Wakefield Trinity, Castleford Tigers and Featherstone Rovers in line for £6m cash injection from Wakefield Council

The Rugby League Resilience Fund - which will be divided into £2m for each club - could provide all three clubs with a financial boost and help grow grassroots sports and community use of their facilities.

The funding will be provided as a grant to each club but the proposals still need to be accepted by senior councillors.

The Leader of Wakefield Council, Cllr Denise Jeffery said: “This district’s long and passionate history of rugby league is well documented.

"My Cabinet colleagues and I, are extremely proud of this heritage and fully support the important part rugby league plays in this district.

“I know full well that there are strong allegiances to all three clubs and the desire for all our rugby league clubs to thrive at the highest level is something we absolutely want to see.

“By offering this support to Wakefield Trinity, Castleford Tigers and Featherstone Rovers, we can help prolong the heritage of potential Super League rugby being played in the district.

“However, it is just as important that we can help the clubs widen their grass roots reach in the community and create more inclusive facilties that will meet the needs of even more people in our district.

“All three rugby league clubs are ‘Community Clubs’ and do excellent work with children and adults across a wide range of local groups and clubs.

"Helping the rugby league clubs increase this community use, across a range of sports, can play such an important part in improving the health and wellbeing of our district. This clearly shows the crucial social value of our rugby league heritage.”

All three clubs will be required to deliver a "Community Use Strategy" as part of the funding agreement.

This means that Wakefield, Castleford and Featherstone will actively support and encourage the growth of grassroots rugby league - while increasing the community use of their facilities.

Castleford have already indicated their intention to apply for the full £2m available to them, if the funding gets the go ahead. The proposals are set to be discussed on Monday, November 29.

A club statement read: "Castleford Tigers has had a fantastic working relationship with Wakefield Council for many years, and the club would like to thank them for their support, in particular, Cllr Denise Jeffrey and all the local councillors for their hard work on this so far.

"As part of the club’s long-term plans to improve facilities at our home stadium on Wheldon Road, Castleford Tigers is hopeful of applying for the full £2 million if passed by Wakefield Council’s Cabinet meeting on Monday, 29th November."