Good post, and understand your point totally!

Here here

Got rather emotional reading that. Sort of made me realise how much id miss watching Cas.

I would rather watch Cas v Dewsbury in the championship that watch Wakefield Tigers win the superleague

The question is Steve will the next generation ?

I don't know about your lot over there but there are plenty of young kids in Wakey walking round with Rhino shirts. The Cas you talk about in the future could still have a following of oldfarts that remember the glory years but the young kids will watch the merged side in SL especially if they are doing reasonably well.

Those are very fair points, but just out of interest, would you, or anyone else on here, follow a SL team that didn't carry the name of either Wakefield or Castleford or Featherstone but was based in the area and made up of lads from those 3 areas, with a smattering of top class Aussies to compliment the squad, if you could also support your local team in the National Leagues?

A merger is something that would only ever happen if one club was to fall behind the other in such a way that is was no longer viable to have 2 clubs, this is probably one of the primary reasons why neither club has ever really sat round a table and discussed sharing.

I should think most people are going to follow their heart & support the club they've always followed....I know i would.

I strongly doubt it. I can't say no outright because I can't begin think how it would be marketed, what its identity would be, etc. On the surface it seems like an appalingly bad idea to me - the kind only marketeers and business gurus could come up with.

The only comparison I can think of at the moment is that my other half supports Brentford FC, a League 1 soccer team unlikely to make the Premiership any time soon. She has no desire whatsoever to follow - even passively - any other London team on the grounds that it's in the Premier League. Why? Because she's a Brentford girl.. always has been, always will be. End of.

But in this scenario, you could in theory follow both.

Just asking the question. Everyone wants to hang on to their own club, and rightly so. But many people recognise the limitations of that when it comes to sporting success. There are so many players from the area who come from one place and play for the other, and we don't seem to mind that, as long as they're "one of ours".

Are Catalans or Celtic Crusaders not similar entities (albeit in slightly different ways)?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the proposal but I don't think they are, no.

Assuming my ropey French RL history is right, XIII Catalan and St Esteve merged to form UTC which eventually became the Dragons. UTC still play in the French comp, but do XIII Catalans or St Esteve still exist? I didn't think they did, suggesting to me that UTC's French league commitments aren't much more than reserve grade Rugby for the Dragons. Like I said though, it's not something I'm that knowledgeable about so I could be wrong. I certainly can't judge on how UTC or former XIII Catalans & St Esteve fans view their various allegiances but isn't it also true that ALL the above clubs are/were based in the city of Perpignan and thus had a common banner to unite under?

As for the Crusaders, they were born of Celtic Warriors RUFC which as I understand it was by any measure an unmitigated disaster of a Union merger between Pontyprydd and Bridgend. Again though, I concede my knowledge of Welsh RU is even more spartan than that of French RL.

Im pretty clear on my views on this and Im pretty much with Disco, you could watch a merged team but what we do now is follow and support, we are wakefield and castleford and featherstone. Id rather see wakey cas and fev in a lower league and surviving than one all encompassing "calder" type arrangemt in a shiny super stadium winning every week. I know im approaching old fart status but its a bit like an old dog, it may smell but yoou still love it, so you dont put it down and go and buy a new puppy.

the footbal analogy has been used but the real wimbledon and fc united fans of this world are the real ones, we mock the drift from bradford to leeds and back based on success, so we cant just do the same. In short a merged cllub is a new club not my club, and no I would not watch both if both existed

Part of the love of trin and cas these days is the survival, and a really hope both clubs do, shiny stadia or not.

Having watched Richard Wright he looked like a man who was bluffing when asked about the future of Castlefords stadium. When asked about a ground share he more or less stated that it could be possible.

Complete change of stance from his no share attitude about 12 months ago.

I could, and never ever, would follow a team not known as the Castleford Tigers and you'd not follow anyone but Wakefield Trinity Wildcats. I'd rather follow Cas in lower divisions and you'd do the same for Wakey.

I wondered how long it'd take for RW to think of the possibility of sharing a ground.

having just watched the piece on boots n all with eddie n martin offiah, it seems clear to me they want widnes come hell or high water, everytime i watch rugby on sky it widnes this and widnes gearing up for super league, there no way i want a merged team i was against this last time but n i mean if we have to share to survive then i would go to a shared ground aslong as wakefield trinity was running out n front of me , lets hope we can sort this out soon andsee progress, i do hope so

If both clubs were getting 10k+ attendance figures in say 5 years time, I doubt it would make financial sense to merge at all, I'm all for a ground share, but like the rest of you, not at the cost of losing Wakey OR Cas, I'd much rather see Wakey in the northen ford than see a new team formed, Wakefield is in my blood now, as I'm sure the same goes for Castleford. I don't think a new club would work, even if they were called Calder FC or something, no-one would be bothered.

I wouldn't mind sharing if it was only a temporary thing for either side until the other side's stadium is built.

I could never live with sharing a stadium permanently. It's a shame that the SL licencing debate has come down to stadiums. Both clubs have other things to offer to Super League.

Super League needs a strong Wakefield district.

you have just seen the thin end of the wedge there from rw's own lips. i wouldn't knock him for what he said last year before the recession hit but now with investment at an all time low and developers and construction struggling, he is just intimating what is becoming more and more obvious. its time they got their heads together and moved forward. you can't stop progress. sl is the future and thats where both teams need to be despite what the rfl think. cas and wakey need to work together to secure the futures of 2 great clubs and not be sidelined to make way for the rfl's preferrences.

Exactly, but unfortunately... rules are rules and despite the fortunes of other clubs, and the geographical locations of some other clubs, we face missing out on top flight rugby, despite having very competative teams, and youth teams at the top of the table and a host of other factors.

what some people don't realise is that if we do go out of sl, the structures and the youth teams that the clubs have worked so hard to build will have been for nothing because the clubs will no longer be able to financially support them.

just out of intrest
where does a shared ground leave us with the points awarded for the 10 mile rule?

you do the maths.....(in crayon)

nil points sil vous plait?

matters not cos leigh is about 5 miles from wigan and widnes is about 5 miles from there your car is after kick off.

someone told me major reason warrignton, leigh and widnes grounds survive is thay all have premier leguie reserve teams playing there, think its everton bolton and liverpool, so costs of ground on off weeks are paid for.

we used to do ok out of leeds reserves, think that door is firmly close for a while and i cant see any other big money spinner.

its looking wakey cas on altenate weekends to me...somewhere

warrington were losing money having liverpool there and they've now moved to tranmere

We have also sold belle vue, and if we dont get this new stadium.

I very much doubt we have an unlimited time to use the stadium until we find a new one, if we have got a time-frame we could use it for, we would have to pay rent which would reduce wages we wouldnt be in Sl low crowds etc could become anothe r Wakey RU . Who'd pay for repairs etc,

Its either get a stadium and survive dont and d** imo