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    Leagues apart

    Celtic Crusaders given Super League franchise for 2009-2011 along with Salford and current 12 Super League clubs.

    #2
    Leagues apart

    Up the Penybont wee Crues. I'm not keen on no relegation for three years, mind.

    What sort of crowds will they get?

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      #3
      Leagues apart

      They've been getting 2,000-3,000 in NL2 and NL1. I'd imagine with the likes of Wigan and St Helens coming down that would increase to a healthy 5,000 - 6,000 if not more

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        #4
        Leagues apart

        Highest Attendance:
        6,152 vs Featherstone Rovers (3rd May 2008)

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          #5
          Leagues apart

          I see the violent nutjobs of Harlequins RL have got a franchise. Nice to see The Stoop will remain in use over summer.

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            #6
            Leagues apart

            Widnes now in the wilderness.

            There goes a Rugby League town with a substantial history, a hotbed of youth development in the game and a fine new stadium down the pan and replaced by "development opportunities".

            Fuck Celtic Crusaders and the RL in equal measure.

            Oh, and Widnes pulled a crowd of 8,100 - highest ever in NL1 - a couple of weeks ago if we are really talking potential.

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              #7
              Leagues apart

              Where are the Celtic Crusaders (terrible name) based?

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                #8
                Leagues apart

                Penybont/ Bridgend.

                Fair points by Tony C. Down the wee Crues, then.

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                  #9
                  Leagues apart

                  Totally agree Tony C - franchising is bollocks, however to blame the Crusaders for the ills of the RFL's system seems a tad unfair - why "fuck the Crusaders" more than any other team?

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                    #10
                    Leagues apart

                    Fair point - it's not down to Crusaders. I'm just seriously pissed off with this.

                    As you may know - or may not - I'm a Widnes fan and have been since we moved into the town in 1984 and I'm taking this badly. It's is not the first time we have been shafted by the RL and this club really has a right to feel aggrieved for all the reasons I outlined above.

                    Essentially Widnes is an ingrained RL town with a passion for the game. It hurts when you realise that this means nothing.

                    So fuck the RL then. I'd have a little respect for them if they made similarly "tough decisions" when coming down hard on the likes of Wigan who have now been found brazenly ignoring the salary cap (i.e. cheating) three times but have received nothing more than a finger wagging (if, indeed, even that). But in terms of taking on the big boys they are more pathetically toothless than the PL.

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                      #11
                      Leagues apart

                      Yes, I gathered you are a Widnes fan from the reaction. I have fond memories of watching Widnes and Jonathan Davies take on the Canterbury Crusaders and Mal Meninga in Old Trafford for the World Club Championship in 1989ish.

                      Down in Bridgend on Saturday the fans were not confident at all that the RFL would give them a franchise. They felt the 'RFL club would look after its own' i.e. keep it up north of England.

                      Obviously someone was going to be shafted and I firmly believe that it should be just a promotion/relegation issue, which quite possibly would have given them Salford and the Crusaders anyway.

                      (Although not the way the Crusaders played on Saturday.)

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Leagues apart

                        "Obviously someone was going to be shafted and I firmly believe that it should be just a promotion/relegation issue, which quite possibly would have given them Salford and the Crusaders anyway".

                        And you would not have heard one single word of complaint from Widnes had that happened.

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                          #13
                          Leagues apart

                          An interesting little item here that I found on an League website - the official RL SL franchise criteria list with the respective scores/points of both Crusaders and Widnes.

                          CELTIC CRUSADERS

                          CRITERIA

                          YES/NO

                          PTS

                          Capacity of 12,000 +
                          NO
                          0

                          Premier competition standard ground
                          NO
                          0

                          Average crowd of 10,000 +
                          NO
                          0

                          Operating at 40 per cent full
                          NO
                          0

                          Turn over £4million +
                          NO
                          0

                          Solvent
                          YES
                          1

                          Contribution to competition
                          NO
                          0

                          Junior development
                          YES
                          1

                          No salary cap breaches
                          YES
                          1

                          No club within 20 miles
                          YES
                          1

                          GRAND TOTAL

                          4

                          LICENSING GRADE

                          C

                          WIDNES VIKINGS

                          CRITERIA

                          YES/NO

                          PTS

                          Capacity of 12,000 +
                          YES
                          1

                          Premier competition standard ground
                          YES
                          1

                          Average crowd of 10,000 +
                          NO
                          0

                          Operating at 40 per cent full
                          NO
                          0

                          Turn over £4million +
                          NO
                          0

                          Solvent
                          YES
                          1

                          Contribution to competition
                          NO
                          0

                          Junior development
                          YES
                          1

                          No salary cap breaches
                          YES
                          1

                          No club within 20 miles
                          NO
                          0

                          GRAND TOTAL

                          5

                          LICENSING GRADE

                          B

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Leagues apart

                            Admittedly, mine is just a passing interest in Rugby League seeing that we can't see it in TV over here (Malta) and there is no Rugby League championships as such.

                            However, I would think that whilst they (Celtic Crusaders) might have a decentish home following, away support will be terrible: won't that impact on the overall attraction of the game?

                            Incidentally, I'm reading Season in the Sun about the first ten years of Rugby League and have found it inadequate and repetitive (and bordering on boring). Are there any better books about RL out there?

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Leagues apart

                              Dave Hadfield of the Independent is my favourite RL writer and he has a few books available the best being 'XIII Winters' and 'XIII Worlds'.

                              Geoffrey Moorhouse's 'At The George' and 'A People's Game' are also pretty good.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Leagues apart

                                The Celtic Crusaders thing seems very much an expansion attempt. I think if Quins were excluded from a Union franchise affair for a similar sort of thing I'd be very narked as well.

                                I also wonder how successful they're ever likely to be, given the hostility towards League that still exists in many parts of Wales.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Leagues apart

                                  Eggchaser wrote:
                                  I also wonder how successful they're ever likely to be, given the hostility towards League that still exists in many parts of Wales.
                                  Just seen this as I searched for the thread again. To be honest Egg, when I've been to Crusaders matches there has been much less obvious hostility towards League than I imagined there would be.

                                  Bridgend have made a big deal that the Crusaders will kill Union in the valley, but I think it's more of a sideways swipe at the WRU for getting rid of the Celtic Warriors.

                                  Anyway - Crusaders are into the Grand Final after thumping Salford 44-18 last night - so on playing standard alone, we would have got there anyway, I just wish that's what they had used.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Leagues apart

                                    Having attended my first Quins match of this season, I'd like to offer a hearty congratulations to the ground staff for keeping the pitch in such a great state despite continual use over summer.

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