You guys will have noticed a few different stewards at the ground in the past few weeks, these guys are very good at the job they do and help make match day a pleasant afternoon out. I know quite a few of these chaps and they will protect and keep the peace for all fans who are intent on enjoying a pint and the rugby but if you cross the line god help you.

A word of warning to all the wannabe tough guys out there, stupidity comes before a fall and boy will you fall.

And this is where the game of RL now sadly finds itself in terms of excitability and something to play for.

The whole franchise system makes a mockery of the sport (and thats not me saying that just because we are favourites to fall down because of it). The years of the relegation deciders, the years of sending Castleford down and again. Thats the memories that as a Wakefield fan, I will never lose. I'll play the old dvds many years in the future and again look back on the fun, excitement and nail biting we all had. Thats what Rugby League was all about.

Now it takes some suit and tie, to tick a few boxes and grade each club to see who fits in with certain criteria. No other sport that I can think of uses this system to complete its league table. Imagine the Football Premiership saying, cancel relegation for three years and we will look at each club for its merits then to see who should be priviledged to play in "our" league. I would imagine there been an endless stream of fans outside the FA trying to burn the place down.

The sad thing is now, Castleford home or away which many years ago was the fixture that we all looked out for when the fixture lists were printed. Especially the games near the end of the season as we all knew they were going to have a big say in the relegation factor. Now the games mean very little except a few bragging rights for a few days. Teams in the dropzone need not worry about having to win games as it wont make the blindest bit of difference anymore.

This post probably comes three years too late, and a lot of fans will probably read it as sour grapes from my part because the reality of us dropping down is coming close. But as Wakefield fans we can all stand above anyone else and say despite the points deductions, despite having an income stream nowhere near any of the big teams, despite everyone thinking that we'd come up and shoot straight back down again, we have never finished bottom of this league and we have never had to taste what relegation tastes like which our near neighbours had to do because of what we did on the field in that 80 minutes.

Morgan Freeman once said in Shawshank Redemption, something along the lines of "To me it's just a made up word. A politician's word, so young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie, and have a job. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a s***."

Id love to sit in front of the powers that be of the RFL and say the exact above when they ask what "Franchise" means to me.

might as well shut the forum, best post ever.
well done mate.

I can't beat that post from Roonaldo as its top class but I've just found the quote from the film and done a bit of editing..

Good stuff pal !! You just forgot about 18 errrrm's.

They have turned the super league into non-competitive sport and we will never beat the Aussies again, Woods and Lewis have a lot to answer for and in years to come when the game is dead those too clowns will walk away with walletts full of money.

I will go to the last Wakey Vs Tigers SL derby to watch my team cement a play-off place. It will also be a time to reflect on what we will all be missing in the future.










Cue taunts of "why aren't Cas looking forward to be playing Fev"

Me too, believe me I have tried, sent emails written article in League World etc am torn between braying on the door of Red Hall or doing nothing and walking away ....am not usually one for doing nothing

this isnt an issue...

If we are down there will be a load of Cas fans and a few trinity die hards.... (who are not the fighting type!)

My memory is not the relegatioon battle but rather is from 95 when we played Cas at the end of the last winter season... we were expecting a merged team to go into Superleague at that time but Cas had already decided to go it alone.... they destroyed what was ostensibly a Trinity junior team.

one of the worst days in my time as a Trinity fan! but at least there was a way back then!

I hope nothing happens ,cos then wiggy and dolphin teeth wont be able to say "well at least we wont be witnessing scenes like this for the next 3 years" (6 years 9 years 12 years. add in which is appropriate)

Remember it well. Victory was nice but the end of that season was a total damp squib.

Not sure it was a junior team you had out though: Steve McGowan, Billy Conway, Nigel Bell, Gary Spencer, Daio Powell, Mark Webster, Adrian Flynn, Mark Sheals all started for Wakey.

Only know that because I watched the dvd a couple of weeks ago.

The difference is that Wakefield relegated Castleford twice because they played better rugby, not like now where a few s decide who gets relegated. Cas fans have nothing to be proud about if we are relegated. Well I say relegated but I don't think that's an appropriate word for the process any more.