Wakefield stadium capacity slashed after safety review

James Gordon

The capacity at Wakefield’s Rapid Solicitors Stadium has been reduced to 5,533 for the beginning of the 2014 season due to safety issues.

Following a review of the stadium’s safety certificate, the club is required to carry out improvement works, forcing the reduction, although no stands will be required to close fully.

Wakefield’s first home game is against Bradford on February 20, in front of the Sky Sports TV cameras.

They host Catalan on March 9 and St Helens on March 23, before the derby clash with Castleford on April 18.

Wildcats consultant chief executive, Kath Hetherington, said: “We will be doing everything within our power to get the Stadium to a point where we can operate at an increased capacity as soon as possible and in order to do that we are asking for the support of volunteers.

“Any builders, engineers or indeed anyone simply with time on their hands who can contribute to the works are asked to contact the club.

“We have just over 2,000 season ticket holders so we envisage the capacity being sufficient for the first few home games of the season, although we would advise supporters to purchase season tickets or individual match tickets in advance as opposed to paying on the gate as they may have done in previous years to guarantee they get to see the game.

“We hope to be operating at an increased capacity for the Good Friday derby against Castleford Tigers, however, this is not something we can put a specific timescale on and if it takes longer then so be it.  This is where the support of volunteers will be key.”

A company has been recruited to lead on the work, and the club is also asking for support from volunteers to enable the work to be completed as quickly as possible.