YP Comment: Selling of Super League status would be major blow to city of Wakefield

For, while the city has been at the vanguard of Yorkshire’s economic resurgence, Wakefield Trinity have not held their own in the Super League – a situation not helped by the uncertainty over a proposed new stadium.

And while the RFL would say a club’s decision to sell its franchise to an emerging team in a location like Coventry, Toulouse or Toronto is evidence of the broadening appeal of a sport which invariably struggles to extend its reach beyond the M62 corridor, it also cannot afford to ignore its traditional heartlands where rugby league remains a professional sport rooted in local communities.

Though the club will hope to return to winning ways in rugby league’s second tier Championship if shareholders do endorse the plan, all sides need to think twice about whether this is the right move for the sport – and Wakefield – or whether there are any alternatives that put the team’s finances on a firmer footing.