Rams and Bulldogs enjoy home starts
CONCERNED Wakefield Trinity chairman Michael Carter fears the Rugby Football League could ask them to resign from Super League on Monday.
That is the deadline for the West Yorkshire club to deliver plans to the governing body regarding where they will play in 2018.
Trinity have said this will be their last season at a decaying Belle Vue as their famous old stadium continues to fail to meet Super League standards.
However, they are also increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress over plans for them to be anchor tenants at a proposed 10,000 all-seater stadium in nearby Newmarket.
Although planning approval was given in 2012, a catalogue of delays, issues with the site’s developers and the council, means a brick has still not be laid.
Cllr Peter Box, the Wakefield Council leader, last week urged developers Yorkcourt to stand aside to allow a new one to be found.
Carter hoped to discuss the matter further with Box this week but says there has still been no contact yet.
He said: “The club has had no dialogue with the council over the last week yet we have to go to the RFL on Monday with our plan.
“But at this moment in time there is no plan and I have nothing firm I can tell them.
“It’s a valid point to make, then, that the RFL could literally turn around and tell us they want us to resign as a member of Super League. That is a real genuine concern. I’m not sure if the council think this is some sort of joke. It really isn’t.”
If Trinity – in the running for a Grand Final place – can prove a new stadium will be ready for 2019, they could gain dispensation, as they have previously, to remain at Belle Vue longer.
However, time is running out and matters are not helped by Sir Rodney Walker apparently attempting to set up a new trust to facilitate and deliver the stadium.
Jonathan Stone, the chairman of Wakefield & District Community Trust who have long been designated that role, has given Walker until tonight to either rejoin their Trust or walk away.
He said: “Any other course of action is clearly no longer helping or helpful. The Trustees and I are determined as ever to see a community stadium delivered to the wonderful and deserving people of Wakefield and we remain mandated, privileged and committed to do so.”
Neighbours Batley Bulldogs and Dewsbury Rams will both begin their Kingstone Press Championship Shield campaign with a home game on Sunday, August 6.
Batley, who finished sixth in the Championship, will face third-bottom Swinton Lions and eighth-placed Rams take on Rochdale Hornets, the team one place and a single point behind them.
Points from the regular season carry over into the Shield. The top-two at the end of the seven additional fixtures will face off in the competition final and the bottom pair will be relegated.
The Shield fixtures were due to be published on Wednesday, but delayed due to “operational issues”.
Only round one has been confirmed so far and the Rugby Football League say the remaining fixtures will be available by next Monday “at the latest”.
All four Yorkshire teams begin at home. Other round one games see Bradford Bulls play host to Toulouse Olympique and Sheffield Eagles entertain Oldham.
Toulouse look certain to feature in the Shield final, with Batley and Sheffield battling to claim the other place. Bulldogs go into the extra seven games with a two-point advantage.
Victory over Rochdale would edge Rams, who lost their opening eight matches, closer to Championship safety. They begin the Shield competition with a five point lead over Oldham.