Yeah I thought something like that or Celtic Dragons (though South Wales Celtic sounds better)

Somebody needs to define what the bigger picture is first though.

Is it having a succesful team ? Or is it developing home grown players ?

Obviously in time you'd want both to be happening, but at the outset you aren't going to get that - it'd be one or the other.

You can have a succesful team in CC1 right away but it'd be packed with overseas players to do so.

Or you can have an average team that is full of developing young local players.

I'd hope that the people behind this application are leaning towards the latter option.

If the final descion rests with the CC1 clubs then it's a chance for them to make some money from the extra game which people have said the championship clubs need.

Hopefully the whole thing isn't to hastely put together. Welsh rugby league needs a presence in S.Wales so the development work doesn't go to waste.

I thought Celtic Dragons at one point, but we already have a Dragons in the pro ranks (I don't like the idea of duplicant nicknames if it can be easily avoided!).

Better that than my other idea though: South Wales Whales



Seriously though, South Wales gives the club a target area that people can identify with (something they never had previously, and something that means they won't be moved to North Wales!) as well as keeping some heritage in the Celtic name.

I'd be very disappointed if someone comes in and calls it something non-specific and random like Cymru Pandas or something! But knowing RL sometimes...

The name is a difficult one, the Celtic name may be a put off those people who apparently hold Leighton Samuel in low regard, believing the new and the previous club are in someway connected. A brand new approach is the key IMO, perhaps aligning their moniker with the historical industries in South Wales.

Although it would save on buying a new bobble hat.

i think you surmise the whole situation really well.

does the rfl offer any assistance to emerging clubs? especially considering this one would be bang in the middle of a key expansion area.

Gosh yes! Well Done Barnacle Bill.. they could keep the Celtic bit and crayon out the Crusaders part.

A fair reflection indeed on the whole set up

Good luck to them!

I hope the new club in South Wales does well, prospers and develops into a SL club that doesn’t require the presence of a team full of Aussies. I’m sure they can do it, but it will take time and a great deal of effort. This is a chance to put things right.

I’m not sure what this means for the Crusaders though. It probably means they’re finished.

You as well

I agree with the idea of the new club being called Celtic "something", or why not just "Celtic"?
Hopefully they will be linked to the Crusders' reserves and tap into the WRFL's development.
Now, if everything works out for the Crusaders and they end up back in Bridgend in a year's time, the second team could well drop out and resume duty in the academy leagues.
If they can form a team to keep the interest going in south wales, then great.

You do realise that that is the equivalent of telling all the players 21 and over in the semi-pro side to go play RU and they're not welcome in RL, since the reserves went to U20s?

Hopefully they have nothing to do with Crusaders apart from a player loan scheme, as the less they have to do with them, the more chance of success

Not the same way it did last time.




Every club should have a right to be ambitious. P&R could give every club, including one in Sth Wales, every reason to strive to be the best and play at the highest level.

Why not?

Ambition for a new South wales club should be to still be in business in 5 years time , in fact at the moment that should be the ambition of every club along with not going into administration during that time

My god is the Welsh rugby hoping to become the first soap drama in Wales because it is biggest joke in the history of Rugby league.

Agreed.

If you read my post I said [i'it will take time and a great deal of effort'.[/i


No quick fixes.

No 3-year-plan.

Just solid foundations and yes, even a bit of help from the RFL.

It is indeed a great chance to put things right. It's just a shame that this debacle of parachuting an artificial and unprepared club straight into the big time had to happen. But if any good can come out of this mess then I hope RL in South Wales can be allowed to develop firm foundations on top of the development work already under way.



It would be a sad but nonetheless unpredictable demise. I can't see Wrexham working, it's a football town. I work in Chester and none of the Wrexham town folk I work with are even aware of (let alone interested in) any of these proposals to take the Crusaders there.

I can't see it lasting very long. They will lose the little support that they have now, if they form a new club in Sth Wales. I would hazard a guess that the majority of Crusaders fans, in the south, would opt to go and watch the local club, even at the lower level. I suppose only they can answer that one though.


Where I work there are hundreds of North Taffy's. The ones I asked looked totally puzzled when I told them about their new local SL team. They did say that there are a lot of rugby clubs in the area though, but they are all RU clubs. They do like football though. Man U and Everton seem to be the most popular clubs amongst them.

four years ago we were nowhere, not even on the radar in Wales, we didnt even have something that was failling in Wales, we had nothing, we didnt exist,

now we do, now we have one club and another which wants to join, this is infinitely better than where we were, even if Crusaders do fail and those death riding them get to be smug about it, the game has benefited from the Crusaders, the game in Wales has benefited from the Crusaders and now we have something to build on, something that wasnt there before and something that can grow,

if all we needed was to give them a couple of years in SL, thats a fairly cheap price to pay, the game itself has lost nothing, so yes, Hoorah for expansion! Lets hope we do even better next time

and remember, the night is darkest just before dawn

I'll try to do both.

I'll try primarily to do all of our games like last season but will also keep an eye on the lower league club down here and look to watch them whenever possible.

Just consider though, we could have a highly competitive Crusaders team possibly still located in Bridgend having reached the Championship Final for the 2nd year running, having slowly built momentum and support over the course of an enjoyable season for everyone at the club.

Ask yourself this, was Super League 2009 truly that important to the development of the game in South Wales given that we are now faced with the current mess and a new team wishing to start from scratch in CC1?

Could of this pain for the fans and embarrassment for the RFL have been avoided if the Crusaders had been allowed to grow organically and at a sustainable rate? Surely this is the finest example of the or bust mentality that the RFL wanted to eliminate by introducing the licensing process in the first place?

There is little doubt that the Crusaders have benefited the game in Wales. The game in Wales however has not benefited from the Crusaders in Super League and neither have the Crusaders or anyone connected with them.

and the way he and the crusaders treated Bridgend Ravens RFC

no no no... this team needs to be fully indepentend if it wants to succeed

the same suspects saying the same BS.

talk about your own s&&t clubs boys

All the best for the new club. the game should keep trying in wales

with about a 3rd of the people who watched a terrible SL season watching a decent championship season. In what way is this better? we see championship clubs dont get SL support, so in whatever year Crusaders made the step up, be it 2009 or 2059 they would still need to increase their support about 3 fold

however you cut it, one SL club and one Championship 1 club is better than 1 championship club


im not embarrassed, we have a club with financial difficulties, so what every sport does

maybe you would like to point us towards an example of this organic growth which has been successful in building us a Pro SL club? i think you will clearly find it is waiting for this 'organic growth' that has kept the game in northern England for the past 100 years



the super league is the crusaders, its why they exist

for over a hundred years we saw 'organic growth' in wales and the attraction it held and the success it had