Perhaps it’s Widnesians you should be apologizing to?

Its people like you who are creating misconceptions about Widnes supporters on here, by jumping to the conclusion that everyone who expresses doubt about the Celtic Crusaders/ Crusaders inclusion to Super League must be a bitter Widnes fan.

The Widnes Mafia, Eh?

Paul, Willard,

No worries guys. Don't know what you wrote. It was edited by the time I got back.

I wouldn't have taken it personally anyway even if it had been directed my way. I'm a bit of an opinionated keyboard warrior at times and my manner invites robust responses.

If you ever think I'm being a d1ck, feel free to tell me. I may not stop being a dick as a result, but you're always welcome to tell me.

Oh dear Grendel, you still don't believe that I worked for the Crusaders do you

You'll be telling people I am Mike Turner next

Port what are you on about mate? I have never thought, nor intimated that you worked for the Celtic Crusaders or this new second rate knock off version.

Think you're mistaking me for someone else.

Sorry Pepe, I was the one who raised the Widnes angle - I didn't mean to imply you're what people portray you as.

Look, I categorised based on the fuss the Widnes fans, and the Leigh fans kicked up when they didn't get a franchise. You have a bitter section of your fan base which gives the rest of you a bad name.

Now, I'm sure you're not actually that offended. I should feel sorry for you if you are.

On behalf of Pepe I would just like to say...Apology accepted

10,334 attendance! Fantastic lets hope lots of them return for the rest of the season!

It may be a different stadium but the same person is doing the sums as last season.......10334 indeed! The Racecourse max capacity without the KOP is 10500 and there were many empty seats especially in the corner areas. Methinks they're fiddling the figures again.
If only they realised that if they played things straight there would be advantages in the long run.. but I doubt they'll learn

Get a grip.

That's just a laughably petty and bitter little post.

where were these empty seats? from what i saw there was only 30 or so spare in one corner, everywhere else apart from the closed stand seemed pretty full.

if they were fiddling why would they announce a figure of just over a hundred and sixty seats under cap, surley they would have announced a smaller gate if they were 'fiddling the figures'

you must change your diet, them lemons and grapes are starting to come through

Ah what beautiful music to hear the desperate whining of the haters.

Sky sports news gave the game massive publicity on Friday all very positive! Well done Crusaders.

"Attendences" often include people who bought tickets but who didn't actually show up. This is how Leicester Tigers managed to have a 12,815 attendence every single week.

You're being a d1ck , but then again you're entitled to be a d1ck , just as if Warrington or Bradford upped sticks and moved to Luton , then their fans would be entitled to be a little bitter

Despite Leeds eventually running away with the game I thought there were many positives to take from the game. Crusaders didn't look in that bad shape, considering how little time the players have had together.

the crowd was very good, and perhaps suggests that RL is too quick to turn down 'unfashionable' new locations. There's little to do in Wrexham, so the club could become big 'news' there. For example decades have been spent trying to get a presence in London, which has so much to entertain its citizens that RL goes unnoticed. Moving to cities that have big populations, but little sporting presence could be the way forward.

Neither Bridgend or Newport could hardly be compared with Disneyland either so it's not down to there being 'little to do in Wrexham'?

Wrexham's population is at least double that of Bridgend, which obviously helps. And North Wales has 1 5th tier football team (that is attracting dwindling gates) and that's it.

South Wales has Cardiff FC (tier 2 football) international football, is an RU stonghold, and in general Cardiff attracts the majority of Wales' big events such as concerts.

its early days, and time will tell if it works.

SSSSHHHHHHHH



Franchises can mean that kind of thing can happen!!!!!


Not unknown for clubs to upsticks and move in many sports!!!!!

I think the biggest reason they might survive is the location, not because its Wrexham, but because it's not that far for a lot of supporters to travel being its in North Wales.

It will save me about 220 miles not having to travel to Bridgend and back again and from what I saw, the stadium at Wrexham looks head and shoulders above the Brewery field.

it will definitely help. wrexham is as close as leeds for saints/wigan/salford, closer for wire, and closer to all those compared to Hull

the ground and distance from other SL teams will undoubtedly help

I just meant that in the past RL has tried hard to crack big cities such as Paris, Newcastle/Gateshead and London...and being a tiny fish in a massive ocean has got the game nowhere. And that going to big cities/towns that have little other distractions is the way forward.

Quote ="UllFC"the ground and distance from other SL teams will undoubtedly help I just meant that in the past RL has tried hard to crack big cities such as Paris, Newcastle/Gateshead and London...and being a tiny fish in a massive ocean has got the game nowhere. And that going to big cities/towns that have little other distractions is the way forward.'" Another reason RL failed in South Wales is ..........and I'm bracing for all the 'Hull is not exactly the Costa Del Sol you ' posts to start..... there wasn't exactly a lot going for Bridgend or South Wales in general from a Rugby league supporters point of view. At least going to see Catalans you can hope for a bit of sun, or if not at least getting there can be a bit of fun and you can make a weekend out of the trip, almost like a little holiday. Similar thing travelling to London. not much sun (apart from when it shines into the Harlequins fans faces and they all whinge about it on here) but London does have a few interesting things (Madame Tussauds, Tower of London, london eye etc etc if you fancy the tourist thing) No disrespect to Bridgend.........but whats it got worth seeing? Not much by the looks bridgend.com/thingstodo

Quote ="UllFC"the ground and distance from other SL teams will undoubtedly help I just meant that in the past RL has tried hard to crack big cities such as Paris, Newcastle/Gateshead and London...and being a tiny fish in a massive ocean has got the game nowhere. And that going to big cities/towns that have little other distractions is the way forward.'" Another reason RL failed in South Wales is ..........and I'm bracing for all the 'Hull is not exactly the Costa Del Sol you ' posts to start..... there wasn't exactly a lot going for Bridgend or South Wales in general from a Rugby league supporters point of view. At least going to see Catalans you can hope for a bit of sun, or if not at least getting there can be a bit of fun and you can make a weekend out of the trip, almost like a little holiday. Similar thing travelling to London. not much sun (apart from when it shines into the Harlequins fans faces and they all whinge about it on here) but London does have a few interesting things (Madame Tussauds, Tower of London, london eye etc etc if you fancy the tourist thing) No disrespect to Bridgend.........but whats it got worth seeing? Not much by the looks bridgend.com/thingstodo

I don't know where Kevin Ellis got his facts from but no free tickets were given out in schools, or indeed any businesses. The Crusaders went around 30 plus schools to promote the game where Family Ticket vouchers were given out to allow families to pre-order tickets at an early bird price (as advertised on the website).

It was actually the second game which got 6,351 which was against St Helens.

The Gazette are going to be contacted by the club as it looks like that his claims are completely incorrect. I've not seen the article as yet.

Super League didn't take off in Bridgend last year for a number of reasons. A lot of freebies were given out for the first three matches (unlike this year in Wrexham) and it did get a lot of fans to go. However the team didn't win and they didn't come back.

Another big difference is that the Wrexham council have been outstanding in their help towards the Crusaders at every level. Again this is a contrast to the council in Bridgend who didn't do half as much for Super League. No posters were even put around the town, unlike Wrexham, until the Wales v England game which they said was "an event" and allegedly they said Super League wasn't.

The media has also been outstanding in Wrexham. Three pages devoted in the Daily Post today to the Crusaders game for example. Glamorgan Gazette were good but Bridgend suffered from not having a daily paper and the local dailies didn't support it as much as they should have. Down south, there's still that union v league pre-1995 mentality which doesn't exist as much in North Wales.

Obviously Wrexham FC are also in full support and are crosspromoting the products well. Again a vast contrast to Bridgend for one reason or another. Had the move to Newport succeeded then I know the Dragons were also keen to cross promote.

All sad but true. I know that people from Bridgend and the surrounding areas gave the club a lot of support. Problem was that the club needed a lot more, from all quarters.