: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:45 pm  

Aside from having a brand new stadium for the sole use of ourselves, there are three possible and less palatable alternatives:
1. staying at Belle Vue
2. Merger
3. Groundshare with Cas

Only the last one will guarantee top flight rugby league for Wakefield Trinity for the long term. The ground is in Wakefield, and was announced as a new ground for Wakefield. If Cas want to borrow someone else's ground every other Sunday, that is up to them, but for me, a ground in Wakefield will always be the Wakefield ground. Make sure the seats are red and blue and it's job done.

In the words of Paul Weller, everything has a price to pay.

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:51 pm  

owiepob wrote:

Khalav you raise interesting questions and make valid points. I live in Liverpool and know full well how their fan feel about sharing - their parocialism (your right its not the exclusive reserve of RL fans) is costing both clubs millions as well, and neither club have realistic plans of a new stadium any time soon. I predict that they will end up sharing.

The economies of scale however make comparisions between association football and rugby football a little spurious.

As for the having your own home stuff - well its interesting rhetoric but ask yourself this. If you needed an office 20 days of the year and you could rent one / build one with another person who needed one 20 days a year. And the distance between you and them was a stones throw. And the difference in the 2 options had a cost difference of tens of millions of pounds - would you choose to cop for the full cost? I wouldn't and RL clubs shuldn't.

The thing that stops them though is the sentimental parociaism of many fans. It will cost our game millions of pounds if Cas and Trinity develop seperately.

In this context the Stanley site is fascinating, is it close enough and still far away from both Cas and Wakefield city centres to make a share viable?

Would Coca Cola be happy to share offices with Pepsi, even if it made business sense? I know it’s a daft comparison but I can not think of another suitable rivalry the ordinary business world has over sport.

I understand sharing facilities and costs make business sense, of course it does. However, we are not talking about faceless organisations. If it were to go ahead in Stanley then I would be very happy because of an invisible boundary that makes it pretty much in Wakefield and not Castleford. I don’t think Cas fans would find this scenario as palatable.

Also, from the very small amounts of info I have heard on this project it should be in use pretty much all year round.

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:52 pm  

wasn't it announced as being for the benefit of RL in the 'district?' Not the kind of language that is thoughtlessly employed I'd suggest

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:53 pm  

Well I live in Stanley and always have done - and I am most definitely, 110%, a resident of Wakefield

.... as will be the Stadium!

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:58 pm  

owiepob wrote:

wasn't it announced as being for the benefit of RL in the 'district?' Not the kind of language that is thoughtlessly employed I'd suggest

No it's not, and it pretty much puts Wakefield where they have always been. Open to the suggestion of sharing a stadium where as Castleford have always wanted to go it alone. I would imagine it also opens up more grants available to fund the project.

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:39 pm  

The article clearly suggests that we will be one of numerous people to benefit from this stadium it also clearly states that it is not our stadium.
I have to say that the location is equidistant to both clubs and politicaly situated, I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being used by both us and cas:
It seems pointless having 2 such stadia within such a short distance.
Also I believe cas are having difficulties selling the jungle and are therefor probably short of funds.

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 5:05 pm  

Nothing is decided - yet.

My take on this would be that whilst a gorundshare seems to make much sense from a cost saving point of view, at the end of the day, there will only be one set of corporate facilities / one set of dining facilities and one set of education facilities etc.... As such, you can only charge them out once.

So, let's look at the current jargon from the RFL - they want viable businesses who can generate £4m turnover - and whilst not being impossible by sharing facilities, it will certainly add to the issues. This in turn could be the reasoning behind a future merger, especially if both clubs have sold their grounds!

This would be my one and only fear - albeit a large one - but the one mitigating factor is that, if this did happen, the ground is in Wakey - that in itself is possibly the fear that will haunt the Cas' contingent - it certainly would me if we were talking about Glasshoughton as a shared home.

Genuinely uncertain of whether the Cas' board could sell this to their fans - regardless of who is asking them to do so.

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 5:22 pm  

TRB wrote:

but the one mitigating factor is that, if this did happen, the ground is in Wakey - that in itself is possibly the fear that will haunt the Cas' contingent - it certainly would me if we were talking about Glasshoughton as a shared home.

Genuinely uncertain of whether the Cas' board could sell this to their fans - regardless of who is asking them to do so.

I agree. It would be Gateshead and Sheffield all over again, as it would become a Wakefield club. I disagree with the view expressed before that the area couldn't support 2 stadia. It has done for many decades, and any new stadia would have different catchments for the corporate stuff. Cas would cast their net York and Selby way, and we would look to Wakefield. If corporate attractability becomes the criteria, then maybe the game really would have lost its soul.

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 6:29 pm  

According to Sir RW, it will in all likelihood be called in by the government, therefore delaying any planning permission you do try to obtain. Could be a good 3/4 months before you are even in a position to move forward?

I hope it goes through without a worry and all that. Just hope the hurdles are cleared faster than the WMDC farce we had.

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 6:34 pm  

Fully wrote:

According to Sir RW, it will in all likelihood be called in by the government, therefore delaying any planning permission you do try to obtain. Could be a good 3/4 months before you are even in a position to move forward?

I hope it goes through without a worry and all that. Just hope the hurdles are cleared faster than the WMDC farce we had.

Where does it say that ive read his recent press releases and cant see anything to that affect??