The over riding feeling about this is dissappointment, on a number of levels...

1) the Crusaders were built on the back of an excellent south wales conference league... building on the blocks put in place by the amateur game... to the point that the young Welsh born players performed admirably towards the end of the season. these players and the fans that stayed loyal deserve the opportunity to make the franchise work - in South Wales

2) about the franchise process, how on earth can a process as robust as the one the RFL claim to have in place have failed to mitigate the risk of a single financial backer... I though the process assessed the clunb's ability to contribute and prosper for the full 3 year stint!

3) the move to Wrexham makes no business or sporting sense... how can the crusaders meet the franchise criteria of community involvement, crowd pulling potential and junior development... in an area that has no grass roots to the game... The Super League is our Flag Ship Competition... it is not a Development League, that allows for experimentation...

where are the sponsors? where is the buy in from the local business community? where is the evidence of a core season ticket holding fan base? Have the Crusaders relocated their commercial team to Wrexham?

4) how far from the RL heartlands does one have to be to qualify for overseas player dispensation? Wrexham is around 30miles from a number of hotbeds both amateur and professional... that equates to a 30/40 minute drive to training... a very commutable distance to a ready made supply of British players... IMO absolutely no argument for a dispensation against the quota rules.

Did Sheffield get a dispensation when they joined Super League??


5) had the crusaders original application been driven from a base in Wrexham... would they have been admitted to the competition?


do we have to live with it ... the answer is yes!... if you support the view that Wrexham is the most obvious and supportable venue for the development of SuperLeague... yes... if you sit back and accept all the poop that life throws at you with a shrug and a "well... what can I do"


I generally support the RFL in the face of criticsm but I think they really screwed up on this, and the move to Wrexham compounds the problem rather than offering a viable solution...

If we believe in our game and what it stands for we should have cancelled the crusaders licence and admitted the next best licence application from the last round... then all the Welsh effort should be put into the new South Wales club to help them develop.

Obviously it makes business sense, the club would have gone bust otherwise

I meant for the game rather than the club

What else could they have done though? Gone with 13 teams and lost all the Welsh development completely? That would have been a lot more of a farce. I agree that this is not a brilliant move, but it was a necessary one and there are some positives.

Underground season ticket holders are asking for refunds (the majority) there is one confirmed signing and as yet no news about the shirt at all and as yet no mention of a shirt sponsor. In true crusaders fashion the first the club put up on the club site was that the deal was done and we were moving. all other details were revealed on here or by the BBC but the club didn't say a word. As yet there has been nothing from the club to say thankyou for your support we are sorry but we had to move. It's almost like they are too ashamed to face the locals so they are it appears blanking us

Oh the brightside, Wrexham Crusader's ground looks kinda nice.

Most of you lot can count yourself lucky you'll never have to experience Rodney Parade anyway.

www.skysports.com/video/inline/0 ... 68,00.html

www.skysports.com/video/inline/0 ... 68,00.html

Trust them to find a Widnes fans.

Widnes fans are everywhere

Which is more than can be said for fans of certain clubs....

haha , that Widnes fan looked happy!

At least it looks like London will lose the most disliked and lowest supported club award from next season!

why, are Hull KR losing their home derby game with FC?

What’s average about winning the damn thing?

Below average facilities, below average attendance, hmmmm, a bit of correlation there.

As for competing for trophies, we may as well just have half a dozen teams in the League then.

Once again you’re preaching from your Ivory Tower. Leeds domination of SL will not go on forever, I hope your arrogance recedes accordingly.

I reckon Wrexham wil get bigger attendances than London.

oh such wit, no really!

Presumably that extends to ones prepared to provide "personal guarantees" as well?

Businessmen waving wads of cash in non-traditional areas = bad.

Businessmen waving wads of cash in traditional areas = good.

Businessman walking away from club in non-traditional area = proof that the game is and always was doomed in that area.

Businessman walking away from club in traditional area, leaving it unable to fund current playing squad and being wound up at end of year = a minor blip and nothing to get excited about, and certainly not something which should be held against the club.

I'd have thought, tbh, that those heartland fans who have seen serious threats to the survival of their own club created by the fickleness of 'rich' chairmen/ owners etc would be more sympathetic to what's being experienced by the Crusaders club – having been through it themselves.

But apparently it doesn't work like that, for some at least.

unprepared for

I've been saying that for months mate.

Glad someone else agrees with me.

What a dump that place was

There have been many arguments on thie board pointing out the potential problems with this , by fans of heartland clubs , I dont care how rich anybody is , a club with a self sustaing fan base is more secure than one person with a large financial input and few fans

Any business with one customer is at risk more than a business with 1,000's of customers

Barry , who cares what a ground looks like , if it is fit for the purpose of watching sport and safe it doesn't matter

of mr Samuels , who probably should have declined promotion to SL

The only reason he got involved was because he was promised a SL place and I think he has stated as such in an interview

So there's absolutely no difference, whatsoever, between the Celtic Crusaders and the Widnes Vikings?

They were always equally viable, and the fan base and infrastructure which the Widnes Vikings already have in place is totally meaningless?

Do you really think that the Widnes Vikings would struggle just to get through one season of a 3 year licence, and have to move 100 miles and set up another club to save themselves?

Do you really believe that Steve O’Connor is a lying crook, like the previous owner of Widnes, and that he is no different than Leighton Samuel, who has a history of walking out on rugby clubs?

Because, for your post to make sense, you would have to answer yes to all of that and more.

Correct!

And then the RFL just fast tracked then through the leagues, on the back of illegal Australian imports, and put them in SL whether they were ready or not. Because they promised LS that this is what they would do.