I posted the below comments in bold in April 2010 and I feel that having read the 30 odd pages on the stadium statement thread it is more relevant than ever.

All I ask is that people take off the spectacles of bias (hard for everyone, myself included) and look at the situation as it truly is. Neither club deserves any help from the council, whether it be financial loans or pushing through planning, that is not what they are there for.

Both BoD's have proved themselves incapable of progressing their club since the conception of SL. The buck stops with them in my opinion. They are the guardians of their respective club and they have failed. The need to regcognise this before both clubs are consigned to the scrap heap should not be under-estimated. History counts for nothing in SL, never has and never will.

There are a great number of passionate people involved with both clubs, but none more so than the fans. We know RL, we breath RL and we can dominate RL if we only learn to work together. Both clubs feel that the RFL and the rest of RL is against them....I agree. So lets do the un-expected and embrace their efforts to destroy us and unite. This is extremely hard for me to say and concede, but we had the chance years ago, but the timing was out; and we, the fans were wrong. I can hold my hand up now and see that.
The bigger picture is what is important and I don't want RL to wither and die in my/our district.

The RFL and it's dream of SL has created a false hatred between our fans, shown by the blinkered venom spouted by some on the various stadium threads. I enjoy the rivalry, experiencing my share more than most with the whole of my in-laws massive wakey fans, and I'll be sad to see that lost to a merger, but I'd rather that than one or both clubs to die. I'm not prepared to take the risk of losing either club...are you?
I certainly see no success in seeing another proud RL club die just so that one can survive until the RFL move the goalposts again and the "winner" dies to make way for another more fashionable club.



=#BF4080As soon as wakey announced the location of Newmarket Lane I warned both Cas and wakey fans that a merger would come and I still don't see anything to make me think it wont happen. As I have resigned myself to this I have mused over the prospect for quite a while and I think the majority of people, myself included, could follow a merged team under the following conditions:

1. No professional rugby league team henceforth to be allowed to have the following words incorporated into its name; Castleford Tigers and/or Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. The names must die with the merger; it's the only way it could work.

2. The newly merged team must play in completely neutral colours (no black, amber, red, white or blue) difficult though this may be. There aren't many left as I'm sure neither of us wants to play in blue (spit!)

3. The newly formed club must be named independently of the two places. Who says a team has to bear the name of a Town or a City? It has to be something completely synonomous with the area; the only thing I can think of that alienates no-one, but incorporates almost everyone is the moniker "Miners" or some other mining industry name. This, in my opinion, could appease some of the older heads too as well as allowing the heritage and identity of the whole area to blossom and engender a lost sense of pride and community which has otherwise been consigned to the rubbish tip by successive Tory and (more shamefully in my opinion) Labour governments. Apologies I digress!

If these three points were applied, more importantly point 1, then I, as gut wrenching as it would be, could support a merged team with the pride and passion with which I have followed Castleford Tigers.
You may have noticed that I have left Featherstone Rovers out of the equation, this is purely as the thread appears to me to be talking about Cas and wakey only. They could easily be placed into the equation I have outlined above with little or no problem should they choose to.

I will say the same as i said on the Wakie board. I am a cas fan, that means I follow Cas, no one else. I have no problem with a shared stadium. Any other team than Cas? I will never, ever follow them!

We stand together but divided on this, does that makes sense?

Maybe for the future of RL in the area its the way to go and should be embraced but not for old soldiers like us eh bum boy.

Indded Big Gay Al, indeed. Whilst you are on here. Was that you texting into radio Leeds a couple of weeks ago, saying you won't be off to see Wakie again this season after their dismal performance?

I'm a cas fan, i'll support cas no matter what.

I will never ever support a merged team.

Lock lane will welcome my support if we merge i'm sure.

No and thats almost an insult

i do know the chap in question he's got that name on his shirt.

Are you two trying to get the site fined by the rfl or something

Don't worry i'm not upset and won't complain

Not upset? Well how about this then ..............................................You complete BEEP, you like to BEEP your BEEP while your Mums BEEPING your BEEP and your uncles licking your BEEP. And you BEEP with BEEP's who have got BEEPS in their BEEP!

Steady, if its a merged team, then there is no future, the RFL will have ripped the heart out of Cas, even Thatcher couldnt do that.
Sorry mate but you should be ashamed just entertaining the vile idea

id rather tear my self another ar$ehole than have anything to do with a merged fabricated team that hasnt got a thing in common with my town, apart from satisfying some pillocks at Red Hall and some numpties on sky

Wouldn't support any merger team and would probably fall out with the game all together. As high as 95% of Cas fans wouldn't support a merged team imo.

Do it and rugby league will get weaker in West Yorkshire imo.

Steady im with ya but then again i am the only liberal in the village

Wakey fan in peace..........

1. hope both clubs survive in original name / form and fans, stuff SL if needs be.
2. does anyone actually believe these new stadiums, be it 1 or 2 are sustainable without bankrupting the clubs? especailly if either or boths teams are tenants?

Chappers i really dont know anymore? But if the district looses its foothold in Superleague then it will be Rugby League that suffers . The RFL needs to understand that Wakey Cas Normy and the surrounding areas are the blood that feeds the game as much as Wigan Hull and Saints, There are more juniors playing in our district than anywhere be carefull very carefull!!

yeah i know that, just feel both teams are being pushed in to a situation wherby independantly they cannot survive in SL, neither clubs finances seem rosey at present and thats without rentals of stadiums etc etc, like you i just dont know anymore, hence the question.

sad times, but at present im just disgruntled with SL and the system, not with fev, wakey, cas, or for that matter dewsbury or batley, think what im finding is super league is not what I loved, I loved rugby league. (I want to stand in grounds and chat to opposition fans, not shout at them from 40 metres away as well ).

Dont think ive seen anyone put it better

I am an outsider(Saints fan) but mergers will never work.
But I think that Cas and Wakey can share a stadium together with a capacity of around 15,000.

It's Cas or nothing for me, whether it's in a new stadium in Superleague at Xscape or in NL at the jungle.
The blinkered people running (maybe that should be ruining) our game seem to have a hidden agenda to remove ourselves and Wakey from the top tier of the game, God only knows why, but it sadly appears to be the case.

Where did the word merger enter the situation? I thought this was all about a groundshare. I don't know the local geography of your area however if one of the sites is roughly equidistant between Wakefield and Castleford realistically what is the problem? To secure enough funding to build a stadium, let alone 2 is difficult at the best of times, with the current economic situation is prooving impossible. If the funding is available to groundshare surely that is better than the out of date grounds both teams have now and the probable loss of franchise for both teams which would probably result without a staduim on the horizon.

FWIW i strongly disagree with any merger as they NEVER work. But if Inter and AC milan can, Roma and Lazio can i'm sure Wakefield and Castleford can.

I have no problem with it. Aslong as it is at NEWMARKET

Dont talk like a mug, Newmarket is dead in the water and Leeds council will make sure it stays that way. The only two realistic options are Glasshoughton or go it alone, I prefer go it alone if you are representative of who will be using our stadium.

Becuase the rfl have wanted the teams to merge for a long time and if we ground share theres a good chance they will use it to try and force a merger.

Ac and inter wont be sharing much longer, they've decided they cant live together after all and one of them is moving out. Plus they have the advantage that there both in milan so as long as the stadium was built in milan there was no problem, the only real nuetral location for cas and wakey is normanton, but theres no suitable land to build on there and even if there was its too late now.

So if the RFL want to merge 2 teams why not the 2 Hull clubs. Two clubs in one city cannot be the ultimate vision of the RFL.

As a Wakey fan it looks to me Wakey are shafted either way here. Glasshoughton (I've been there a couple of times) is brilliant, would be a great matchday experience that IMO could be the best in Super League. I live in Filey so it wouldn't matter to me personally if the Stadium was at GH or NM as I don't live around there. However I doubt Wakey fans would bother going to Cas to watch Wakey, and without those fans going, it would be pointless TBH.

I've read through hundreds of pages of this topic now and it looks like NM is dead in the water as much as my fellow Wakey fans clutch at straws with talk of Oakwell and the like. However the stumbling block here from what I've read is Cas could do with Wakey on board to get bricks laid.

TBH its a crap situation for both of our clubs and I feel sorry for both sets of supporters involved but as far as I can see Wakey will be getting the short straw at the end of the day. If wakey cease to exist then thats that, I will go and watch Sheffield Wednesday a bit more.

I could go on and on and round and round in circles about this topic, but whats the point? What will be will be ATEOTD. Good luck to Cas, but by the looks of things my club are doomed