Nostalgia : Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:14 am  

Hi guys, as a 67 year old Wakefield supporter i hope you dont mind me posting on your forum but i,m sure you are all aware of the problems Wakefield RLFC have been through over the years and are still going through today.
This started me getting all nostalgic for the sixties when we had some great games against Saints, i remember one particular game at belle view when as a 10 year old i arrived at the ground with my mates just before kick off and the ground was packed. We entered the ground at the Doncaster road end which was the end where all the Saints supporters were and we could not see the pitch, but without hesitation the saints guy,s picked us up and passed us over their heads down to the front, we had a brilliant time, oh how i miss those day,s.
I,m sure your older supporters will remember those days too when Wakefield had a good team and Belle View was a decent ground, alas after the Bradford fire we had to demolish the wooden west stand and the club also decided to demolish the south stand to develop that end for corporate entertaining this did not happen for years untill they built the so called "Benidorm" flats so now there,s not much atmosphere.
To get to my point, sinse the sixties we have not had any money backers to keep us up there with you guys, i presume you must have enjoyed good support from wealthy buisneses or individuals because you have managed to maintain your position in the top flight throughout the years.
I just hope you all appreciate this situation i,m sure your supporters of my age do as they have paid thier money and enjoyed top flight rugby throughout the years, i really do envy you and i stil hold out hope that one day we will return to a situation where we can hold our own with you guy,s and our young supporters can ones again sample what i did all those years ago. Please dont take your great club for granted keep up your support and good luck for the future.

Re: Nostalgia : Thu Apr 23, 2015 11:19 am  

Provided Wakefield can retain a ground I'm sure the club will have its day in the sun once more. I'm under no illusions about St. Helens' success and where we would be sans the colossal investment in players such as Long, Sculthorpe, Newlove etc. etc.

Like the Premier League, the SL competition really is a joke. Indeed, it's not even a "competition" - in the strictest sense of the word. Those sides that possess the most money and monetised resources win the silverware. Those that possess the least are doomed.

At this point someone usually pipes up with the moth-eaten cliche, "But ... but ... money doesn't guarantee success". This is true - but only in the strictest sense of the word whereby success is solely measured in trophy wins.

Spending money might not buy the SL title outright. But it removes a sufficiently large number of opponents from the race that - providing the money stays constant - your odds are infinitely greater over time. Against fourteen teams of equal strength winning the title is a genuine achievement requiring skillful management, tactically astute coaching and good players. But in a "competition" where seven or eight of the competitors are effectively hobbled from the outset it's entirely possible for an inherently flawed club to "luck out" at the expense of the other three well-financed outfits' temporary bad form.

Rugby League fans never cease claiming they wish to "reform and improve" the game. But I really do wonder how much of this is empty rhetoric. Like football, we've known about this problem for years and done nothing to address it. I mean, we can continue deluding ourselves that the game is completely beyond our control - pinning all the responsibility on "incompetent administrators". But that's a cop out.

This is why I'm very much opposed to the notion of "Marquee Payments". Businessmen like Koukash can claim all they like it is essential to protect the health of the game. But really it's little more than admission of failure on his part coupled with the desire to take the "short cut" to success that money has always offered.

Of all fans - Rugby League followers should be wary of the catastrophic consequences that invariably follow from huge injections of cash. I'm still trying to work out precisely where SKY's initial hefty down-payment at the inception of SL ultimately ended up...

Re: Nostalgia : Thu Apr 23, 2015 12:24 pm  

What you say is true, having an injection of cash is only the start, its how cleaver you are at managing the money that puts you on the path to success, we found this out with the last two regimes. The one before last said he had land to sell and would put the money into the club, on the back of this the management paid big money to bring big name players in, this was the time you may remember Bobby Goulding came, as it turned out he did not have the land to sell, Then the last regime Gambled, said they would inject cash and they increased the fan base by giving tickets away and inviting forgeries etc, on both counts we ended up further in dept all this after both plans had been veted and rubber stamped by the RFL, now the pressent management is trying to clean up the mess.

Re: Nostalgia : Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:31 pm  

You're in the game - as long as you possess your own ground. Or have guaranteed access to it through some legal arrangement which is worth the paper its written on.

Clubs which sell off their only real asset are like convicts awaiting their final appeal on Death Row.

Re: Nostalgia : Thu Apr 23, 2015 2:17 pm  

Yep, Belle Vue is owned by an Irish bank, dont think we have any assets.

Re: Nostalgia : Thu Apr 23, 2015 4:52 pm  

Wakefield were indeed a force to be reckoned with, during the sixty's? I remember Gerry Round a distinguished full back and Harold Poynton the stand off having a terrible clash of heads when they both went for a high kick, I think one them broke his jaw, I think Saints signed Don Vines from Wakie, wish we had him today.

Re: Nostalgia : Thu Apr 23, 2015 5:04 pm  

Didn't Paul Round go to Wakefield? I vaguely remember him turning out in a Wakey shirt.

Re: Nostalgia : Fri Apr 24, 2015 8:22 am  

All those names make the hair stand up on the back of my neck, plus rocky tuner, neil fox etc and yes paul round did play for wakefield at one point another astute signing.

Re: Nostalgia : Fri Apr 24, 2015 8:33 am  

Paul Round had the makings of a fine player. Big. Athletic. Good hands. Could shift a bit, too.

I was surprised he didn't make a bigger name for himself. Although this was during the period when "fitness work" meant a competition to come up with the most innovative method of avoiding it (such as jumping on the bus during long-distance runs) and "healthy eating" was a trip down to The Mill House with Chris Arkwright and the gang.

Re: Nostalgia : Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:31 am  

I think we also signed Brian Briggs from Trinity, a big fast second rower, a real tackling machine.