Truck with a Widnes player on it spotted in Sheffield this morning

Seen many a Stobart truck along the many miles of the M25 around London, yet to see one with a rugby league footballer on it, are they planning to send any down this way at all?

On a thread elsewhere I know somebody spotted a Wire truck on the M25.

I make my first journey since the deal started next week. Travelling from Edinburgh to Warrington sticking to motorways, so will be interesting to see if I get my first spot.

You need to get out more

I've been feeling rather left out of all this Eddie-spotting fun for the last month as I've been stuck with a broken ankle!

If I drive for four hours solid and don't see one though, expect to see my attitude to the sponsorship change!

Is that apart from the million quid or so that the bookie was offering?

Interesting that you're so positive about the deal; a story in this week's LE states that a meeting has taken place between SL club representatives and the RFL, specifically to discuss the Stobart sponsorship, with rumours of a vote of no confidence in the offing from some quarters. I don't know how true that is, but it wouldn't surprise me, particularly given that one of the stated benefits of the arrangement was that it would leave other properties available to sell, such as post protectors, ref's shirts etc - as far as I know, those properties remain unsold.

My view is that Sky and Stobarts will do well out of the deal; the benefit to RL clubs is questionable, regardless of the theoretical benefits of this type of advertising - in the meantime, a big chunk of cash that could have trickled down into youth development, growing the lower tiers or buying iconic landfill sites has been lost to the game.

If you have proof that the bookies were offering a million pound a year then I will retract all my support for this deal.

I have never seen that figure mentioned anywhere, and if we were being offered a similar monetary value to the engage deal then I suspect that the clubs would have ripped their hand off, betting company or not.

Rumours mean nothing, especially in RL who seem to specialise in them. This was voted in by the majoirty of clubs, and is a 3 year deal. Why the hell would they have a vote of no confidence in it? What can they do about it?

One of the stated benefits is the additional freed up space, however we are 6 weeks into the season, and 7 weeks after signing this deal so we knew the space would be free.

If at the end of the year we have no further sponsors taking up this space then the criticism will be valid. At this stage I don't think it is.

One final response to your post.

I'm not actually positive about the deal. I'm waiting to see how it goes.

I just disagree with people writing it off within weeks of starting, before it's even up and running properly, in many cases simply because they haven't seen one themselves.

Quarter of the season gone and I saw my first one this evening the Huddersfield Giants. Found it very underwhelming in the seconds I had in passing, the immediate impression I got it was Stobart sponsoring SKY SPORTS FRIDAY NIGHT.
I guess the deal is more like Naming Rights Only with 3rd Party Sponsorship, can't see Nigel Woods £2.5 million benefits from the deal.

It's been widely reported that a bookie was offering a sponsorship deal at a very similar value to the arrangement with Engage, but the RFL didn't fancy getting into bed with a gambling company; Magners cider and a tax-dodging scheme seems ok, but not gambling.



It was voted in by a majority, but that included the RFL, 3 clubs who were absent and gave their votes to the RFL and Widnes, who should never have had a vote, given Mr O'Connor's conflict of interest. As for the vote of no confidence - why the hell shouldn't they? If several clubs are unhappy that naming rights to the elite competition have been given away for nothing, they have a right to make their feelings known to the governing body who made that deal.



I think it's valid now; if there were no offers on the table for the the additional space at the time the Stobart deal was done, it shouldn't have been done, particularly by an organisation that was about to bail out another SL club, make a large proportion of its development officers redundant and take on a fancy new office alongside the displaced BBC employees at Salford media city.

The RFL didn't have a vote. And voting by proxy isn't quite the same thing as "giving your vote to the RFL".

Agreed - typed that in a hurry; the RFL did however make it very clear which of the options they preferred.

I got my first 'spot' tonight. On Sky Sports, driving around the Odsal pitch at about 5.00 pm

I 'might' have seen my first RL truck.

It was different from the 'bog standard' Stobart truck, though I couldn't make it out in the distance. It was going westbound on the M62 near Milnrow.

Seen one !, finally spotted one, going eastbound on the M62 near Warrington, yesterday.
Sam Tomkins.

Spotted one this morning at 10am going under the new 'Saints Way' bridge on the link road in St. Helens. It was the Leeds Rhinos one and was seen heading off towards the M62.

A Warrington lorry spotted in Leeds yesterday!

Spotted one yesterday on the M6 promoting HKR. Difficult to know it was rugby league and wonder if "ordinary" public would know what is been advertised!

a few days late, but on friday i saw the warrington one with briers on it traveling on the M55 towards kirkham and later the Huddersfield truck with crabtree on on the M65 near accrington.

M20 on Wrotham Hill heading towards London. Thursday morning around 8.30am

St.Helens truck in Bradford yesterday

Saw Wigan one in Hull city centre and have seen Catalan and Cas ones on the A1 near Newcastle.

Saw the Catalans one driving through Wigan the other day.

Seen the London one on the M25 by Heathrow.

How many of the players on these Stobart trucks have left / are leaving their clubs this season?

I know the Hull KR truck has Liam Watts & Ben Galea on it.

Seem to remember Ryan McGoldrick on the Cas truck?

Sure there'll be others.