They still exist on paper, although they don't have a team they are still non playing members of the RFU and the Yorkshire RFU. I think they tried to team up with Bradford Bulls about 10 yrs ago but never got going, Sykes played for Wakefield RFU I thinks while at Bradford

I'd rather we were looking at ground shares and shared resources than mergers. Whether football or RU or other.

Personally as Bren said, if the other teams went out of existence, of course I'd watch the new one, but I don't want to plan to go that way.

I also think a good merger happens when both sides are strong. That isn't us at the moment, and Cas are only a bit stronger than us at the moment.

Wonder if Wakey .& Cas owners have ever sat down & seriously evaluated benefits of a shared ground, & if so, what put them off taking the idea further ?
Intuitively it makes sense ( even more so when you consider how close the new ground(s) will be).
I guess we'd all be a bit nervous about it being perceived as one step closer to a merger of the clubs, but, with strong will & good core support ( & some legal safeguards to prevent some asset-stripping outfit taking over one or other club & selling out for short-term gain, down track) it could work, in principle.
Guess thorny a issue of what happens if one club grows & other withers,may be a sticking point.
Also, might be unfair for Featherstone, for whom many have a soft spot (though I'm pretty ignorant of the state of affairs down Post Office road, so may be way off-beam.) though this is a business decision
.
If this has been done to death, previously, I apologise ( if so, could someone direct me to relevant thread or summarise main points?) but seems pertinent to raise it (again?)

you're right, it's been done to death, but as you asked politely...
Whenever it was mooted there was always one club which was stronger and believed they could do it alone. At the start of SL it could have been possible to combine resources and find a suitable central/neutral venue, but that ship has sailed.
Fev now have gone some way into improving their own facilities, so unlikely to want to sell up. Cas want to sell but can't get enough to build a stadium of their own atm. Wakefield have nothing to sell/contribute to any joint stadium, but have their own stadium plans which are waiting for an enabling industrial development to get started, with an uncertain timescale, . Cas and Fev won't play there for loss of identity/merger threat issues.

A merger of 2 (or 3) clubs would need a perfect storm of circumstances. If any one club perceives themselves to be stronger, it couldn't happen.

Perhaps the current situation is the closest they've been to being equal (although cas probably wouldn't admit it).
The only way I could see a merger happening would be for rich benefactor deciding to start a Wakefield Mets team based at Newmarket. The other 3 would then be feeder clubs (owned by the Mets) and play in the 3 stadiums in the lower leagues. Then the area would be a real powerhouse of RL.
If you know any multi-millionaires that would be interested, let us know.

That's a great idea, sell the Cas and Fev Grounds, all Fev's land, pay off our debts, build our stadium, and lets call the new merged team Wakefield, I can wait for the Cas fans, and Flat Cappers to jump at the chance

Thanks for taking trouble to respondCoco; you're right about elusive perfect storm. What a shame.

Let's say a successful team in Wakey, Cas and Fev would draw 12, 10 and 8 thousand averages then together surely we would be talking 30000. With a few trophies we might be talking nearer 40,000. I don't think Newmarket would be big enough.

I can't be d reading most of this thread.

I am disappointed that it is the fall-back argument every time we hit the buffers - which is our own fault - and that some people don't have the stomach for a fight.

We are on the verge of the biggest opportunity for progress, stability and the chance to be genuinely competitive towards the top of SL, that we have had for 50 years. NM will provide so much more than a plastic bucket seat or a new concrete terrace with no holes in it. It will provide a home for the school and college work (which has such huge potential), will have some of the best facilities to attract both senior and junior players, will attract much larger crowds bringing significant revenue and, if all comes together, will bring in rental from the surrounding buildings that will far outweigh the costs of operating the place. And some people seem willing to give that up because we've hit a bit of trouble???

Hang tight, keep the faith and we WILL get where we want to be!

you must of been chuckling to your self while posting this comment

The best opening sentence ever to a loooong post; unfortunately, I cba reading it.

Touche!

I love your optimism TRB! - I think the people of Wakefield have shown times many that they have fight. How many other clubs have come near to going out so many times in recent years and yet have averaged over 8000 crowds over the last two seasons without the club winning sod all for decades?
So the fight and resilience is there !
I will continue my support and I daresay the majority of people voicing their frustration on here will do. You can't fault them though for venting their anger having been, shall I say, deceived AGAIN!
The guy now in charge is speaking sense and saying the right words. I don't know him so I say give him a chance but once again Mount Everest is to climb - you do get a bit sick of it eh?

Sums it up for me. Merger .

I love you're optimism TRB and agree with the sentiment of the post especially the highlighted. I know Newmaket won't sort out all our problems, ie very rich owner but I can't wait to see us have a crack at SL in the new stadium and said stadium will hopefully bring the investment.

I love TRB, but not in a funny dodgy way.

Bottle what this man has and sell it, easy money.