Apart from the SL clubs not wanting to share the TV cash out more widely, another solid reason for not expanding to 16 clubs is simply that there is not enough playing talent around to provide two extra SL quality sides.

Is there though?

Surely if SL expanded to 16 clubs then you would have more people playing the game at a higher level, therby improving their own standards?

theres not enough british or european talent around is there ?.

Probably not right now...but does it really matter?

They will develop in time


And lets be realistic... no other side other than Wigan, Saints, Warrington and maybe Leeds (if they change their coach) stand any hope of becoming premiers anyway...

great idea fella, then after a couple of years they could be called emley wildcats and then a few years later just emley!!!!!you know where i am coming from fella dont you

Glasshoughton is part of Cas, there's no debate there, in fact it actually shares an electoral ward with Castleford town centre.

You say there aren't that many people in Cas, but it does have a population approaching 40000 and is neighboured by four towns with populations ranging from 13000 to 30000, three of which don't have professional RL teams. Then to the east, the nearest neighbouring clubs are 40-odd miles away which actually leaves the club with quite a large catchment area, from where large numbers of support already eminate.

, and so only one other , Widnes would take the best of the Championship , a couple of their ' yoof ' and fill up with mediocre aussies like the rest of SL

No problem

SL just keeps getting better and better

Have you not been listening to what we have been telling you?

you are right, there is no debate there.

And why would these three towns identify with Castleford?
and why would people from 20miles to the east, who probably havent heard of Castleford identify with castleford? if that were true the attendances wouldnt be so low.

Also when the idea of mergers or stadium sharing comes up, we see arguments from Cas and Wakefield fans that they wouldnt watch a team not named after their town/city that wasnt in newmarket/glasshoughton (depending on their affiliation) when the distance between those two towns border each other, Cas is in Wakefield and its about 5 miles from Newmarket to Cas.

Yet now we see Wakefield proposing to move much further away to Barnsley, and Castleford saying they have a target market of places not in Castleford where people WILL come and watch a team that isnt named after their town/city and will come from as far away as 20 miles to the east and local towns with different names.

They are Pontefract, Knottingley and Normanton - all RL hotbeds with no professional team. If they want to watch the pro game, chances are they'll go for one of the nearest, not to mention that Cas is the largest town of the five-towns area.


I suspect there are very few people within 20 miles who haven't heard of Castleford, but in reality if there's a fanbase in an area there's always the potential for that fanbase to grow. For example there's a large Castleford fanbase in Selby. The presence of Xscape and Junction 32 are also helping to raise the profile of the area as a whole and with a new stadium located on that development it'll be interesting to see what impact this has.


Cas were open to the idea of a feasibility study into a potential groundshare - it was Wakefield who burnt that particular bridge by refusing it outright.

It's reasonable for all clubs to aspire to expand their fanbase, why should Cas be any different just because it's a town with a 40k population? There are a lot of people who don't live in Cas but have links to the town and identify with it in that way, hence a geographically widespread fanbase. As for those who come that don't have links, well you'd have to ask them but I suspect a combination of good marketing, an entertaining product, and a decent family day out.

so the people in Knottingly, or Normanton, who live in Wakefield, why wouldnt they go watch Wakefield?

outside RL, There would me no reason people would have, christ even Xscape pretends its in Leeds.

Why do you think they are so many people with links to a pretty small town? These people arent coming to watch Cas, if they were the attendance wouldnt be so low.

As i said, you couldnt wish for a better location for a stadium than Glasshoughton, but if Cas dont find a way to get people to identify with them, they cant build that support. Cas is a small town, among numerous small towns in Wakefield. Wakefield itself struggles to identify itself as separate from Leeds. How are Cas going to sell themselves as the name to align yourself with over and above the much bigger names of Leeds and Wakefield, which are places a fair amount of your fans actually live.

Why would people identify with Arsenal? It's not as if it's an actual place is it?

Its well documented that Wakey have to move out of BV after next season, so what is wrong with going to Barnsley they have to go somewhere as well you know, unless of course you are too stupid to comprehend that which I doubt you are. I suspect what Cas are saying is that they need to target areas that do not have profesional rugby played in their area in order to keep up with the lucky ones, but once again you are turning comments around to suit your argument trying to make people look stupid, the answers dont always differentiate the comedian from the clown though.

How do Aston Villa still exist when they have bigger neighbours in Birmingham and Wolves? By being a success and remaining in the top flight.

The club is slowly growing. The next generation of Cas fans will be the kids of current ones hopefully plus others that are attracted. You never stop being a Cas fan once you start. Could you imagine the horror if your kid came home one day and annouced "I support Leeds". They would be straight to the nearest child psychiatrist.

They were at one stage, and Arsenal have built that. They have built their identity as the 'North London Club'

So why can't Cas do the same as the 'East West Yorkshire' club?

The same reason as they wouldnt identify themselves as Vietnamese.

this makes absolutely no sense. I've read it a few times and cant decipher what you are trying to say!


Cas isnt in Cas, That would be mental. Cas is Cas. Which is in Wakefield.

If they are prepared to go to a different city in a different county to share a stadium. Why not stay in their own city, and share a stadium.
Yes, ok. I understand that they are targetting people in other areas not called Cas to come and support Cas. I am asking why if they expect other people would come from other areas to watch a team from a different town play and identify with it. They wouldnt accept people would do the same for a merged club.

Do people identify themselves as being from East West Yorkshire?

I know if you speak to a lot of people in London they will happily say they are from North London, or Sarf Landan etc.....

I've never heard anyone describe themselves as being from East West Yorkshire

I'm not sure why Cas are mentioned in this thread. Wakey may be in trouble, go debate that point. Castleford Tigers RLFC are in no trouble what so ever. Our stadium is on track, our club is growing, our future is rosey. We are not merging with anyone, we're not ground sharing. We are building our own new stadium at Glasshoughton and we are aiming for RL success.

It isnt growing is it. We arent seeing tons of people going down to 'the coliseum' are we?

There is a lot of good Cas are doing, but if they limit themselves to such a very small area then they are going to struggle to attract the amount of people they need to, to take that next step.

oh ok, if thats the case it will definitely definitely happen.

Jolly good SmokeyTA. Glad I didn't get the usual drivel argument in reply and you actually understand.

Quite, it's ridiculous. And living in London, I know plenty of people from North London who support a different North London club - Spurs - whose fanbase it's fair to say isn't confined to the borders of Tottenham.

Point is, people identify with clubs regardless of what the name of that club is. I'm sure the vast majority of Manchester United fans around the globe have never been to Manchester. Some are probably unaware that Manchester is actually a place. Man Utd attract fans because of their success. With the increased opportunities afforded to Cas at a new ground, there's no reason they can't become successful on the field as well as off it, and no reason why their fanbase cannot have a reach outside of the five towns.

There already is a fanbase of fans from outside Cas Gaz, as you already know. I'm not even talking of people who have moved away from Cas like yourself. Through avenues such as Sky Sports we have attracted fans who regularly travel from places such as Stoke for example, to watch Castleford. We aim to attract more from the towns and villages surrounding Castleford and we also aim to bring fans from around the UK.

And Man Utd did an unbelievable amount of work to do that. Man Utd do a ridiculous amount of work overseas and in other areas. Massive. It was fantastic foresight. They player games all over the world, have shops all over the world, they have supporters clubs all over the world, websites in different languages and worked very very very hard to sell themselves as something other than a Manchester football club, they sell the story, the history, the busby babes and all that jazz.

Barcelona compete, they do it even more obviously, Barcelona F.C [iMés que un club[/i More Than a Club! They sell themselves as the Catalan Giants, who dont just win they do it in style with a Catalan flair. They position themselves as the apposite of those big boys with all the help, the states favourite galacticos.

That is the question i am asking you. Are Castleford doing anything to sell themselves to other areas. Are they doing anything to present themselves as something other than the RL club of a small northern town and expecting this stadium to just mean people all of a sudden decide they are from a place they have barely ever been to?