would that really be the case though.?

when someone on here posed the question,whats more important,your team or the sport,most people replied the sport.

or were they just full of bull$h1t

whats the alternative?

It doesnt look like both clubs are going to get a new stadium, but even if they do, where are they both going to find the other 5k fans each they will need to join the upper echelons rather than being dragged along?

Either both clubs survive, get these stadiums, find another 10k fans in the district, or a merger is the better alternative.

Whilst a merger may be lucky to get 5k, its 5k more than we would get if the there was no club in the district.

Cas took 10k+ fans to Headingley for the NL1 final in 2007. If we can start getting up in the top six regularly and get some quality players in, I have no concerns about posting decent attendances.

and if you dont but Wakefield do?

where are these fans now?

you are looking at circa 4k on top of your average, considering these fans wont attend now, but you believe they would if Cas had a bit of success, wouldnt these fans attend a merged team with a bit of success?

=#8000FFHighly unlikely/impossible. Most people in the district are Cas fans, Wakey play second fiddle, like they will at Glasshoughton.

Cas will prosper getting around 10k a week, Wakey will have a slight increase to about 6-7k

As for merging, it's safe to say at least 3/4s of the original teams fans will stop watching the game, that's what, 8,000 people a week less combined.

is it?

if as in our hypothetical situation, Wakefield have 3 or 4 years in the sun, maybe make a couple of finals, while Cas maybe struggle on the field for a couple of years and they are sharing a stadium

why do expect someone in say Pontefract, or Knottingly, or Normanton feel more represented by Castleford with which they have no affiliation than Wakefield which is where they live?

=#8000FFThey live in PONTEFRACT, KNOTTINGLY and NORMANTON, not Wakefield as you say, Wakefield is just the council, nobody in the 5 towns claims, nor I'd wager wants to be associated with Wakefield.

You're potentially believing that they choose Cas or Wakey. A lot of people in Ponty support Featherstone, who are fast becoming an impressive outfit both on and off the field.

The likelihood is that those in Pontefract and Knottingley are likely to support Cas/Fev and those in Normanton more likely to support Wakefield/Cas in a split.

Also, you forget the potential for breeding. If Cas fans get their act together and start reproducing more kids, we'd have a bigger fanbase that way.



[size=25(No I'm not being serious here...)[/size

but for some yet to distinguished reason you expect they would like to be associated with Castleford

=#8040FFNo, I don't expect, I know that the team with the most support in the district is Cas, people don't switch allegiances, well maybe Leeds fans do, but it's a fact that's plain to see that Cas are the best supported team in the district and with the more potential to grow.

The places were just examples.

A better way of asking the question may be,

Considering we know that Castleford is in Wakefield, So a stadium in Castleford is a stadium in Wakefield, and The surrounding district is Wakefield, why would people who dont live in Castleford, but live in the district of Wakefield, identify more with a Castleford team playing in Wakefield than a Wakefield team playing in Wakefield?

Im not asking whether you think that people in this town or that town would support Cas or Wakefield, but why, all things being equal, you think people with even the most tenuous of link with Wakefield, would identify with Castleford where they have no link at all instead?

Because Castleford is, has and always will have a separate identity? Castleford may be in the Wakefield district but it is not IN Wakefield; each place would have their own town council if it was actually worth the hassle.

But anyway, I get a sense of deja vu. This argument has been done before and I seem to remember it was you arguing the toss about Cas been in Wakey with three or four Cas fans.

Well, i would first of all like to comment on how well reasoned that argument is. I mean if you know the best supported team in the district is and always will be Cas, and YOU know they have more potential to grow and will go from strength to strength its a wonder Cas need bother with the council, they can just walk you into the local branch of barclays, ask for £15m, and ask you to tell the Manager what you know. Brilliant.

But lets see if we can follow your logic through. If People dont switch allegiances, then then the 4k new fans you are expecting to attract have no allegiances. Why do you think people will form an allegiance to a small town they dont even have any link with?

Well i think we can all comfortably agree Cas is in Wakefield, it is also in the ceremonial counties of west yorkshire and the ancient county of Yorkshire, it is also in England, the UK, Europe, The Western Hemisphere, and as much as some would deny it, it is part of planet earth.

And again, that isnt the question i am asking you. Im not arguing over whether or not Castleford has its separate identity, or that difference between being in Wakefield or the district or any of that.

I am asking you why you think people who arent in Cas, will identity with apparently completely separate identity of Cas, when they have no link to it, over Wakefield considering Wakefield is the district they live in?

=#8000FFThe 10k CAS fans that were at the NL1 grand final...

And as for needing 15m, the council are offering 4m, the rest is being put up by the club.

Because I said so. Isn't that good enough for you?

well, its an opinion



the point i am trying to get across, is that for a team in that district to be successful, it need to have a team which represents the whole district. Cas and Wakefield expend to much energy fighting each other fight at the top end of SL.

It is pretty much universally accepted that one club getting a stadium, and one not, will sound the death knell for the one which doesnt. Knowing that, surely once we know 2 stadiums wont be built, a merger is the only feasible, sustainable option?

surely, if you knew Cas were going to go bust you would want them to merge with Wakefield? and vice versa? Even if you say, thats it, you're done with the sport, surely you can still appreciate its better to have the two clubs merge than one or both dead?

So because the attended one game, a final no less, they now have an unbreakable allegiance? sounds like wishful thinking to me.

If Cas went bust I'd support Huddersfield, purely for the fact I lived there but nothing would ever replace Cas.

I would never support a merged entity unless it was called Castleford - i.e. Castleford Trinity Tigers.

As Barry McKenzie becomes a Cas fan, I wait with baited breath for the arguments with Smokey. Should we create a new, seperate board for these two most annoying posters?

Welcome aboard





So you would support a merged entity

but someone in a earlier post said the council are putting nothing into the building of the stadium. are they or are they not ?.

even if the council are financially helping and cas get £4million off them and get a couple of million for the jungle do you think the current directors are going to put the other £9million+ needed into the project to see it through.?

Yes, I would support a merged entity as long as it retained the Castleford name.

If there's no such merger appearing I'd go support the Giants.

even if they had no geograhpical name?

just the Trinity Tigers? or some such derivation? Even a name which has no link to either club. And if it was still positioned as a club for the people of Castleford and the top of the pyramid for the young players of Castleford? just also the club for the people of Wakefield an all the towns in the district, and the top of the pyramid for the young players of the entire district?

I can understand not wanting to play under a Wakefield name, i can understand not wanting to supplicate yourselves at the feet of the enemy and become simply part of Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. What i cant understand is the wanting the club to risk death because you dont want to be equal partners in something new. I also cant understand going to Huddersfield (ever, for any reason) instead of a club which was at least part castleford?

=#8040FFYes because that's the original plan, there's other investors involved such as Surfworld, an indoor waterpark.