Wakefield relocation increasingly likely

Super League club Wakefield Trinity are looking likely to move out of their historic Belle Vue Stadium ground, with a lack of progress on a new ground the source of their frustration.

A new site near the M62 was identified with planning permission approved nearly five years ago, however those plans appear to have stalled, with the newly re-branded club said to have considered a ground-sharing arrangement with Championship side Dewsbury Rams for the 2017 season.

Such an arrangement was put on hold when the new owners of Belle Vue - 88m Group - cut a new deal with the club for the coming year.

Wakefield chairman Michael Carter claimed 'virtually nothing' had happened at the venue, with claims the Dewsbury ground-share could be back on the table as soon as this April. The two clubs faced off in a pre-season game at Crown Flatt (Tetley's Stadium) last weekend, with a youthful Trinity side claiming a 30-26 win.

The arrangements are made more complicated by the fact the Sheffield Eagles - another championship side - will be calling Belle Vue home in 2017 as construction of their own new stadium continues. The arrangement commences on the opening weekend of the season where Sheffield will host Toulouse in the aftermath of Trinity's home game against Hull on Sunday 12 February.

Belle Vue is one of the few surviving venues from the RFL's first season in 1895 when it was known as the Northern Rugby Football Union.