I think that people would come regardless of prior loyalties if the team were successful, playing attractive rugby in a decent stadium. Nobody (especially kids enjoys going to see their team getting soundly beaten every other weekend), which seems to be the norm at the minute.

As someone mentioned earlier we have a great tradition of RL in the area and produce a lot of promising youngsters who we invariably lose to the bigger clubs.

The economic reality in the short to medium term is that if the area is to have a team capable of challenging the bigger clubs merger is the most viable option. It's probably something that will be forced upon us as I could not envisage the owners/management of Wakey & Cas willingly persuing the idea. The worst case scenario is both clubs fail to get a license and interest in the sport at a grass roots area dwindles.

=#8000FFDid a quick shirt on Photoshop the other day, white with an amber and red V, looked good and is a mix of colours, or there could be the Wests route from this year and have 4 kits (2 Tigers 2 Magpies for them). I'll make another now seems I didn't save it

and I have nothing better to do



I still think a merged team could be a massive force in Super League and if people take to it like people on these forums seems to be, there's nothing to say the crowds won't be 10k at home either.



=#8000FFThere's a massive difference in distance between Cas/Wakey and those other 2 mergers though, that's why those ones didn't work (imo) was the distance between the 2 original clubs.

The reality is that neither Wakey or Cas will ever be serious contenders in SL; there are a finite number of resources within the district that RL can attract (fans, advertising revenue, WMDC support, corporate deals etc) and at present, those resources are being split between two clubs. That situation allows both clubs to merely survive, but never to thrive, hence the malaise that currently (and always) afflicts both teams.

For me, a merger with Cas (and Fev) should be on the agenda for all the clubs right now and should be part of the plans to move to Newmarket; intransigence and refusal to accept change in the short term will, in my view, lead to one or both SL clubs folding and as someone else has said, that could signal the beginning of the end for RL in the district.

Carpe diem!

Finacial benefits are misleading. I know all those pubs,bars, shops and attractions are up at Xscape but they are not owned by the club. Supporters will use them go and watch the game and back into them.

Newmarket will not have the same attractions so supporters will go inside the stadium and spend their money.

Also to add to the above

Newmarket to Wakey bus station 3.5 miles

Newmarket to Cas bus station 4.5 miles.

=#8000FFNeutral colours and the area coat of arms included in a shirt:



=#8000FFNot one of the fashion police, but it's recognisable

Looks like the Green Wigan

[u........[size=150=#4000FFT=#BF0000R=#4000FFI=#BF0000N=#4000FFI=#BF0000T=#4000FFY =#FF4000T=#000000I=#FF4000GE=#FF4000RS[/size.........[/u
[i[size=85"=#4000FFWakefield & =#FF4000Castleford Rugby League Club"[/size[/i

thats the excat weay i see it apart from the shirts which we could both keep our home shirt colours and play alterrnagtive (not home and away) this would at least keep some of the more angry fans happy

I hope none of this will ever happen! You should all be ashamed



Realistically though if a Franchise for both our clubs rested on something such as a merger, I would most likely lose interest in the sport, I couldn't bare to say goodbye to Wakefield Trinity, the history and everything the club means to me as a supporter in favour of a Merged team.

The only Silver Lining would be Albert Rosenfeld/Allices Phallus (or whatever other guise he once had / has) would be let out of the Mental Hospital!

ashamed for being realistic

Ashamed for not having the fight. I would rather go down fighting im afraid, if that means no club or one in the NL's then so be it.

the fight weve been fighting for 15 years

me too. superleague is not the be all and end all of rurgby league.

i have spent many happy times watching wakey play fev, batley fax et al.

i will watch wakey anywhere(including a shared ground) and will never attend a SL game featuring any merged nonsense team!

Realistic? As someone has said Super League is not the be all and end all of Rugby League. I am a Wakefield supporter nothing more nothing less, I would never have the same passion for a merged club, and without the passion, there would be no interest. The 'buzz' of seeing Wakey win would be lost for me, for me that is the best part about being a supporter and that is why a merged team should never happen in my eyes.

Just different views TFC - I have watched them since 1960 so saw all the glory years, but if it came to situation where Wakey was not given a franchise (and therefore NO hope of coming back into SL), I would happily support a reborn NEW team. The positive interest would outweigh the supporters who would never support a merged team (like yourself). Don't get me wrong, I would prefer to see a vibrant and competitive Wakefield team on its own, but as we have seen over the years that is becoming more and more difficult.

I'd prefer NOT to have to merge, but I'd prefer it even less to see one or both clubs go under, which I think will happen if they don't work out a merger.

Better, in my view, to be proactive and do it on your own terms with positive drivers, than be forced into some kind of reactive scenario, where the primary driver is survival.

Yes, both clubs would lose the support of some hoary old timers, but I don't think that's a reason not to do it; what you're after is securing the future, not clinging on to the past.

We should have bit the bullet when the original SuperLeague idea was mooted and formed regions.
I was at Doncaster at the time and well remember the "never merge with Sheffield" kerfuffle. What's there now?...a Sheffield club that will never get a franchise and a Donny team on its knees. We could have had "South Yorkshire Stormers" alternating between the 2 towns with a view to a new RL stadium being built somewhere off the M18.

Some big city clubs and some regionals was always where we was heading in the end but now we've let Union take over as the next best supported code after Association Football. For League to truly evolve into something better regarded, better supported and better financed we need to make some tough decisions.

We should have had 16 franchises fully backed financially with a NFL style draft, with the clubs having to support semi-pro teams, amatuers and juniors. It could have immense....., 4 in West Yorks, 1 Mersey, 2 Lancashire, 1 Cheshire, 1 Cumbria, 1 Wales, 2 (or 1) France, 1 London, 1 East Yorkshire, 1 South Yorkshire, 1 Tyneside, (1 other if only 1 in France)

Nothing realistic about the prospect of a merger at all, if the present incumbents remain in their positions. If they can't agree on a ground share with the relatively short distance between the clubs, how the hell do you expect them to agree on a merger?

The way things stand, both clubs will remain separate entities, but they'll be playing in different leagues, or in the worse case scenario, both will be in the lower leagues. SL hasn't developed sufficiently to sustain that, though, IMO, so I see Wakey/Cas being allocated to SL/NL1 in the next round of franchises.

don't matter about the fans , Mr Wright comes across as a sell your grannie if price was right kind of guy. Said earlier the cas fans are being trat like mushrooms. this is also a reason i believe that TM will remain in his job.all of course IMVHO

Having read the posts on here and on the Cas Board there seems to be a definite change of attitude from many fans towards a merger/joint venture. A couple of years ago at the time of the last franchise application a merger was not even mentioned and there would not have been many in favour. There are still those dead against it but from reading both boards I sense that its something that would be looked upon favourably by many.

I would love to go it alone but I genuinely fear for our future. I'm very please where we are now and how we have got here but its the future that worries me. I cannot see both us and Cas in SL in 2012 and to be honest I struggle to see either of us in there in our own right. Even if we get a franchise what is the future going to be - another struggle for a franchise in 2015.

I'm old enough and watched Wakefield long enough to have seen us win silverware but at the moment I cannot see is even competing for any silverware let alone winning any. I don't think I'm being defeatist, more realistic.

I would love to watch a team playing in a new stadium, winning a few games but more importantly competing with the best and in with a chance of winning something. Both us and Castleford can go it alone and fight to the death but that may be the death of one of us or more likely both of us. A merger/JV would almost certainly guarantee a franchise, a new stadium, £1m from the RFL and a competive team able to attract and retain quality players and keep hold of all the junior talent that the District produces.

As I said defeatist, no realistic, yes. It certainly would get my vote.

here's an idea

:-

SANDAL CAT BECOMES TITLE SPONSOR FOR CAS!

won't be long before they disappear then !

A non-issue surely, with licensing. Sheffield merged to keep the Galpharm in the top flight due to poor Huddersfield perfomances. With licensing, the RFL can just pick who they want: the team in a new stadium representing the biggest place in England without a football team, or Castleford playing out of Wheldon Road. What is in it for the RFL to merge two clubs? Or they can choose neither, if there is a better option.

Local derbies the real life blood of Rugby League. Merged teams remove passion. Wakefield Tigers v Harlequins not an encounter to get pulses racing.Gerry Wright