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Warriors’ win spawns second supplement

A weekly newspaper published a special sports supplement after its local rugby team won the Super League Grand Final.

The Wigan Observer issued a 20-page feature with a wraparound cover of the dressing room celebrations to mark Wigan Warriors’ 30-16 victory over Warrington Wolves in rugby league’s grand final at Old Trafford on Saturday.

As reported by HTFP last week, it follows a 16-page supplement which the newspaper’s editorial team produced to mark the Warriors making it to the Super League Grand Final.

The new edition includes reports, reactions and tributes from Saturday’s final which saw the Warriors battle back from 16-2 down to score 28 unanswered points.

The Observer used a wraparound cover of the dressing room celebrations after being granted access minutes after the final whistle

As well as player interviews with Matty Smith and Sean O’Loughlin, it also included a double-page dressing room picture of the celebrating team with a series of quotes from victorious manager Shaun Wane.

Sports editor Phil Wilkinson said: “It was a great achievement by Wigan, and not only did  it secure the club’s first league and Cup double in nearly two decades but it came in a year when the town has enjoyed so much unprecedented sporting success including, of course, the FA Cup.

“Our reporters and photographers did a tremendous job – as did the design team – in both ensuring our coverage did the accomplishment justice, and turning it around so quickly.

“Interestingly, I used a picture of our wrap on Twitter to promote the supplement, and it was retweeted nearly 200 times. Because of that response, we’re now printing it as a glossy poster to give away, with a magazine to follow.”

The Wigan Evening Post, the Observer’s sister paper also published extra coverage and two post-final supplements.

The papers have already published several supplements this year centred around Wigan Athletic’s FA Cup Final win over Manchester City in May as well as the Warriors’ Challenge Cup Final victory in August.

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  • October 11, 2013 at 12:51 pm
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    Local paper creates supplement when local team does good. Like this is something new?

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