Hi Dave, the thing really is not to see it as it is today, try to imagine what it can be.
It does not have to be at the specific place I mentioned, I wouldn't get too hung up with that. It could be on your cricket pitch of course but it also could be anywhere in this vicinity that has the potential.

Dont look for the barriers, look for the ways to make it happen and importantly how it can rejunenate the area, bring in further investment, and deliver all that is needed to provide 1 of the real hotbed areas of RL in the country back to the forefront of the game where it should be.

Everyone seems to have suggestions on mergers but no answers to the problems

If the 3 clubs of WMDC merge, assuming (which is a massive assumption) we get over the hurdle of the name and location to play, we’ll find equally greater hurdles lie ahead.

How many fans do you think will attend? My guess is no more than 5/6k regular.
Will all debt be merged as well as assets (I’m pretty sure assets will be zero)? Debt still needs to be serviced, unless all 3 clubs go into joint admin, get a pre-pack and start a fresh.
Will we have a rich owner wiling to spunk his money on a team and support a probable loss making club? No sign of knight in shining armour wiling to step forward. That means running to a limited budget, not spending up to the full cap.

The way I see it is that you’ll have a club that’s no stronger than what Cas or Wakey are at the moment. The best the club will bring to the competition would be the youth production line for the big boys.

who's paying for this then

Hi,

Don't wish to be rude but that is b*llocks.

Don't you beat about the bush Vasty!

I never get this argument

#Point 1: The Calder district is a hotbed of rugby league talent.

Solution: Merge 3 sides into 1

Now, this may just be common sense, if you merge 3 teams into 1, won't you lose a lot of rugby league talent a) out of the area or b) to the game itself?

Cas are leading the way in terms of academy prospects in the Calder area but Wakefield and Fev both bring through their own youngsters on occasions too (Annakin and Trout two recent ones from Fev).

Sorry, but make your mind up.

Nearly right mate.

FWIW I think Ellis & Westwood are far better players than anything to come out of Cas in the past 15 years.

If 2 clubs died then yes the area would be poorer.

If the 2 satellite town's were in the championship, playing as subservient satellite clubs for the city team, then no I don't think it would.

Same diff.

Wakefield/Fev - you got the gist and I'm knackered!

Ellis came out of Cas FYI.

Lock Lane isn't Castleford Tigers.

He was produced through our system not yours. Something which I still think your bitter over. He'll be coming "home" to you though one day won't he.

Keep believing.

In truth I hope you get your acts together. The derby is too important to both clubs. I do think we're blindly stumbling into a 1996 situation. Get ready to fight for your club. IF (& it's a bloody massive IF) Newmarket is under construction in 12 months time I think our place in the top 10 of SL will be assured & we'll have nothing more to worry about.

As I've always maintained: 1 stadium will happen & as soon as concrete is mixed the blood will drain from the club left behind. Newmarket is & has always been IMO the single biggest threat to Castleford's independence. I think many others have seen this for years too. Yourself included Fully.

Oh & to be balanced to our flat capped friends, Rich Whiting is one of the most consistent players in SL for me. A real hard worker, but backs it up with great strength & versatility. A yard more pace & he'd be GB everyday for me.

I never said he played for CT.

You said Ellis was better than anything to come out of Cas.

Ellis was born and raised in Cas, and played in Cas before moving to Wakefield. Therefore, he came out of Cas.

Ok Mr parochial & pedantic :

If were going down that road he did, because as we all know your a small town in Wakefield

IMO the stadium issue is now nowhere near as critical for license purposes as it is for income generation. We seem to have the bigger problem because we're stuck at WR but does anyone really know how greatly Wakey will benefit from tennancy at NM or whether it will be built before they're again mired in debt.

You're absolutely spot on about Whiting though.

We already are and if we don't get NM soon we won't survive at this level imo.

"if Newmarket is under construction in 12 months time I think our place in the top 10 of SL will be assured & we'll have nothing more to worry about".

That is a big IF there Trinitarian. Do you think your attendances will remain constant at NW? I still think it as a massive gamble moving out of the city.

Not the point I was making at all. I never demanded that you HAD to merge. I was just saying that merger might be a more sensible solution than 3 clubs going to the wall.

Stop making a tit of yourself mate, your an outsider and you don't know what your talking about.

Stop making a tit of yourself mate, your an outsider and you don't know what your talking about.

Before I close on this v important issue, I will just say Good luck to you 3 great clubs, whichever route you choose for your own survival. I love coming to your grounds which are so special. And if these 3 grounds can be the basis for your futures then brilliant. I just think its unlikely.
In this day and age I just fear the worst and as times and seasons move on, the more the inevitable comes closer. You see I'd just rather the area continues in SL with all that is required today from Clubs and Stadia.

You have a unique opportunity that no other area has. I just want you to see that rather than hang on to the 3 dodgy lifebelts your grounds have become, it is time to hold hands and grab onto that new boat and be prepared to give up part of what each of you have now to create a long term assured future and create sometthing far bigger than any one of you individually could ever become.
At Hull FC our move to the KC has given us something far more than we ever thought it would be when we left our beloved Boulevard. Many then said they'd never go to a new stadium and some still ache for that feeling of a packed boulevard on a big night, me included. But for me its pure nostalgia, would I give up the KC ? never , never , never.
Some big decisions lie ahead for you guys. If Newmarket goes ahead it may yet save Wakefield and Super League in the area. and Cas and Fev will never be the same again in my opinion. If the Newmarket project fails for Wakefield, then if you do not all join hands and try again, it may well be the end of SL for all of you. That is something no-one wants. Dont allow it to happen, come together and do the right thing. Good Luck .

Cas forever, Merger Never!

I still have the programme and sticker from the Easter weekend both Fev and Wakey games when we first said No to the poison dwarf and the RFL.
All these fans however well placed their intentions ask yourself one question...
We all have bitter enemies for opposition, would you gladly merge with yours?
Or would you nail your colours to your clubs mast in whatever guise it is?

Uppo58 explain to me why Hull & Hull KR shouldn't merge. HKR are in financial trouble with an unfinished stadium so they should move to the KC and you can play in red & black hoops and call yourselves the Humberside Rovers. With everyone in Hull following the same team you'd be unstoppable wouldn't you?
Or is it do as I say not as I do?

What drives you mad is a person from a club who has just gone bust, bailed out by the RFL, & walked away from all it's debts, a club who play in the most uninviting place you could imagine, when it was graded for SL it said it had it's finances under control, & an iconic ground, & given a grade B, then we find there going bankrupt, & went to the wall.

Luckily they had the foresight to get rid off there main asset, the ground, to the RFL. it would have been better if the council had used it as a land fill site for the foreseeable future......when you have paid all the creditors what there owed, then come & tell us how it's done.

shame moving to the kc hasnt brought u any success u parasite go away u div

Hello Exile its good point you make, but so many things are different for us. Hull FC do not have the needs and goals for survival that Cas Fev and Wakefield have. Infact we've held an 'A' Licence for a number of years so we are seen By RedHall to be a well run club. Our SL future is not on the line. Even in the Agar years which did not bring us entertaining Rugby our attendances were amongst the highest in SL. We are undergoing heavy investment at the mo in a effort to attract and nurture even more talent. Look I could go on but the point is we at Hull FC fortunately are just not in the same boat as you so we don't have the need to merge.

But HKR do suffer from many of the same key issues that you Trin and Fev do. They have limited attendance ceiling, they are losing money heavily. These are the key points for them that raise a huge question mark over their survival. But unlike you they do not have 2 partners in the same boat who are just 3 miles away.

HKR are also different from you in other ways which I can see justify their belief in their great days returning. For make no mistake, they once were not just just a champion side they were a champion club. They were able to make profits season on seaon, they had the ability to bring the worlds best players to HKR and pay the world record transfer fees if they had too. and they won trophies ....lots of em. They were definitely a big fish in a big Pool and they are hanging on hard to those days returning. Sadly for our neighbours like yourselfs its all historic talk because something went seriously wrong with the management of Rovers for which they are still paying the price today. But with real investment in the team and continued investment in Craven park they maybe have a chance. But its a big 'maybe'. Things have changed for them and though their support is fantastic and loud it is limited. And when it gets tough on the field it gets worryingly low. They cannot even survive on the best they are getting today so something big has to change at Craven Park too.

You would indeed have a point if we were in the same boat as Rovers and if you turn the clock back I can remember poor gates at the Boulevard for a long periods whch almost brought our demise. But one thing we always had even in those days was potential, and that was a potential to be amongst the best again, attract big crowds, and win things. and thats what happened. We have had a share of luck too but we are essentially a strong club and we have won trophies through every decade from the 70s 80s 90s to the noughties. But had those doldrum years continued and Rovers too like today were faced with a death wish scenario then calls would be made to merge. Your right Hull FC would always fight to stay alone because we know we can achieve 16k crowds and if Pearson can bring us silverware who knows what it could be ? you could easily add at least 3k to that.

So ultimately the fact we come from a City and we have large traditional support means we wont be calling for a merger here as there just isnt the need and we expect to have a future, a SL future, be profitable and hope to be bringing silverware home again soon. If that were true for Cas Wakey and Fev then i'm sure you'd feel the same. I believe a merger will guarantee you this.

Maddog hi,

This parasite has the future of RL at heart. RL in your area.

The point is that survival has to come before trophies, and then the trophies will come. For us as well as you.

Yes we had trophies at the Boulevard just as you had, but it would not have given us survival. Our move to the KC has given us that. and thats what you 3 need - but together - to sustain it.
Compared to our heady days of the eighties your probably right the KC hasn't brought us success. but we have had 2 Challenge cup Finals and a Grand Final so its not been all bad, and we are disappointed and expect more to come.
And we will have those days again and we will have success, purely because we survived.
Its easy to devalue that which you have today. But unless you do the right thing today you may not have it tomorrow.
I wouldn't take survival for granted. How you measure Hull FC success is the least of your probs at the mo. I would focus on doing whatever it takes to keep top line RL alive in the Calder region.

Its a hard pill to swallow but their just may not be a future for 3 clubs in so tight an area in this day and age. Wakefield are making a break for survival and rightly so, as they are trying to keep the survival cards in their own hands and if Newarket goes ahead it will increasingly reflect badly on Cas and Fev in so many ways.
If Newmarket does not go ahead for whatever reason then, You 3 need to get your heads together pronto, drop the baggage and the hatchets and create something special out of the 3 of you for the good of one area. Forget holding onto names start afresh, you can't concoct a name out out 3 club names.
If you have a vision you can have a future.