Quote ="crucrucrusaders"Having briefly calmed down I found this story from the BBC. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 839695.stm All 6 were held back whilst being investigated by the British Consulate due to tighter regulations. If they weren't allowed in then why were the VISA's granted and why were they let in. Something tells me if we are at fault it is not only us that has messed up here. Surely they could appeal against this.'" This is the key thing for me. IF and it's an IF I'm not sure about there is no act of fraud or deception on the part of the Crusaders then the RFL should be banging the door down, roping in the sports authorities and MPs etc to get this decision overturned. IF they have not complied with the regulations how did they manage to get into the country and play for months and in some cases years without being found out until now? Something fishy going on me thinks...

Quote ="crucrucrusaders"Having briefly calmed down I found this story from the BBC. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 839695.stm All 6 were held back whilst being investigated by the British Consulate due to tighter regulations. If they weren't allowed in then why were the VISA's granted and why were they let in. Something tells me if we are at fault it is not only us that has messed up here. Surely they could appeal against this.'" This is the key thing for me. IF and it's an IF I'm not sure about there is no act of fraud or deception on the part of the Crusaders then the RFL should be banging the door down, roping in the sports authorities and MPs etc to get this decision overturned. IF they have not complied with the regulations how did they manage to get into the country and play for months and in some cases years without being found out until now? Something fishy going on me thinks...

Spot on.

As I say things like this should be water tight.

No matter what information we or the players give the authorities everything should be run through with a fine tooth comb. If they have still got in to play for the club then I think it is more a fault of the authorities than the people who put the application forward.

It's not as if the information would be readily available to them would it? They know what they have done with regards to playing career previously and would have been able to access this easily in January. It's not as if the club could falsify something like this as it would be there for all to see.

On the back of a Stobart wagon

I'm trying to look on the brightest of bright sides here.

If we do end up innocent I say take the authorities for all their worth and get all the compo we can.

Celtic Crusaders 2010 Super League Champions.

Typo.

You're loving this aren't you.

Well done.

Not loving it, but it's hardly a surprise the whole thing's going t*ts up, was doomed from the start tbf.

And if it is not the fault of Celtic Crusaders as a club then how has it gone t1ts up exactly.

How do you know it's not their fault?

A polite warning to all:

read the AUP.

Stop the personal attacks.

Failure to heed this warning may, and will, result in posting privileges being withdrawn.

I said IF.

How do you know it is? If they have falsified information then how do they get through customs and through all the legal tape in the first place. It is not only the club who is at fault here, if indeed they are.

There has been a monumental balls up by authorities too if the worst comes to the worst and we have falsified information.

Either way this all results from the sport trying to ' even out ' playing levels by having clubs playing to different rules

No sport can take itself credible or will be taken itself credible by the national media when it does things like this

Either way it's embarrassing for the game and a joke. Along with the poor crowds, poor performances, being bottom of the league and being in a nation which is known a great deal more for supporting RU and football, I just can't see the long-term sustainability. That doesn't mean I'm enjoying what's happened, just means (like I said earlier) the club's current [ioverall[/i state is not surprising.

The difference seems to be that Les Catalans (who I have admitted in the past being wrong about) were prepared for SL, Celtic clearly were not.

theres no mention of the fines to be imposed yet either, given celtics financial state, a fine of upto 60k payable in 28 days could really hurt them

“Celtic Crusaders have co-operated fully with the UK Border Agency’s investigation and we will abide by their findings,” said Crusaders’ Chief Executive Mike Turner.

Doesn't sound like a club who intend to fight this one all the way.

60k would be a wonderful fine considering the rumour going round is anything upto 50k per player

If it isn't our fault then I hope Crusaders and the rfl take them to task for bringing negative attention to the game.

Our crowds are around 3,600, not a lot less than I expected. Our performances have been about what I expected and surprisingly better than I expected in some instances. We and most other people expected us to finish bottom, I can't see your point here.

As for the RU and football comment. Hull City will have crowds that dwarf both FC and Rovers this season. Does that mean you lot are going to pack in? No, neither will we. We have passionate fans down here even if we might not have a team to support any more. We will not turn our back on rugby league though and will support it where we can.

Surely the RFL must take some blame over this, the RFL must have some procedures and processes in place to ensure every club is operating above board.
Was it not 3 months ago the RFL announced they were giving the club some form of guidance, this is a total embarrassment to the sport of rugby league.
This could also effect league positions and the play offs, because the teams who have to play Celtic will have the bonus of a greatly increased points difference...............its a shambles.

because as has been ignored by nearly everyone,

CELTIC CRUSADERS HAVE BEEN FOUND GUILTY OF NOTHING, THEY HAVE NO FINES TO PAY BECAUSE THEY HAVE COMMITTED NO OFFENCE

if that changes we should probably start castigating the club, if it doesnt, then they have done nothing wrong, but that clearly doesnt matter to some who are desperate to jump on them for anything

this is clearly something that isnt as simple as some are painting it, it has taken the experts at UKBA months to investigate, i would be suprised if celtic are the only sports club to have problems here.

All i hope is the RFL and UKBA get together and make sure they have a foolproof, watertight system, frankly this is something that they should have had already, we really shouldnt have got to this point

A much lesser effect than they have had for the last 2 years in the NL's

And you wonder why some of us have has ' issues ' with the things the RFL have allowed them to do ?

Thanks for that Smokey

No, because both Hull clubs have proven beyond any doubt whatsoever that the city is big enough to house three top flight sports teams. All three clubs in recent years (or last season in City's case) have enjoyed their highest averages for years and years, all three take strong support to away games, all three have had record merchandise business in recent times, and between the three pull in at least 44,000 for home games (City 24,000, Hull 12,000, us 8000), which I don't feel anyone could really criticise.

Is it only me who doesn't think this news is that bad? I mean, apart from Hannay none of them were important players or likely to be at the club next year. Obviously it's a bit of a shambles that they were allowed here in the first place, but that's as much the fault of customs as any RL related bodies, surely if their paperwork was not correct then they would have been turned down at the border.

We were heading towards a 4,000 average in our first season in Super League and with time and success would have increased that dramatically.

Carry on gloating. You won't budge our love for the game and our club.

Fill your boots while you can.