I don't remember anyone championing a merger 12 months ago when we won 7 on the trot, hit the top 8 and had loads of money, what the hells changed.


A merger may well work given time for future generations but i doubt it would work "present day"

I hope you don't mind the slight edit

Just fed up of being a bottom side 'on the brink' once again and I think a merger at Newmarket would in the long term be a good idea.

I don't count last season as finishing in the Top 8, on wins we were ninth.

Fwiw I agree with Bren, people would take their ball home initially but if they loved the game most would eventually come back.

Id go watch dewsbury or batley rather than a merged "calder" team. I love the game yet I find myself with a massive disliking for super league and sky sports and wouldnt mind having nothing to do with either if it came to it.

I believe that WMDC is only capable of supporting one SL on a sustainable basis. I also believe that any merged team would need to have Wakefield as a part of it in order to tap into the greatest population mass in the district.

I also think Brens points are valid provided the team could progress financially over the initial 'bedding in' period before it started to gather momentum.

El Rey also makes a valid point in that this discussion seems to crop hope only in times of weakness. However when
one possible partner is weak the other one is usually stronger and for this reason I don't think it will have happen.

Cough cough ,

That's what I'm thinking about - hence my uncharacteristic departure from Planet Earth.

I'm weary of maintaining the illusion tbh - it's as clear as the nose on my face that the District can't support 3 teams in any way other than as perennial strugglers, persistently eking out a living on the fringes of the modern game; if something radical isn't done and soon, the sport itself will die a death in this area.

If one of the 3 clubs get a sugar daddy, the other two will die; if none do, all 3 will. The best alternative to that, in my view, would be for all 3 clubs to get round the table and with their combined resources, thrash out a plan for the future of RL in the Wakefield District. If that doesn't happen, it will be taken out of our hands.

What a load of nonsense! , the opportunity for a merger to work (if there ever was one ) has now gone. It was only a means to fit into the franchising framework.

As things stand we need to finish in the top 12 next season. If we do we stay up and if we do not we go down a division and rebuild.

Anyone who thinks merging two teams on their backsides into some sort of Superleague superpower is even a possibility must be off their rocker.

We have always had to sell players to survive , and have always found new players to take their place ,no one is irreplaceable.

What about a dual code setup - Trinity and the old Wakefield union team both playing out of Newmarket, similar to Leeds. Would it bring in more sponsorship, higher the profile of rugby in the area and increase the fan base.
Probably would never get off the ground but just a thought

to my knowledge Wakefield don't have a union side any more, think the closest is Sandal RU

They still exist on paper, although they don't have a team they are still non playing members of the RFU and the Yorkshire RFU. I think they tried to team up with Bradford Bulls about 10 yrs ago but never got going, Sykes played for Wakefield RFU I thinks while at Bradford

I'd rather we were looking at ground shares and shared resources than mergers. Whether football or RU or other.

Personally as Bren said, if the other teams went out of existence, of course I'd watch the new one, but I don't want to plan to go that way.

I also think a good merger happens when both sides are strong. That isn't us at the moment, and Cas are only a bit stronger than us at the moment.

Wonder if Wakey .& Cas owners have ever sat down & seriously evaluated benefits of a shared ground, & if so, what put them off taking the idea further ?
Intuitively it makes sense ( even more so when you consider how close the new ground(s) will be).
I guess we'd all be a bit nervous about it being perceived as one step closer to a merger of the clubs, but, with strong will & good core support ( & some legal safeguards to prevent some asset-stripping outfit taking over one or other club & selling out for short-term gain, down track) it could work, in principle.
Guess thorny a issue of what happens if one club grows & other withers,may be a sticking point.
Also, might be unfair for Featherstone, for whom many have a soft spot (though I'm pretty ignorant of the state of affairs down Post Office road, so may be way off-beam.) though this is a business decision
.
If this has been done to death, previously, I apologise ( if so, could someone direct me to relevant thread or summarise main points?) but seems pertinent to raise it (again?)

you're right, it's been done to death, but as you asked politely...
Whenever it was mooted there was always one club which was stronger and believed they could do it alone. At the start of SL it could have been possible to combine resources and find a suitable central/neutral venue, but that ship has sailed.
Fev now have gone some way into improving their own facilities, so unlikely to want to sell up. Cas want to sell but can't get enough to build a stadium of their own atm. Wakefield have nothing to sell/contribute to any joint stadium, but have their own stadium plans which are waiting for an enabling industrial development to get started, with an uncertain timescale, . Cas and Fev won't play there for loss of identity/merger threat issues.

A merger of 2 (or 3) clubs would need a perfect storm of circumstances. If any one club perceives themselves to be stronger, it couldn't happen.

Perhaps the current situation is the closest they've been to being equal (although cas probably wouldn't admit it).
The only way I could see a merger happening would be for rich benefactor deciding to start a Wakefield Mets team based at Newmarket. The other 3 would then be feeder clubs (owned by the Mets) and play in the 3 stadiums in the lower leagues. Then the area would be a real powerhouse of RL.
If you know any multi-millionaires that would be interested, let us know.

That's a great idea, sell the Cas and Fev Grounds, all Fev's land, pay off our debts, build our stadium, and lets call the new merged team Wakefield, I can wait for the Cas fans, and Flat Cappers to jump at the chance

Thanks for taking trouble to respondCoco; you're right about elusive perfect storm. What a shame.

Let's say a successful team in Wakey, Cas and Fev would draw 12, 10 and 8 thousand averages then together surely we would be talking 30000. With a few trophies we might be talking nearer 40,000. I don't think Newmarket would be big enough.

I can't be d reading most of this thread.

I am disappointed that it is the fall-back argument every time we hit the buffers - which is our own fault - and that some people don't have the stomach for a fight.

We are on the verge of the biggest opportunity for progress, stability and the chance to be genuinely competitive towards the top of SL, that we have had for 50 years. NM will provide so much more than a plastic bucket seat or a new concrete terrace with no holes in it. It will provide a home for the school and college work (which has such huge potential), will have some of the best facilities to attract both senior and junior players, will attract much larger crowds bringing significant revenue and, if all comes together, will bring in rental from the surrounding buildings that will far outweigh the costs of operating the place. And some people seem willing to give that up because we've hit a bit of trouble???

Hang tight, keep the faith and we WILL get where we want to be!

you must of been chuckling to your self while posting this comment

The best opening sentence ever to a loooong post; unfortunately, I cba reading it.

Touche!

I love your optimism TRB! - I think the people of Wakefield have shown times many that they have fight. How many other clubs have come near to going out so many times in recent years and yet have averaged over 8000 crowds over the last two seasons without the club winning sod all for decades?
So the fight and resilience is there !
I will continue my support and I daresay the majority of people voicing their frustration on here will do. You can't fault them though for venting their anger having been, shall I say, deceived AGAIN!
The guy now in charge is speaking sense and saying the right words. I don't know him so I say give him a chance but once again Mount Everest is to climb - you do get a bit sick of it eh?

Sums it up for me. Merger

.

I love you're optimism TRB and agree with the sentiment of the post especially the highlighted. I know Newmaket won't sort out all our problems, ie very rich owner but I can't wait to see us have a crack at SL in the new stadium and said stadium will hopefully bring the investment.

I love TRB, but not in a funny dodgy way.

Bottle what this man has and sell it, easy money.