Wakefield and Castleford – like Featherstone – provide rich talent for rugby league but financial problems could consign them to the Championship. Time to mention the M-word? Since the spring of 1995, it has been probably the most toxic subject in British rugby league, and therefore avoided by anyone with any sense. But harsh financial reality has driven the possibility of a merger between Wakefield Trinity and Castleford Tigers very firmly back on to the agenda. With less than a year before each of the existing 14 Super League clubs will have to submit applications for the next round of licences, the old Yorkshire rivals are in serious trouble. Not so much on the field, where Wakefield in particular continue to punch well above their weight, currently only one place and two points behind Hull KR, who occupy the eighth play-off position. But last Sunday’s home capitulation against Wigan suggested that even the renowned tactical and motivational abilities of John Kear and his coaching team will struggle to come close to a repeat of last year’s remarkable fifth-placed finish. That is not surprising, because for various reasons Kear has lost Danny Brough, Terry Newton, Shane Tronc and Cain Southernwood from the squad with which Trinity started the season, and the club’s tight financial situation has allowed him to sign only comparatively cut-price replacements in Paul Cooke, Danny Kirmond and Charlie Leaeno. Castleford are only two points behind Wakefield after their nervy win against the Catalans Dragons on Tuesday night, but they too are running with a cheaper squad than they had in February, after releasing the expensive but underperforming Australian scrum-half Brent Sherwin several months before the end of his contract. Neither of the clubs can afford to spend close to the £1.65m salary cap that the Super League this week voted to retain for 2011. But an even greater worry for their supporters is the long-running and ongoing uncertainty over their plans to move to new grounds a couple of junctions apart on the M62. The Rugby Football League has already made it pretty clear that without tangible progress on those grounds there will be no new licence from 2012. So officials at both clubs are only too aware that as things stand, they may well be competing for a single Super League place from 2012. But there must also be a chance that neither bid will be accepted, leaving Wakey and Cas with the stark choice of standing alone in the Championship – or coming together to stay in the Super League. Featherstone Rovers, who complete the “golden triangle” of clubs where so many outstanding players have been nurtured over the last century or more, are the interested third party, just as they were when the merger was first mooted – with a hamfisted attempt to impose it from above as part of the original Super League plans. They are currently sitting pretty, six points clear at the top of the Championship table, and enjoying their best season since 1998 under the former Leeds coach Daryl Powell. They also have arguably the best ground of the three, with realistic-sounding plans to develop it further rather than moving to a new site, and Rovers would have every right to some smug satisfaction were they to be awarded a licence from 2012 ahead of Wakefield and Cas, after missing out on the original Super League cut in 1996 merely because they happened to have had a bad season at exactly the wrong time. But there is no guarantee of that happening, either – and even if it did, it is hard to see Featherstone being any stronger in the Super League than Castleford and Wakefield are currently. As in 1996, there are powerful, logical reasons for the three rivals to come together and form a club that could challenge for honours on a regular basis, rather than scramble to survive. It is the bigger clubs, and especially Leeds, who benefit most from the current situation, as it allows them to pick off the best players from arguably the game’s most fertile nursery – either as youngsters, as in the case of Rob Burrow who played his junior rugby with Featherstone Lions, or when they have established themselves, as Gareth Ellis had with Wakefield before joining the Rhinos. Already this season Wakefield have lost Brough to Huddersfield and Southernwood to Bradford, and Castleford are as powerless to prevent Michael Shenton leaving for St Helens at the end of his contract as Featherstone were when another England centre, Paul Newlove, moved to Bradford and then Saints in the mid-1990s. Despite the levelling effect of the salary cap, which brings such sides as Leeds, Wigan, Saints, Hull and Warrington within more realistic reach of smaller clubs, it is now more than 16 years since any of the three in question won a major trophy – and even Castleford’s memorable triumph over Wigan in the 1994 Regal Trophy final is slightly soured by the knowledge that building the team to win it left the club with horrendous financial problems. But rugby league is a passionate game where supporters’ commitment to their local clubs has tended to outweigh cold, hard logic – and there’s nothing necessarily wrong in that. It is for those supporters – including the wealthier ones who keep the clubs afloat – to decide what happens next and nobody has yet been brave enough even to suggest publicly the idea of a merger. Instead Wakefield and Cas continue on their frantic scramble to start work on their new grounds by this time next year, while battling equally desperately to remain competitive on the field – and on this season’s evidence, an increasing proportion of those supporters choose to stay away. I’m not daft enough to advocate a merger. It’s not my place to do so. The sole purpose of this column is to note the real danger that Wakefield, Castleford and Featherstone will all be playing in the Championship from 2012, and that the area’s young players will no longer have even a struggling Super League option. Given that background, do not be surprised if someone finally sticks their head above the parapet, and asks the game’s most difficult question. Thoughts on the above welcome as always, from inside or outside the golden triangle, and also your answers to a hypothetical question that sprung to mind watching Queensland’s crushing victory in the second State of Origin match from Brisbane this week: how would England do against New South Wales? Wakefield Trinity Castleford Super League Rugby league Andy Wilson guardian.co.uk
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Wakefield and Castleford struggle to square circle in golden triangle | Andy Wilson
