It is a tale of two potential fairytale endings on Saturday evening with a unique twist. An eye-catching statistic spread across social media since last weekend’s Super League playoff semi-finals, pointing out that the boroughs of Warrington and Wakefield are extreme rarities in Europe as they have populations of more than 200,000, but no professional football teams.
Those two settlements will be front and centre of the rugby league landscape, as Warrington Wolves and Wakefield Trinity go in pursuit of history at Old Trafford. Trinity were in the Championship only two years ago, and are hunting a first major trophy since 1968.
