John Minards on new Wakefield Trinity pitch and stadium redevelopment update
DOUG THOMSON 20/11/2022

JOHN MINARDS is looking forward seeing Wakefield Trinity trot out for Reece Lyne’s testimonial – and not just because it provides the chance to acknowledge the centre’s long service.

For the Sunday, January 15 game against Halifax (2pm) will be the first of three pre-season outings on the new pitch, which has been laid as part of the redevelopment of the club’s historic Belle Vue (Be Well Support Stadium) home.
After visiting Leeds on Boxing Day (11.30am), Wakefield will also host neighbours Featherstone on Sunday, January 29 and Super League rivals Hull on Sunday, February 5 (both 2pm) as new coach Mark Applegarth and his assistant James Ford gear up for the 2023 season, which starts at home to Catalans Dragons on Friday, February 17.
After demolition of the old structure and subsequent groundworks, the framework for the new main East Stand (on the Doncaster Road side of the ground) is quickly taking shape, while work on redeveloping the North Terrace (nearest the city centre) is also under way.
But the currently most visible part of the upgrading of a venue which dates back to the 1870s is the fresh playing surface, which features an artificial underlay and helps promote root protection, turf strength and health and pitch longevity.
“In layman’s terms, it’s a carpet with 95 per cent soil and natural grass and some plastic strands on top,” explained Chairman Minards.
“Having considered our options, including a 4G (artificial) pitch, we decided on a hybrid, similar to that recently laid at Siddal, because it is still natural, but can cope with greater use, since the community element is key to our project.
“With the 2022 season finishing earlier than usual due to the World Cup, we had the maximum time to get the pitch down and established, and the weather over the last few months has been helpful in that regard.


“The pre-season matches will provide an excellent opportunity to test the surface and for our players to become familiar with it.”
On the completion date for the 2,500-capacity East Stand, which will include hospitality facilities and new changing rooms, Minards added: “You don’t like to give a definitive date, because you never know what can happen in terms of weather and the availability of materials.
“But the build is on target at this point, and we are optimistic that there will be at least partial if not full use at some stage of the 2023 season.”
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I have an observation too.
I stand on the corner near to but not immediately under the big screen.
Lots complain on that corner because the PA system is directed under the north stand!
It can hardly be heard from where I stand!

The screen wasn't working properly on Sunday anyway with only half a screen visible. Seems to be very glichy. Hopefully we will have some comeback on whoever supplied it. If/when the NS roof is lifted it should hopefully be more visible.

Let’s hope so, there’s always been the odd pixel missing most games.

The NS upper is so restrictive on what could be a much higher capacity stand. Though I don’t expect it will be on the to do list for a while yet with the south east restaraunt/sports bar seemingly up first in the off season.

If we can up the capacity some way before or during next season then great. Can see us hitting max for games like Leeds/Cas/KR etc.

As for the showroom place for sale. Waste of money that could be spent elswhere.

You’d have the cost of purchase, cost of pulling the property/extension down or refurbishing it. Would probably cost as much as the LED boards.

My thoughts are that Ellis is a business man. You have to consider either monetary or utilisation payback to the outlay value.

The size of the foot print is relatively low and restrictive. The building quality looks poor on the extension especially.

But what would you actually use it for to justify the spend?

A lot of people saying club shop.

That’s an expensive outlay for something we already have and also could incorporate elsewhere.

You could probably secure a shop in Trinity walk and utilise the screen for advertising highlights and deals/matches for 5 years and more and likely still not reach the price you’d outlay but also benefit in neutral footfall and city centre enhanced presence. Or you could just stick with ridings and have pop up shops in stadium locations at match days selling smaller/match day items and accessories at a tiny cost. It’s just not viable unless it’s a seriously small price or Ellis feels like burning some cash.

That said if he can find a use that would make it worthwhile then great.

Maybe player training facility/gym but I don’t think it’s that big at all. I just can’t see how it would pay back. Especially with the stadium needing work, LED etc to guarantee points, options to increase capacity etc.

Unless something has fallen through, the seller accepted an offer on the unit a few months back from the resident of the house next door. I believe the plans are to turn the unit into an education of some kind.

We are getting a bit too comfortable spending Matt Ellis’s money aren’t we, myself included.

However, it’s nice to speculate so, if we bought it I’d probably just demolish it and create more car parking spaces.
I know they’d be a very expensive 20 odd spaces but the purchase would give us 100% ownership of the site with no future considerations required for the owners of those properties, we could also secure the car park properly

No doubt there are more pressing things for Mr Ellis to spend his money on so while it’s nice to play fantasy Rugby Club Owner, I’ll sit back and let Matt do it for real