When the Illawarra Mercury broke the news on Wednesday night about the first ever Super League game to be held outside of Europe, the digital world went into overdrive.
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Major news organisation across the globe hurried to follow suit hearing the Wigan Warriors would play Hull FC for premiership points at Wollongong’s WIN Stadium on February 10. Major news organisations in the UK such as BBC Sport featured the news prominently with Wollongong front and centre of the coverage.
The Wigan Warriors’ Twitter account, which has over 100,000 followers, tweeted the breaking news stating “Wigan Warriors @SuperLeague and @Hullfcofficial to create history in New South Wales next year”.
In response Wigan centre Oliver Gildart said “Excited to be playing in NSW with Wigan next season. Great way to start 2018 #superleagueontour”.
Former Dragons and now Wigan player Mark “Piggy” Riddell tweeted: “How good is this! Pack ya sunscreen boys!”. Former world champion box Evander Holyfield retweeted Riddell’s tweet to his 260,000 followers on Thursday afternoon.
Hull FC’s Twitter account which has almost 60,000 followers tweeted chairman Adam Pearson stating “This is a landmark occasion for the sport of rugby league and an opportunity for Hull FC to play our part in making Super League history”. It also Tweeted Hull head coach Lee Radford stating “knowing our fans like I do I'm sure we'll have plenty over there, I've had messages already from people saying they're saving up!”.
The post on Hull FC’s official Facebook page had over 800 likes, 364 shares and close to 300 comments in 17 hours. Even in the initial 24 hours, the city of Wollongong has had enormous international exposure.
