Even the Wakefield chief executive, Michael Carter, can smile when he considers the irony surrounding his club’s fortunes on and off the field. For years, one of rugby league’s most famous clubs have kept their heads above water in Super League while trying, and failing, to renovate their beloved but decaying Belle Vue home. Just as success on that front appears to be in sight, relegation threatens.
Parts of Belle Vue remain the same from when the classic film This Sporting Life was shot there in the early 1960s. It is a crumbling wreck and that is being polite. But there has finally been progress after nearly 20 years of effort, with the club awarded funding by the local council to renovate the stadium and bring it into the 21st century at long last. The redevelopment started last month.
