There are few more ludicrous scenarios in rugby league than the ongoing stand-off between the two West Yorkshire rivals who continue to plough their own lonely furrow with separate plans to build new all-singing, all-dancing, state of the art stadiums costing tens of millions of pounds.

Wakefield, having abandoned previous plans to erect their field of dreams at Junction 39 of the M1, on the site of the city's old power station and at Thornes Park, recently unveiled Ground Plan 4.0 with proposals for a 'community stadium' off Junction 30 of the M62.

Castleford, who briefly entertained hopes of moving to Whitwood before switching their attentions to Glasshoughton, continue to pin their hopes on a long-overgrown field near the Xscape leisure complex. The main difference between the Whitwood and Glasshoughton sites is that the former has at least seen lots of JCB activity recently, but then, as the home of theme park Diggerland, it would.

To be fair to Wakefield, their chairman Ted Richardson has consistently indicated his willingness to listen to any proposals for a shared stadium but neither he, his club, Castleford or the officials at Wakefield District Council, who will have to stump up a fair wedge of taxpayers' money to realise the two dreams, come out of this farcical situation in a good light.

The clock is ticking on the future of both clubs as Super League entities – in their present state, it is hard to imagine Wheldon Road or Belle Vue meeting the minimum standards demanded of a licence from the 2012 season onwards – and the prevailing go-it-alone attitude is a tragedy in the making.

In any economic climate, let alone a worldwide recession, building two sports grounds less than 10 miles apart, each costing between the £14m Warrington spent on the Halliwell Jones Stadium and the £33m it cost Doncaster to realise the Keepmoat Stadium, makes absolutely no sense at all.

The Wakefield district, which also incorporates Featherstone, is the most fertile breeding ground for rugby league talent in the sport's northern heartland and would be irreparably damaged were one or both clubs to be relegated when the next batch of Super League licences are awarded in two years' time.

The sport deserves better, the district deserves better and so, too, do the most important sponsors of Wakefield and Castleford: the spectators whose first-rate commitment merits far better facilities.

The time has come for some form of mediation, for some intermediary to step in and get the relevant parties and agencies – including Castleford Tigers, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, Wakefield Council, the Rugby Football League, Yorkshire Forward and Sport England – around a table to tackle a problem that together they have the combined power to solve.

If that means banging a few heads together and bruising some egos then so be it: far better that than one or even two clubs who, five years down the line, are dead in the water.

AS this is my last day at the Yorkshire Post I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my readers (both of you) for your persistence and perseverance; to the people who have complained about the lack of balance in this opinion column, I make no apologies for not being schizophrenic; to the players, coaches and administrators I have criticised over the last 14 years, please understand I never did so out of malice or with any agenda other than to say what I thought you needed to hear; and to my colleagues on the sportsdesk a last word of advice: pour the boiling water on to a teabag, wait a minute, stir, remove teabag and then add milk ... it's not rocket science.