Further to speculation on the Jon Wells Testimonial thread, I have received the following reply from the club regarding the venue for our away Superleague match with Crusaders on Good Friday:

[i"Hi Richard,

Thanks for getting in touch.

Crusaders have informed us that our match against them on Friday 2nd April will take place in South Wales, but have not yet confirmed at which ground.

Apologies for the confusion on the website, I raised the issue with our website provider before Christmas but unfortunately it has not yet been resolved. I am looking into this again now.

Best wishes,
Malcolm

Malcolm Cranmer
Media Manager
Harlequins Rugby League Club Ltd"[/i

Crusaders are a shambles.

They did say 2 games would be played in the South of Wales-Us and the Bulls I believe-Thats not a shambles -in fact its no different to us taking games on the road, Wigan playing home cup games at Widnes etc

The Crusaders are a shambles because they couldn't raise a team for John Well's testimonial, they had to move to Wrexham and they don't know where they're playing in South Wales.

Both Newport and Bridgend are available on Good Friday.

Is the Liberty Stadium free that weekend?

Come on! you could say that many times about Our Club in the past years and even still, of all clubs lets give them a chance.

From the time the new owners took on The Crusaders a lot of work had to be achieved and putting a squad together must have been the first priority! and they seem to have to a few good players so far. So Please lets give them a chance, it is good to see they have sold 3,000 tickets so far from the Wrexham ticket office for the Leeds game, which is not bad in a few weeks.

But I wasn't talking about Quins...

It's a bit complicated. Swansea City aren't playing on Good Friday, but the Ospreys are at home to the Scarlets in the Magners League on (and I quote their website) 2/3/4th., which I suppose means that they're waiting on a TV decision.

If they make it a double header with Scorpions v Skolars I might go.

That's the previous weekend on the Sunday - two days after our match at Bradford.

I'd have thought a dual code double-header before Neath v Pontypridd (which is on Good Friday evening) would be one option, though not particularly attractive for me personally.

A game of rugby might break out in that 80 minute fight.

I was pointing out we have our our problems Quins, and we take enough stick from supporters in the North, at least of all people we can give a little leeway to the Crusaders as they try to get established, I wish them well!

Sorry, they were given a three year licence in good faith and have clearly lied in order to "satisfy" the relevant criteria. They convinced the RFL they were able to hit the ground running and were equal to the other thirteen recipients of an SL licence, and more worthy than the several rejected applicants.

IMO Superleague should have bombed them out and run with thirteen clubs this season, their share of the Sky pot being divided amongst the rest to compensate for the lack of a home gate. Those clubs meeting the performance related criteria last season (i.e. Widnes, Halifax, Barrow) could have been invited to apply for a unique four year licence commencing from next season.

Crusaders' relocation from Bridgend to Wrexham is a farce - it's tantamount to Quins relocating to Nottingham. Imagine how we'd be slaughtered if that happened! And if it did the club would no longer mean anything to me - I'd rather follow a lower level London area club instead or switch my allegiance to Wakefield or Huddersfield.

Crusaders in Wrexham is effectively a new club - it's not the same club that secured a SL licence while based in Bridgend. They make Milton Keynes Dons look respectable. They're a boil on the backside of rugby league, and the sooner they get lanced the better.

How far is Twickenham from Charlton?- after what distance does it become a farce-Or is there a threshold distance you have created in your complaining mind.

Next you will be sporting a ponytail

Well, there you go. It's all down to the individual supporter to gauge what is or isn't acceptable. I'm sure plenty of people have walked away from our club when the various relocations within Greater London have taken place; equally I suspect quite a lot of people have followed the club from Fulham to Chiswick to Crystal Palace to Barnet to Twickenham etc. I suspect Nottingham (a random example) or anywhere else 100+ miles from Central London would be a tad too far for almost anyone.

I will ask again -how far is Charlton from Twickenham and at what point does it become a farce

Your words not mine

I'd suggest it becomes a farce when a team gains a point in the franchise applications for being miles from the heartlands and then moves 32 miles from the heartlands.

I'd like to make it clear I wish Welsh RL no ill will. I used to watch Prescot Panthers and have fond memories of watching South Wales v Prescot both at Cardiff and Prescot, despite living in London at the time. I've also watched the Welsh conference play offs a fair few times living reasonably close to Wales these days (Bridgend Blue Bulls v Newport was a fantastic game.) I suspect that if Welsh RL has a future, and I hope it does, then it lies with the new South Wales team and not Crusaders. As a RL fan I hope I am wrong.

Why do you suspect that?

Im all for expansion and hope both teams work.

I hope both teams work too. I wouldn't want any team to fail irrespective of whether or not they are expansion teams due to the impact on fans, officials, players etc. We're talking about peoples livings when all is said and done.

I think the future for Welsh RL is based around the South Wales club as they will be able to tap into the youth development work that has occurred to date. For the first few years at least I'd expect Crusaders to utilise youth players predominantly from north west England. (They probably won't have much option as there's not a lot of youth RL in North Wales.) That gives South Wales the change to grow more naturally from the base up and find a suitable level for their finances etc.

The people behind Crusaders have made statements suggesting that they view this as a way of assisting Wrexham FC. We all know that David Hughes effectively keeps this club afloat and we've had a few years to grow a crowd base etc. I'm just not sure that you can transplant a team into a new area and hit the ground running financially.

Incidentally a friend of mine, a long standing Wire fan, lives in Wrexham and regularly watched Celtic. He knows many of those behind South Wales RLFC and some of the South Wales based ex Broncos fans are back involved behind the scenes.

Prince of Denmark, How do you work out the wild claim "they lied" Who? Let's look at the facts, Samuels the owner of Celtic Crusaders invested a lot of money into the club and for the launch into Superleague. At that time he did not know of the financial crisis that was to hit us, it affected his company severely, so he had to put his hands up and try and sell the club to ensure its survival.

Yes it would have been ideal if someone in South Wales had come along, but they didn't, so no way can you call the consortium a farce, when they saved the club, but having the Racecourse Ground they choose to re-locate, it was always in the plan to play games in North Wales and Wrexham.

If it was a Farce, do you remember a certain club called Hull, purchasing Gateshead and their Superleague franchise? I do not remember there being such an emotional attack on them at the time?

I have found it sad this year with supporters of such a Leigh crying each week fowl in the rugby press, when they are clearly not ready for Superleague and some Widnes fans as well, but at least the Chairman of Widnes has shown others an example by just getting on with the job to ensure they are ready at the next franchise application period.

As I have said your claims seem very emotional, as I stated many Northern supporters feel the same way about us at Quins RL, as they say "People in Glass Houses, Shouldn't Shrow Stones" Lets make sure our own Club Quins RL is ready for the next franchise application period, we are not guranteed never mind Crusaders!