. It’s going to be a fantastic evening.”
Warrington’s move to honour their world champion in such a unique way certainly caught the eye and made waves well beyond rugby league’s traditional boundaries.
Indeed, main stadium sponsors Halliwell Jones have experienced a huge uplift in their exposure by agreeing to take their name from above the front door for just a single night.
“They had two or three years of media exposure in the space of 48 hours,” Fitzpatrick revealed.
“The most important thing is we wanted to acknowledge Luke’s achievement in a way befitting of a world champion and we landed at this.
“Obviously, we had to get the okay from Halliwell Jones and to be fair, they were on board because as has transpired, they would get mass media value off the back of it as well.
“The conversation with Luke about whether he’d be comfortable with us doing it was another very short and positive one.
“It’s given the club mass brand exposure along with giving us the opportunity to celebrate Luke.
“It’s been a massive success already, to be fair.”
Naturally, the main event will be what happens on the rugby field as The Wire look to make it two wins out of two to start 2025.
Fitzpatrick says the off-season has been a strong one, with sales of memberships and merchandise trending upwards off the back of an encouraging first season under head coach Sam Burgess in 2024.
And with a concerted effort and a £400,000 investment having gone in to improve the matchday experience for supporters including new food and drinks offerings, fan zones and an upgraded LED screen, Friday will be their first chance to show their work.
“We’re between eight and 10 per cent up on last year in terms of memberships, which is fantastic,” Fitzpatrick said.
“We’re trying to get back up to those 2019 levels and we’re not a million miles away of that.
“Sales have been pretty strong, so we’re happy with that.
“We were aware we needed to improve things in terms of our matchday experience, but financial constraints dictated what we could and couldn’t do.
“We’ve done a lot and there’s so much more we’d love to do, but we can’t afford to do everything.
“However, there’s going to be a marked improvement within a number of areas.
“We are really, really having a good go at making sure people enjoy their experience at the stadium.”
