LOCAL school boy Ollie Larkin was given the chance to “Access All Areas” from the viewpoint of the media at a Warrington Wolves’ home game.
Organised by the Warrington Wolves’ Foundation in conjunction with warrington-worldwide, it provided Lymm High School pupil Ollie Larkin the chance to experience a media match day experience.
Ollie writes about his experience here:
“My name is Ollie Larkin and I attend Lymm High School. On Friday 9th March I was given a great opportunity to go behind the scenes at the Wire to take part in the full game experience from the point of view of the match day media.
“We arrived at the stadium at 6pm and greeted by Shaun Briscoe with two ‘access all area’ passes and were given the hot of the press team sheets! From there we went down the players tunnel direct to the pitch where we were able to listen in on Phil Clarkes pre match interview with the team captains Chris Hill and James Roby.
“We then went to where the Sky Sports presenters do their tactical game analysis on the touch screen TV but we didn’t dare to touch it! Over in the camera gantry over looking the pitch opposite the tunnel in the clouds of South Stand we saw all the different TV cameras ready to capture the action. The stadium announcer said the Sky team had been setting up since 6am that morning.
“As the game got closer the stadium began to fill and the rain began to fall on the glossy green grass. Both teams came out to warm up and prepare themselves for battle! We accompanied the social media representative from Wolves who walked around the stadium taking various snaps of the turnstiles, the band ‘Sly Digs’, the growing number of fans and not forgetting Wolfy, instantly displayed on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Just before the match we took our seats just behind the journalist and could see Wire FM and Radio5 live commentators discussing the eagerly awaited clash.
“The game was fiercely contested and Warrington were in it for long periods but two tries at the beginning of both halves was a hammer blow and Warrington did not recover going down 30 points to 12 with Saints the deserved winners.
“After the match, we were able to take some pictures with a number off players, with Benny Westwood still able to raise a smile for us! We then saw the man of the match trophy being awarded to St Helens player Mark Percival, hat trick try scorer on the night!
“Although the players night was over the managers still had to face the media.
“The assembled press squeezed into a tight room firing questions at both Justin Holbrook and Steve Price. Their assessments of the games were honest and insightful, the time was now 10pm and the press went away to write their match reports.
“All in all a really good night despite the result, thank you to everyone at Warrington Wolves for the opportunity!”
Ollie Larkin
1 Comment
A great experience for Ollie and an insightful report from the young reporter. Thanks to Warrington Worldwide and Warrington Wolves for providing the opportunity – more please from Ollie and the 2 * WW.